Sunday, January 31, 2010

Will Ratings Help?

UPDATE: Removed the "X" category, reworded as needed.

Bravo to Nudiarist for a wonderful recent essay on the crossroads of nudism.

I can't help but agree with most of what he says... Yes, SOME "human beings are very sexual creatures." Yes, there is a WEAK "connection between naturism/nudism and sexuality." Yes, "the key component to the success of all social gatherings is BEHAVIOR." I especially agree with that last one, and have noted that behavior is a product of "majority rules". With that in mind, lets fast-forward to the part which concerns me.

I am hard-pressed to find a reason why AANR cannot assign ratings to its affiliated clubs, rather than force those with more adult activities out of the network.

Well, I have your reason. I admit that the rating idea is brilliant and would work, to a point. It needs work, and I hope that my concerns are addressed prior to it being implemented.

A rating system may look something like this, for example:
  • G - General audience, family friendly, anyone welcome.
  • PG - Parental Guidance suggested, conversation topics may be unsuitable for children sometimes. (Maybe more at night.)
  • R - Conversation topics are often unsuitable for children, possible lewd behavior, but no sex (in public).
  • NR - Not Rated, as-in a venue that hasn't been certified to any of the other ratings.
Clubs would work toward their favorite rating, and an external authority (AANR most likely) would certify the resort. Ratings would be published. Couples would prefer the R resorts. Families would prefer the G and PG resorts. Perverts would go straight for the R resorts, and probably leave the others alone. Sexuality would have its place, and family values would have its place as well. Even I have suggested this idea before, although quite indirectly...

Where this entire model falls apart is on the topic of public lands. Nudist venue owners control the rules on the property, but it's the "guests" who control the rules on public lands (within the bounds of the law). Majority rules.

How would the local nude beach be rated? If families are around, and the atmosphere is family-friendly, it would be a G. If swingers are around, it would be an R. The only valid rating would be NR. This is the same with any public event involving nudity.

Consider the following:

Scenario 1: A concerned family wants to try nude recreation. Mazo beach is close, but has an NR rating. Blue Lake Resort has a G rating. Would you take your child to a new NR film? They can only assume that NR could be an R, so they decide to go to Blue Lake instead and enjoy it. They never even try Mazo Beach, even though a family on the beach would almost guarantee a PG atmosphere. Since no families frequent Mazo to keep a family friendly atmosphere, the beach slowly goes to a R (or worse) rating and risks being closed.

Scenario 2: A frisky couple decide to try an R resort and like it. After many trips, they find out that Mazo beach is closer and decide to give it a try. Due to their experience, and the fact that it's only adults around at that moment, they assume that R (or worse) activity is OK. Mazo risks getting closed due to the prevailing activities.

The moral of the stories is that public beaches would likely see a decline of families and a family-friendly atmosphere, and frisky couples might assume that public places have R ratings since they have visited other "nudist" venues with that atmosphere. Beaches get closed when the family-friendly atmosphere goes sour.

Law-makers may jump on the ratings system too. It's easier for them to pass a law that forbids public nudity except at a venue with a PG rating or higher. AANR has already tried to slip in something similar to an anti-nudity law, where nudity would've been prohibited at any place that is not an AANR club. Public lands, with their NR rating, would be left in the dust. By default, people would assume that any NR venue would be rated R (or worse). You never know what you might see at the beach.

Clubs would benefit from this rating system, but public lands would not. This is exactly why I'd expect AANR to try this, and strike another blow to TNS.

Public beaches are on the front-lines of many naturist legal battles. Sure, resorts get some attention from the authorities, but as private venues they are less volatile than public beaches. If a couple behave inappropriately in a resort, they get thrown out quickly and that's it. If a couple behave inappropriately on a public beach, law enforcement notes it and uses it against the whole beach and against any sort of public nudity. A rating system will not help beach-goers at all, and may even hurt in the long-run for the reasons I mentioned above. It'll make NAC's job much more difficult explaining why a NR beach should be treated as a G or PG instead of an R, despite the couple of noted complaints.

Public lands, and public events with nudity, need to be considered before a rating system goes into effect. A poorly designed rating system opens the door for more constricting laws regarding nudity, and may end up contributing to eroding freedoms.

26 comments:

Nudiarist said...

Let me be clear - I only propose AANR ratings for its affiliated clubs. Public beaches and other lands MUST remain G rated and family-friendly. No debate necessary on that point.

Brad Fults said...

I agree with Doug on this one. I elaborated on a comment to Nudiarist's post as well as one of my own.

Unknown said...

I am with Nudiarist on this one. I don't see any wiggle room for sex on public lands. Sex in public is illegal and gets us all shut down.

And I don't necessarily see a reason for AANR to be the decider of what rating a facility carries. If the standards are publicly available, any facility can say that we enforce the standards of (G, PG, R, X) ratings. Any violation of those standards will result in expulsion. Why would a facility that endorses X behavior want to hold itself out as a G or PG destination (or vice-versa)?

NudistStop
www.NudistStop.com

Unknown said...

This is a seriously bad idea. Can anyone come up with any other area of activity where there's a need to assign ratings according to the degree of sexual content, I mean as might be resorts, or outdoor recreation groups? Anywhere else, I don't think the topic often comes up, and if there's someone who insists on acting out sexually in public, their behavior is regarded as being in very poor taste and they're soon told so. People are actually proposing that we should grade this stuff and make the result public so we'll be informed ahead of time!

I'm all for the principle that "naturism is like anything else people do, except it's done naked". If nothing else in life needs letter grades, then I don't want naturism to have them either. To single ourselves out for sexual ratings is to make it plain that sex is something that we (some of us, at least) are doing close enough to people's eye range to need thinking about and describing ahead of time. If that's the case, it's very different from anything else people encounter.

This makes us look really, really bad. We should just be telling people (if, deity forbid, anyone needs telling) that being a naturist means accepting that the body is natural and normal and never a source of shame, but not changing anything else about our expectations. If people want to do things as naturists that they wouldn't do as textiles, I'd say "If you need to ask, the answer is no."

If people want to have sex clubs, that's fine with me. They're welcome to them and they can give them every letter in the alphabet. They might even go around naked there. But it's not naturism.

Brad Fults said...

Well said, John. Agreed 100%.

Nudiarist said...

John Purbrick totally misinterprets what I have said.

I am not advocating that nudists and naturists embrace sex clubs, or allow public sex on the grounds of resorts.

This is an issue of adult nudism versus family nudism.

Seriously, you are unable to think of one "area of activity where there is a need to assign ratings according to the degree of sexual content"?

How about adults only vacations - cruises, resorts, etc. It's a booming business. Sometimes people want to get away from their children.

How about movies, magazines, television shows - they are age restricted. You can't take a kid to a strip club, can you? Many social events such as weddings have a "no kids allowed" policy because adults like to party.

There are age restrictions all over Las Vegas, too many to even begin to mention here.

Many bed and breakfast resorts have a no children allowed policy.

You cannot surf the Internet without seeing many nudist websites with warnings about nudity.

There are age restrictions throughout society. Driving, voting, gambling, drinking, getting a tattoo, smoking, buying a gun, get married, etc.

You won't find children at many AANR affiliated resorts because they are NOT ALLOWED. AANR also accepts advertising from adults only nude cruises and resorts.

And I don't think that any nudist resort will allow anyone under the age of 18 from entering the premises unless accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

In addition, many nudist resorts affiliated with AANR prohibit children from certain areas after a certain time, like nobody under the age of 18 allowed in the hot tub after 6 PM, or in the clubhouse.

The Naturist Society is having workshops on polyamory, raunchy burlesque and Roman Sex in its Midwinter Festival at Sunsport this month. There is also a "lingerie dance". Will kids be welcome at those events?

Lupin Lodge has lingerie fashion shows and "naughty nightie" dances. How many children attend those events?

C'mon, let's be honest here, there is already age-appropriate activity at many nudist resorts. It's not public sex, but it's sexy behavior.

And while all this is going on at AANR and TNS resorts, Caliente and Paradise Lakes are effectively kicked out of AANR for doing pretty much the same thing, only more openly.

Again, WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT SEX CLUBS HERE. Nobody is advocating public sex, something that is forbidden in writing at both Caliente and Paradise Lakes. We are talking about adult nudism which already exists and is thriving worldwide, while AANR is losing clubs and losing members.

Nudiarist said...

John said, "I'm all for the principle that "naturism is like anything else people do, except it's done naked". If nothing else in life needs letter grades, then I don't want naturism to have them either. To single ourselves out for sexual ratings is to make it plain that sex is something that we (some of us, at least) are doing close enough to people's eye range to need thinking about and describing ahead of time. If that's the case, it's very different from anything else people encounter."

This is very myopic and elitist.

First of all, if you really believe that naturism is truly like "anything else people do", that means that if anyone does anything in the nude, it's naturism. This is both too broad and too narrow at the same time for an effective definition.

And everything we do in life is rated, not always with a letter grade, but through social mores. There are far too many activities that are appropriate for adults only that it's impossible to list them all, and certainly not all sexual. You wouldn't give a shot of whiskey to a 6 year-old, and you wouldn't put a 30 year-old man as a student in a classroom filled with kindergarteners. The examples are infinite.

And once again, we are not talking about public sex, as you infer. This is hyperbole.

And nudism is already "very different from anything else people encounter".

As long as nudists and naturists insist on holding on to this "my way is the only way" attitude, the lifestyle will slowly fade away. A bigger tent is needed in a rapidly evolving society.

Remember that nudism rose out of the sexual repression of the Victorian age. We are no longer sexually repressed, especially the younger generation. Some adjustment needs to be made.

Anonymous said...

The whole question is moot. Non-naturists already "think" we're a bunch of perverts anyways. And adding a rating system or acknowledging swingers only validates this belief. Yes, naturism needs to adapt with the times, but not this way, and not by making nude lewd.

Nudiarist said...

Naturist Review said, "The whole question is moot. Non-naturists already "think" we're a bunch of perverts anyways. And adding a rating system or acknowledging swingers only validates this belief. "

This is completely illogical. You are basically accepting the public perception of nudists as perverts. By adding some sort of ratings system (and I don't necessarily go along with what The Academic Naturist proposed), nudism / naturism helps to DEFINE the differences between adult and family-friendly nude recreation. If as you say the public is confused, then clarification seems to be mandated.

Swingers are already members of nudist clubs. Nudists are already members of swingers groups. As noted in a previous response, nudists already engage in activities inappropriate for chidren.

Again, we're not talking about open sex, only the acknowledgement that there is more than one kind of nude recreation in society today. Ignoring the booming adult clothing-optional market is closing the door on an entire generation.

Unknown said...

There's way more there than I care to deal with, but I will say I think we can all see the difference between events or locations that exclude children because they can be disruptive, and places where they keep the kids out because there's something going on that they shouldn't see.

As for "many nudist websites with warnings about nudity" I'd say not warnings, just information. Think of the traditional "Attention, beyond this point you may encounter nude sunbathers". If you really mean nudist websites where they exclude juveniles--and quite a lot do--I think it's a mistake, and I've said so quite a few times. We show that naturism is innocent by encouraging people to bring their children, and letting them participate to the extent that they want to. Just as long as they aren't disruptive!

This stuff about the Midwinter Festival is interesting. I don't know if you know Morley Schloss, who's part-owner and manager of Sunsport. As it's a "Festival" rather than a "Gathering", it's run by a local activist with TNS sponsorship, rather than by TNS itself, and if Morley's in charge, it'll be full of new-age workshops; if past-life regression, auras and wicca are your interest, follow Morley! I think he'd say, everyone deserves a chance to be heard. So if some of the workshops have sexual themes, is that wrong? It doesn't mean that the event overall is about sex; in fact, if he excluded everything sexual, wouldn't that be walking into the other common accusation, that naturists are Puritans?

Another thing about Morley is that he runs Sunsport with a very strong belief that children shouldn't be excluded, and in fact if you look at its website, it's got pictures of naked children (among adults) on it--the only site I know that dares to do that. He's quite clear that he thinks it's good and important to run naturism so that its non-sexual nature shows. And by the way, he's never had any legal hassles about the pictures. I don't know about "lingerie dances". That doesn't sound like an idea of Morley's, but maybe he was persauded to accept it.

Of course it's very common, but I wish naturists wouldn't fall into the use of "adult [versus] family-friendly nude recreation", or adult versus family anything. I'm an adult, and I don't have small children. I don't want to participate in a sexualized environment, so where am I to go? Can't I just be a naturist and go where the naturists are?

Mr Nudiarist, I wish you had come to the Eastern Naturist Gathering as you said you intended to last spring; how about this year? You'd get a chance to discuss these things with some of us weird people.

Unknown said...

Sorry, me again, but I'll be speedy. I just looked through the listing of events at the Midwinter Festival, and I couldn't find anything that might be interpreted as "lingerie dance". There was lots of dancing, but not that. Nudiarist, can you enlighten me? Perhaps I missed it.

I was looking at the program here:
http://www.sunsportgardens.com/festivals/index.html

On the other hand, "Roman sex" is there. It says, "Ancient Roman Sex & Fun - Kira Fleishman
Unbelievably weird, wacky and true things lovers do for courting, romance and marriage that you can do too."

But there's no claim that it involves any kind of live demonstration!

Nudiarist said...

John,

Just keep in mind that nudist resorts are ALREADY rated. Nobody under the age of 18 is admitted without a parent or legal guardian.

I don't care how it's worded, but any warning or advisement about nudity on a naturist or nudist web site is a "rating".

As for Morley and Sunsport, they are playing with fire by mixing in kids ice-cream socials with workshops on raunchy burlesque without stating age-restrictions on attendance. I'm assuming that kids won't be allowed in to the discussions on polyamory and Roman sex, but if you look at the schedule there is nothing said about restricted attendance.

Nudist resorts are already rated a strong R if you compare them to the motion picture association guidelines. Making some resorts and events NC-18 isn't exactly a far stretch from present reality.

As for TNS, I volunteered my services several times without success. They take my membership money and NAC donations, but they don't even bother to thank me. I don't get alerts or updates, I have to seek them out to report them on my blog.

Currently I belong to a wonderful AANR club and plan to spend most of the summer there.

Nudiarist said...

John, Lupin Lodge has the lingerie dances. Sunsport is holding workshops on Roman Sex, polyamory, "raunchy" burlesque, and other adult-themed topics. For the burlesque class, it states, "Fun and raunchy dancing to turn-of-the century music". Sounds like a live demonstration to me.

Nudiarist said...

John, I no longer see the lingerie dance at Sunsport. Either it was removed, or I saw the event on another nudist site. I didn't do a print screen.

Nudiarist said...

OK John, I found that Sunsport held a lingerie dance on Jan. 23, 2010. The event is no longer listed on the web site since it's now February. You can call them to confirm the info.

Nudiarist said...

John, if you do a Google search for SUNSPORT LINGERIE DANCE you get results, but the event has been removed from Sunsport's web site.

This is text from the results of the Google search:

Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort - Office Hours
During the Summer season, Sunsport's office hours will change. Our new hours are as follows: ... Children's Dance: 6 to 8PM. Lingerie Dance : 8 to 11:30PM ...

Unknown said...

Once you explained, I found the lingerie dance too, by searching via Google and hitting "cached" to get an earlier result. I wish Sunsport hadn't done this, but I note as you must have done, that it was held at the same time as a DJ dance--so at least it wasn't the only activity available. It seems you were dead wrong about it being associated with TNS, except indirectly via the Naturist Society's affiliation with Sunsport. Now I wonder how you ever came up with such an error--could it be from your friend Anna over at rec.nude? (Yup, I do read it, fool that I am. And although "Anna" got the date right, he wrongly placed it in the Midwinter Festival, just as you did. Coincidence? Gonna tell?)

As I said about the items on the Festival listing, those things are run by volunteers, and I doubt if Sunsport or TNS likes the idea of censoring people. At what point does an interest in all things become a prurient concentration? In fact I don't think it's near that point, but I don't know if there can ever be a good answer there. I mean, a person shouldn't come to naturism in search of anything sexual, but then should naturism be purged of anything sexual?

Regarding the kids, they say:
Sunsport's Values
FAMILY FRIENDLY:
children welcome in all facilities and at all activities

So I don't think they'd keep them away from any of the Festival workshops.

Nudiarist said...

John,

"Anna" is a troll, but he/she does find some interesting things on the internet.

The fact that the "lingerie dance" is not part of The Naturist Society Midwinter Festival is only a technicality. Morley is on the board of the NAC, so anything his resort does reflects directly upon TNS.

Are you defending the lingerie dance and all the workshops with adult sexual content? You do a lot of circling the wagons but don't take a definitive stand.

And if kids are attending workshops on polyamory, Roman sex and raunchy Burlesque dancing, then we have a much larger problem than even I dared to imagine.

Unknown said...

Ha.

If we have a grudge against someone and we look around for a stick to beat them with, and a third party conveniently hands us a fine big club, we might put it to use without checking to see how badly cracked it is. And aren't trolls well known to carry large ugly clubs? Hey you Naturist Society with your so-called ideals, take that! Whack! Whack!

Elegant, eh?

This quote is worth looking at:
"Sunsport is holding workshops on Roman Sex, polyamory, "raunchy" burlesque, and other adult-themed topics."

Suppose we said "Sunsport is holding workshops on Living Sober, Learning To Feel Energy, Harmonic Singing, and other adult-themed topics"?

I really wish naturists, of all people, could communicate without those code words "adult" and "family". What's wrong with saying "appeals to people's interest in sex" if that's what's going on? But taking the use of the word "adult" literally also works in this particular case, to describe the program as a whole--you've seriously understated it! It touches on religion, science, forming relationships, sex, music, art, law--even addiction. Not too many children would sit through much of it without becoming squirming pests. Except the drumming workshops!

Oops, did I say the eeeevil word "sex" there, among all those other adult concerns? Could it be that naturists regard the human spirit as broad and inclusive, instead of just reserving the word "adult" to refer to one small area of interest? Yes, I think it's true, just as naturists say that every body is a good body, and every part of the body is good. Perhaps there are people out there whose major interests are sexual, and who'll comb a wide-ranging list of topics for anything sexual they can point to, or perhaps there are anti-naturists who simply hope they can find something to complain about--I'd expect it from "Anna"! But then if the objectionable topics were to be removed, I can imagine some of those same people crying out about prudery and censorship. Whatever happens, let's make sure that naturism is wrong! Gimme that club.

So, I say no ratings. If you attend a naturist event (and Mr Nudiarist, you don't seem to have much personal interest in them) you can expect to find just about anything. That's part of the fun. Nobody's being compelled to go to any particular thing--or to go at all. As for the kiddies, I'm sure their parents are the best judges of what's suitable for them, not some female-impersonator troll on the Internet.

Hank said...

I'm confused. Why would any private agency be called on to rate public nude beaches? Public lands should be rated as "Public" not NR. NR would scare off anyone since G or PG activity is expected on public areas anyway. Sexual activity would defeat public beaches if reported as adult.

Is AANR trying to close public nude beaches, to benefit the capitalist resorts by using a rating system on public lands?

Nudiarist said...

John,

Just as I expected, you merely danced around the issue with a lot of nonsense.

Nudists and naturists still must exist within a society which is strict and unforgiving when it comes to the protection of children.

What TNS and Sunsport are doing in the Midwinter Festival is mixing children's events with self-admittedly "raunchy" burlesque dancing.

In Virginia they passed a law which bars children under 18 from attending nudist camps without parents present. In North Carolina, a district attorney wants to ban everyone under 18 from attending ANY nudist event or venue, even if parents are present. The next step is banning parental nudity at home.

So you can be all coy and cutesy when it comes to this issue, but the way things are going now in American society, the presence of children in naturism and nudism is seriously endangered.

Florida is in the Bible Belt. There are plenty of politicians and law enforcement officials who would like nothing better than to find a hot-button issue to make some headlines, and Sunsport is handing it to them on a silver platter.

It is no longer simply "up to the parents" when it comes to children and naturism / nudism.

And just FYI, Mr. Pubrick, my wife and I are full members in a wonderful AANR club. To say that I have no interest in nudist events is simply a lie.

What is true is that I am having less and less interest in The Naturist Society, which is a boat without a rudder since Lee Baxandall lost his health, and then his life. It's sad to see such a once-respected and influential organization decline so precipitously, out of touch not only with society in general, but its very members.

Unknown said...

I don't think there's much to be gained by adding more to this thread. I'll just say that if there's an organization that's willing to deal with philosophical issues of naturism, the Naturist Society ought to be it. But if people feel that TNS can no longer do that, or never did do it, then maybe those people have to remain outside it; we can't expect that people will pay money to join something they don't believe in. I think it's a pity, as then we lose dissenting voices, and we could end up with a situation where we all expend energy in conflict between the "insiders" and "outsiders".

If organizations demand total orthodoxy, then they've lost something important and more to the point, they aren't offering their members much fun. That's why I've defended the right of naturists to run events at festivals which are, shall we say, problematic. Up to a point, I'd rather let everyone do what they want, rather than impose judgment of what is or isn't acceptable. But then, short of total anarchy, there will be a point where an imposition of judgment comes, even if we can't agree on where the dividing line ought to be. That's an issue for those inside the organization to decide. Let the "Annas" of the world rail and grumble from behind their fake names!

One thing that does happen at Naturist Society Gatherings (not necessarily at Festivals, which aren't run directly by TNS) is you get to meet the leaders and if you don't like what they're doing, you can stand up and tell them so. And you can do it surrounded by other naturists who are present right there "in the flesh"! Free instantaneous worldwide communication is a wonderful thing, but there's nothing like getting together.

Nudiarist said...

John, philosophical issues are terrific, but without the nuts and bolts mechanism of a well-run organization, ideas tend to evaporate into the ethos.

Yes, getting together with other nudists and naturists it great; however, there is a down side to holding workshops and seminars for naturists only. Preaching to the choir only gets you so far.

It's not a matter of paying money to an organization you "believe in", it's a matter of supporting an organization that "works".

Does TNS actually "work" anymore? Without Lee Baxandall, his money and his ideas, is there a clear path forward to spreading the philosophies?

Let's fact it: the schedule for the Midwinter Festival looks like a collection of counter-culture ideas from polyamory to Wicca, and some clearly sexualized events such as raunchy burlesque dancing. It's hard to present a clear message when chaos is on the schedule.

I'm sure everyone who attends will have a wonderful time, but that's not the point of this thread, which is about public perceptions of nudism and naturism.

From a PR standpoint, TNS is a mess. A website with broken images and links, no e-mail notifications, no Twitter, no blog, no embrace of modern technology. If you actually read the TNS website, they clearly state that they leave the spreading of the nudist message to the many websites that are already in the game, thus abdicating their responsibility as keepers of the flame. The message must always be controlled, otherwise it is lost.

Again, I don't have a personal problem with the events at the Midwinter Festival - it's the clumsiness of publishing the schedule without any thought to public perceptions.

As a whole, nudists and naturists simply suck at public relations. Whenever there's an article on a nudist resort, invariably a resort owner will say something stupid to perpetuate misconceptions. I've written about this over and over on my blog.

What would I do? I would open up these naturist festivals, create some real videos for YouTube and DailyMotion, I'd twitter the entire event, I'd invite the press, I'd videotape seminars and make them available to the public, I'd offer free daily admission to all under the age of 25, and anything else that would open these events up.

The whole idea behind Eastover, as I understand it, was for naturists to gather in a place where textile proms, conventions and other events take place. It was to merge the two worlds to shed some sunlight on nudism and increase public tolerance and understanding.

So much for that.

Nudiarist said...

For what it's worth, Morley Schloss reports in the Feb. 2010 NAC newsletter that Sunsport was paid a visit by a policeman and a social worker because of a complaint about the nude photos of children on the resort web site. Nothing happened at this time, but the handwriting is on the wall.

http://naturistaction.org/Newsletter_02-10.pdf

Unknown said...

The Naturist Action Committee is reporting this as a great and glorious success. Of course, a person who wants to whack the Naturist Society with a great big club would say it was no such thing! As Morley Schloss put it (and this is exactly what I'd expect from him--see what I said about him earlier):

Upon arrival, the DCF people were friendly from the start. They had visited Sunsport previously when people had been concerned about a family, so I knew them. They have always been impressed with the environment for children at Sunsport. They see happy, safe, well-cared-for children in a supportive community, and commend Sunsport’s activities for children organized by Youth Director Sandi Reamer and others.

The full report's here:
http://naturistaction.org/Newsletter_02-10.pdf

Look for the article titled "Florida Officials Deem Youth Camp Photos Okay".

Apparently this incident was sparked by an anonymous denunciation--could it have been "Anna"? I expect we'll never know.

As Nudiarist says, the handwriting is on the wall. What it says, obviously, is that officials are perfectly willing to accept non-sexual naturism (no ratings needed, just "Children always welcome") as long as a place is well run by people who live up to their ideals. The way it should be.

This is the way naturism should be spreading its message! Good stuff.

Nudiarist said...

John,

Anytime the cops pay a visit is not a "great and glorious success". Even though the authorities left apparently "satisfied", this could be the beginning of something more ominous. They could have been simply gathering evidence first hand.

Our society is getting to the point where any nude or partially nude image of someone under the age of 18 is considered child pornography. I guarantee you that most people who are not naturists and see the photos on Sunsport's site will be shocked. This is not to say that naturism for children is in any way wrong, but the perception is certainly out there.

If indeed it is "Anna" making complaints, I would think the authorities would pick up on the fact that he/she is just a troublemaker. I would certainly hope that the Florida social workers would not act on anonymous tips for such a serious matter.

I'm sure that the Florida authorities have made a thorough study of the Sunsport web site, including the Midwinter Festival schedule of events.

I would say that no further visits by authorities over the past week was a good sign.

I do applaud Morley for spreading a very positive and courageous naturist message, but I do fear that it's just a matter of time before some politician makes children at nudist camps a hot-button issue, and while Mark Foley failed in his efforts a few years ago, changing public perceptions could affect a different outcome in the future.