Nudist Youth Camps

Here's some background info: White Tail Park, a nudist/naturist resort in Virginia, had plans for a summer camp for children ages 11 to 18. The camp and the event are wholesome, structured, and well supervised. In all reality it was to be a summer camp no different from any other summer camp with the exception that nobody would be wearing any clothing. The children to attend come from naturist families and are quite accustomed to nudist gatherings. The camp counselor to child ratio is about 2 to 1, far higher than a standard camp. The counselor staff is made up of parents and carefully screened volunteers. Everybody goes through extensive background checks to ensure there are no pedophiles or sexual predators attending. The security and screening is far more thorough at these camps than textile (non-nude) summer camps and youth events.

Just like regular resort rules, the camp does not allow any kind of lewd, offensive, or sexual behavior. Also, due to being raised as nudists without body shame and being used to normal club conduct, the children are well aware of what kind of improper behavior to look out for and to alert the staff if there is any sign of a sex offender. In the 14 years that youth nudist summer camps have taken place at this and other locations, there has never once been any kind of problem as far as pedophiles or sexual predators getting in. Parents are not required to attend and, like regular summer camps, most don't. The camp is mixed-gender, and boys and girls alike have been quoted at commenting on how great the camp is and how everybody is treated equally without the 'clique' groups that shun others, as observed in textile camps.

Despite the safety of these camps, legislation was very rapidly pushed through the Virginia government to require all children attending these nudist youth camps to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian (including grandparents), effectively banning camps that do not have parents in attendance. People in favor of this sudden law argue that the risk of predators is too high to not require parents, and that with parents being there it will greatly reduce that risk. People against this law say that the statistics show there has never been a problem at these camps before, the camps are far more safe than non-nudist camps, that parents being there will make no difference in what little risk may exist, and that requiring a parent or guardian to attend will put too much burden on the parents to schedule time to attend or find a relative or guardian to go with their children.

Nudists also argue that this law is just another attempt by the government to control how parents raise their children, and it infringes on their rights to raise their children as they see fit. People for the law counter-argue by saying it does not infringe on the parents' rights because they are still free to take their children to these camps and raise them in nudist families. Most of the people supporting the law are conservative religious groups. In the legislature, the whole matter was dealt with very lightly and with lots of jokes. No research was done on the matter; nobody visited a camp to see what it's really like. The main lawmaker who pushed the bill forward was reported that he "heard about the camp and talked to some people," the extent of his research. Another lawmaker later said that the whole thing was a joke, and that in retrospect he would have voted against the law if he'd known more about it. [By the way, because of all the outside pressures, White Tail Park cancelled the camp and moved it to an undisclosed location in another state.] What do you think about this?

This poll was created on 2004-08-20 21:50:58 by Skyfox