Customer Reviews

The Naked Child Growing Up Without Shame/Social Nudity/Its Effect on Children

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was published before the Terror and contains beautiful, uncensored text and photos. There is no similar work available in English on the important subject of nudity and shame. While not as scholarly as Hans Peter Duerr's "Nudity and Shame: the myth of the civilizing process" (in German), this book offers welcome balance to the mass hysteria over child sexuality in the U.S. The fanatics haven't yet targeted this book for burning so read it before books like this are silenced forever.

From the preface (which I think is very well written):

"Does exposure to nudity cause sexual hang-ups in children? Will an open physical environment have negative effects on the personalities and sexual development of young people? Will seeing their parents nude cause children to develop what some experts call an over-balanced attachment to mother and father, and seduction anxiety? Or, as other experts believe, will nude experiences in the physically open family inevitably lead to incest, create terrible guilts and frustrations, and arouse parent-child rivalries? Will the children in families where nudity is common be the victims of more school failures and posess more sexual obsessions than those reared in families where nudity is not allowed? [...]

"[This] is the report on a study which addresses the questions listed above and gives the reader a chance to compare the opinions of the experts with the real-life experiences of adults who grew up in open physical environments. This book is the result of five years of research and writing plus added years for follow-up on some of the cases. _Growing Up Without Shame_ represents the first systematic attempt at studying the effects of a physically open environment. We know this study is the first. We hope it is not the last."

I found this book an easy, enjoyable read; it appears to give serious consideration to the topic, reviewing experts' opinions and researching the views of people who grew up in open environments. A more technical examination of the data from the research is given in an appendix.

Also contains a number of b&w photos from nudist environments, although these photos seem purely to brighten up the pages, since they have no direct connection to the text where they are placed.

The Naked Child: Growing Up Without Shame is a wonderful reference for nudist families and parents, and those who are interested in the subjects of nudity and its effects on children's development. The authors present a lot of academic research study summaries to support their conclusions, and also include a number of anecdotal interviews. I feel that, at times, the anecdotal material is kind of contrived, but, overall, it gives the conclusions drawn (namely, that children's exposure to social nudity is not only not harmful, but is generally beneficial) a more "personal" ring to them. I've owned this book for many years, and I still frequently use it when compiling research on the topic myself.

This book's a bombshell! It's the first (five year) study into the effects of social nudity (they use this word purposefully, for many of the people surveyed were raised in a clothing-optional environment but never were into nudism per se) on children growing up. I anticipated some good reading and to say I wasn't disappointed, would be a gross understatement.

This is a compelling book. Here is a carefully constructed survey that puts down in black-and-white the facts about children who grew up within nudism/naturism.

What The Naked Child has to say about the prevalent thinking about nudity in our society regarding the rearing of children is telling. The author also gives a brief history of clothing taboos as well - very informative and edifying.

A great deal of the content is given over to interviews with children reared in clothing-optional homes and covered such topics as attitudes toward nudity, sexual histories and predilections and relationships with parents. Many probing, frank questions were asked of each respondent to get a feel for each person's unique experiences.

As far as I'm concerned, this book is powerful stuff and a key book in any library. Though the authors freely admit that it only scratches the surface of the subject, the material covered already trashes the so-called "experts" unfounded, unverified suppositions that nudity around kids is inherently harmful.

If you've been looking for information to counter the prattling of doctors, teachers, church leaders, parents and relatives against raising kids in a socially nude environment, this book's the one to read. You'll thank yourself for taking the time. Trust me on this - you won't be disappointed.

This is one of the only well researched books on the effects of child nudity. Contains several photos of the children in various naturist settings

This was one of the best, most informative books on nudism I have ever read. Andyes, I have read several. It explains in easily understood detail childrens' reactions to family nudity and the positive benefits it has. It dispells a lot of the myths and misunderstandings many people have about how being naked as a family is harmful or abusive to children. There are many in depth explanations about how and why kids react to nudity and how, in a wholesome environment where the naked body is treated with dignity, they can become more accepting of their own bodies and realize that we are all made differently. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone. Whether a long time nudist, curious about nudism, or a nudist who is unsure about raising a nude family.

J'avais déjà possédé ce volume qui raconte l'effet social de la nudité chez les enfants. Illustré de façon sobre et respectueuse, les commentaires et avis sont excellents!

Even though the decades have ticked on by since this book was first published in the mid-'80s, the subject matter is no less volatile now than it was then: addressing the subject of social nudity and its effect on youth. The surface/superficial cultural position in the U.S. is that openness about nudity will psychologically harm kids. This book does a darn good job of presenting the alternative case with actual people having been raised as nudists having their say - rather than those who've never been exposed to nudism but have critical spirits. Would the book change anyone's mind? It certainly will give someone cause to think twice before condemning the practice of social nudity when kids are involved. A taboo subject to be sure. The media loves to put up inflammatory headlines over such subject matter. The book is a sociological presentation - so far more pages (221) of this well-written and thoughtful thesis is writing - with b&w photos as visual illumination of the text as a whole throughout the book. For those interested in an honest visual depiction of this subject on DVD, you can't go wrong with Czech Holiday and Natura Massage - both of which are sold on Amazon. A slightly different approach to putting the spotlight on the younger segment of those raised in a clothing-optional world can be seen in the interesting DVD called Photos 2, also available on Amazon.

Would you expect a nudist to say anything bad about nudism? Well, yes, actually, you would. This book is a decent treatment of the world of naturism and nudism and how it affects those children who live in it. If you're expecting an open forum, though, you won't find it here. This is a book by nudists for nudists -- useful, but not definitive. In addition, a more modern treatment may reveal some more disturbing trends. A good start, but the careful reader will not stop here.