Nudity the least of our kids' worries

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Thursday, March 24, 2005 11:54 PM PST ∞

A couple weeks back in this same space, your loyal correspondent (that's me) took a somewhat less-than-gentle swipe at Escondido Councilwoman Marie Waldron for siccing the cops on a private, clothing-optional swim event at the Iceoplex.

Since then, the good councilwoman and myself have engaged in a bit of phone tag (never quite catching each other, but leaving messages on each other's machines) in which Ms. Waldron has repeatedly asserted that her sole purpose in seeking to shut down the nekkid swimathons was to protect the children at the event. That she was never concerned with what adults did in private.

That she is certain that my column was simply based on my misunderstanding her role in all this; that surely she and I can both agree that children are harmed by a clothing-optional environment.

While I certainly accept the councilwoman's good intentions, the fact remains that no, I can't agree that nudity harms children ---- because there is, to be blunt, simply no evidence that it does.

In fact, there is a substantial body of research that suggests children raised in clothing-optional environments have healthier attitudes toward their self-image and sex than those raised in more prudish ones. That such children delay sexual activity longer, and are less likely to engage in promiscuous behavior. That they're less likely to develop anorexia or bulimia.

There are numerous studies that show the incidence of sexual crime is significantly lower in clothing-optional environments than Western society at large. Whether we're talking "primitive" societies of the Third World where folks have yet to catch on to our prudishness, or free-wheeling back-to-nature hippie communes, clothing-optional cultures have created a healthier appreciation of the human body, seeing it as beautiful in ways beyond sex.

Let's be honest here ---- look at the recent news reports of molestations in our community. Where have they occurred? Invariably in places where the children and adults were both fully clothed at the time the molestations began ---- in our schools and churches, not exactly bastions of public nudity. It would seem that our children may, in fact, be safer at a nudist colony than at Bible school.

I believe Waldron is honestly worried about our kids, but she needs to focus on the real dangers facing them. If she'll take the time to look, the traffic conditions outside Escondido's schools will raise her moral righteousness far more than a bunch of skinny dippers. Helping the police acquire the resources they need to implement some meaningful and effective traffic control near the schools of Escondido would be proof positive of her concern.

She might also take the lead in providing more public parks in one of the most park-poor communities in the county. New initiatives to provide much-needed recreational opportunities and employment programs for our youth would also be welcome, as would more gang interdiction efforts.

Gangs, drugs and dangerous driving all represent far greater threats to our children than seeing a bunch of wrinkled skin ever will.

Contact staff writer Jim Trageser at (760) 740-5424 or jtrageser@nctimes.com.