Little Children & nudity (was) RE: [at-l] Clarification to nude hiking post

[nealb@midlandstech.com (William Neal)]

What did our ancestors do before clothes?  And some "primitive" societies
wear little more than their birthday suits.  And some primitive clothing is
little more than something handy to hand ornaments and tools from.  Or to
tuck certain parts of the body out of the way from danger.

Shame is in the mind of the society.  And kids have to learn shame.

A few years back, a friend went to France on some kind of exchange program.
He went with the family to a beach.  They calmly changed clothes in front of
him, and their suits were not usually seen in South Carolina back then.
Later he got up courage to ask the daughter out for a date.  He got turned
down because "I do not know you well enough."

A lot also has to do with the situation.  A lot of little girls (up to a
certain age) run around without tops.  Especially at home.  And one family I
know, who would be shocked senseless by a nude hiker, walks around with
minimal clothing at home and in their very big backyard.  

One of my friends -- who is religious -- keeps long wraps on her coat rack
near the front door.  

And I tend to wear the least I can in my apt.  I just keep hoping the fire
alarm doesn't wake me some nights and I forget where I've put my swim
trunks. 

I promise I won't do that on the trail, but the little kid in me wants too.

William, The Turtle
	-- I'll always wear my shell --

-----Original Message-----
From: Shane Steinkamp [mailto:shane@theplacewithnoname.com]
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 11:52 AM
To: DaRedhead@aol.com; at-l@backcountry.net
Subject: RE: [at-l] Clarification to nude hiking post


> I think kids must feel this way before society imposes
> it's hangups on them - yesterday we got a little bit of
> rain and Cassy stripped her clothes off and ran outside
> and started dancing around in the rain :)

Yes, the little savage obviously hasn't had her spirit broken and been put
in her little box yet.  Mine either.  Children have an instinctual
relationship with the world around them, and I'm learning new things from my
daughter all the time.  At the Nature Center she ran out from under the
shelter and ran around in the rain.  My wife and I both wound up dancing
(clothed!) in the rain with her.  All the adults thought we were crazy, but
all the kids looked jealous.

Peter Matthiessen wrote, "Soon the child's clear eye is clouded over by
ideas and opinions, preconceptions and abstractions. Simple free being
becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego. Not until years
later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been
withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines, and the heart is pierced in a
moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that
day...we become seekers."

I always liked that.

Shane