Why is it ok for 13 and 14 year olds to go to a nude beach?

Question

Why is it ok for 13 and 14 year olds to go to a nude beach?
I went to a clothing optional beach last weekend in Miami, Florida and I was surprised at how many minors were on the beach. Most of them seemed to be in groups with their friends. How does the law allow a 12 or 13 year old girl to be around grown naked men like that but in any other scenario it would be considered inappropriate and illegal. I am 31 years old and I was lying nude near the shore and when it turned to my right, I saw 5 teenage girls lying nearby none of them looked over 14. I felt weird because there I was totally naked on my back with my one incher there and these girls were looking over. I then took my towel, put on my flops and left to another part of the beach. Low and behold there was like 5 teens over there also, 3 boys and two girls. I felt like the beach was full of middle age or high school age kids. Why isnt this illegal? None of those girls were nude. In fact they all had on shorts or skirts. This leads me into thinking they are there to gawk. Isnt this wrong?

Answer 1

The only thing about what you saw that could ever be illegal is if an adult was touching or harassing them in any way. I actually approve of the trend for the treatment and display of the human body in a more casual and acceptable way. Now this is not to say that there isn’t a time and place for nudity. I would not consider it to be acceptable for you or them to be wandering around the public streets nude, unless it was a clothing optional community. You expect to find nude people on a nude beach, so you shouldn’t be surprised when you do.

Now I can sympathize with you’re your embarrassment, after all you were brought up in an age where nudity was not acceptable in any shape or form. You have been engrained with the idea that every part of you that is “normally” covered is an embarrassment when it is not. You have also been taught from a very early age, that nudity is not acceptable until you are “Grown up”. The thing to understand here is that you were only one person on a whole beach full of people similarly equipped. And I’m sure they were not there to look at you.

You did do the right thing, you felt uncomfortable, and instead of making them go away with threats of legal action, you simply went some place else. That practice should be the way any situation is handled where we feel uncomfortable or don’t approve. If you hear something on the radio you don’t like, listen to a different station. Don’t write complaint letters to the owners or the FCC. If you don’t like what’s on a channel on TV, Change the channel, don’t try and get it taken off the air. If a go-go bar opens up in your neighborhood, then don’t go there if you don’t like it. If you don’t like people smoking in a restaurant, then go to a different restaurant. (I’m a NON-Smoker by the way).

Similarly, if you don’t want your children hearing or seeing these things, then it’s up to you to control them. It shouldn’t be that they are allowed to “Run Around” unattended while the rest of us have our right to participate taken away.

The point I’m trying to make is that you can’t impress your values, however good and right they may be, on the rest of society. The only thing those young girls and guys are guilty of is making you feel embarrassed. Also they may have felt a little self-conscious about their bodies, so they put on some clothing to feel better. A practice that in and of itself is acceptable. Remember where your were, it was a Clothing Optional beach, so right there in the name, you have the option to be nude, semi-nude or not nude at all. So why should they be made to change their ways simply to accommodate your feelings. After all Body Acceptance is the whole idea behind the naturist philosophy. You can’t have it both ways.

Answer 2

Wrong, how? If you are uncomfortable with it, you surely are free to move or leave, and I wouldn't judge you for that. However, those girls are, first of all, definitely well into the age where they'd be curious about naked men. I'm sorry that they had so little manners; their parents should definitely have explained the "no staring" rule. They would find another way to see what one looked like, though, so keeping them away from a nude beach would hardly protect their innocence.

Secondly, the real harm comes with making a big deal out of something. Kids who grow up in clothing-optional societies do not have weird sex problems. Nudity is just kinda the normal thing, and they don't really think anything of it. It messes them up, though, when they are taught that the human body is something shameful and to be kept hidden away. Seeing Janet Jackson's nipple did not freak any kids out. Watching grown-ups freak out about it and talking about how "horrible" it was probably did add on to the pile of complexes about sex and the human body we already give to kids in this society.

So, yeah, if you're uncomfortable, move or say something pointed about it being rude to stare. Really, though, don't try to push your misguided morality onto others through legislation.

Answer 3

Although it may be silly for them to 'gawk' it also takes a certain sense of bravado to go to a nude beach even clothes. Perhaps they are testing it out, or are curious about the male body and want to explore it in a non-sexual way. They may be the future nudists, and what we need is to accept them with clothes on. Then perhaps it will widen up more beaches to be clothing optional, where to each their own.

Answer 4

The reality of this question is - society says its wrong. Thats all there is to it.

Anywhere else in the world, nudity is acceptable, normal, and is thought little to nothing of it.

America has made its people scared to be human and exposed. We all got the same parts!

If america wasnt so uptight about nudity/sexuality, there would be less rape and sexual ignorance.

So to specifically answer you - it shouldnt be illegal because they are just as human as you are.

It shouldnt even be illegal to have sex with a mature woman - biologically mature. It only changed as we started to live longer lives and having children as early as possible was no longer necessary to keep the human race populated.

Answer 5

From my point of view should be illegal and immoral. They are not mature enough to be nude in public they are developing social skills, and they are very young to do what some adults do.

Also there is a big risk if someone takes them hidden pictures or video and post them on the Internet, is very dangerous for them to show their bodies in public, I dont think should be acceptable and I want to ask their parents why do they allow this unless they have no idea where their kids are.