This is from the Health Education section of the C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital website.

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NUDITY AND YOUR CHILD

Feelings about nudity vary from family to family. Exposure to nudity with siblings or the parent of the same sex is fine and continues indefinitely (for example, in locker rooms). Nudity with the parent or sibling of the opposite sex probably should be phased out when a child is between ages 4 and 5 for these reasons:

* Your child will soon be entering school and nudity is not accepted at school.

* Most families in our society practice modesty, so a child who is interested in looking at other people's bodies can get into trouble.

* It is more comfortable for children to learn genital anatomy from siblings and friends of the same age than from seeing their parents nude.

If you agree with these reasons, try the following recommendations to begin to teach your child respect for privacy when he or she is 4 to 5 years old:

* Stop showering and bathing with your child (especially if the child is of the opposite sex).

* Close the bathroom door when you use the toilet.

* Close the bedroom door when you get dressed and suggest that your child do the same.

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What do you suppose these experts would have to say, not only about 8-year-old siblings of opposite genders being naked together, but about them (1) being naked with other children (age? girls or boys?) who are not family members, (2) being naked outdoors in a public place, and especially (3) having their pictures taken by their own dad while they are naked and then having a local drugstore--where people might know these kids--develop the film?

I'm the father of two girls, 7 and 8, and would not allow them to be naked in the presence of my best buddy or any other adult male, or in the presence of boys their own age, for that matter, and I sure wouldn’t violate their privacy by photographing them nude at their age or let anyone else do that either.

But I guess some people who enjoy looking at naked kids and photos of naked kids like to hide behind fancy arguments about “freedom. They sure are free with the insults for anybody who doesn’t agree with them. I think some such people are hiding out on this thread, tut-tutting everybody that this is just a little matter of some people being too "uptight" about "nudity."

Well, boundaries are important, and saying so doesn’t make anybody a prude except in the opinion of selfish jerks and perverts who can’t think beyond the end of their own nose--or other body parts.

-- Bill Morton

besides the reason listed in the section below, I would add that I've read it's dangerous for girls in particular to have unclear understanding of appropriate and inappropriate adult male nudity in their life.

YOung girls who encounter adult male nudity tend to have trouble saying "no" when inappropriate adult male nudity is pushed on them. They just don't have the maturity to distingue and say no. They can't distinguish nuances and end up with confused sexual isses further complicated if the adult male they saw nude was Dad.

Suburban mayor charged with child porn

July 25, 2006

BY ART PETERSON

Thomas Adams, longtime Green Oaks mayor and former chairman of the Lake County Republican Central Committee, was charged Monday with possession and distribution of child pornography.

Adams, 67, faces 11 counts of disseminating child pornography and two counts of possession. Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti set his bond at $100,000.

Prosecutor Patricia Fix said sheriff's and state's attorney's investigators first received tips on Adams' alleged illegal activities in March 2005. Adams allegedly sent child pornography, via attachments to e-mail, to undercover police in Clearwater, Fla.

The alleged pornography includes both still images and at least one explicit movie of a boy masturbating, Fix said.

Several phony names were used in his alleged pornography trading, she said, but all were tracked back to Adams' home in the 800 block of Anderson Drive in Green Oaks.

After being taken into custody, Adams acknowledged that all of the screen names were his and that no one else used his computer, Fix said, adding that Adams admitted he had "a problem with addiction."

Defense attorney Thomas Briscoe argued for a minimal bond, saying Adams "has no criminal record, and these are all images, there are no live victims." Briscoe added that Adams "has been involved with public service most of his life."

Sun-Times News Group

A immigrated to this country a few years ago from Western Europe. I appreciate and respect the cultural differences, try to be aware of the things in common and the things different. Sexuality and things connected with it are one of the things that are handled different in the U.S. and Western Europe. It's not always clear if one way or the other is "better" or "right" or "wrong" - mostly different. Based on stories like this and some knowledge about what the prevalent view on the issue is, I am very reluctant to let my 3 year old run around naked, certainly anywhere near public sight. However, I find it sad that she grows up in an invironment where she can't play at the beach naked like I did at that age. The problem is that there is no connection to sexuality in this unless sick people make one. Yes, these sick people can be sexual predators who sadly exist. Those may be watching your dressed children at the mall as well by the way.

The other sick people making such connections are those from the pseudo-scientific world of child "services", psycho"logy" and other leftist, state centered ideologies that have taken over large parts of our educational and public "service" sector. They become willing actors in a game that is aimed at undermining and dismantel the values of the traditional family. If you want to teach your children that nudity is not a "bad" thing but needs to be handled according to rules, you're already in trouble.

Reading the statements from the hospital policies that are not based on an real life data, is sickening - almost as sickening as the real predators.

Let's face it: America has a problem with sexual behavior, more than for example Western European countries. Part of that problem is that we (and our society) teaches our kids fuzzy lines of what sexual behavior is and what is not. Playing on the beach naked is NOT sexual behavior. American seem obsessed with nudety and later make connections in non-sexual contexts. Sorry, a woman breast-feeding? Nothing less sexual than that. Sometimes a breast is just a breast and not a sexual object. And why the obsession with breasts and butts anyway? Why can't you see them on public TV but legs are ok? Well, it should all be "ok". And Janet Jackson's boobs (though not a pretty sight) do not, I repeat - do NOT corrupt our children. It's actually rather sad that she can use them as something to get attention here, while people in other cultures would just laugh about it.

Cultures, may I add, where the good old Sesamestreet opener during the theme song showed in one scene naked kids playing at a public pool between 1970something and 1990something without anybody making the weird connection of child pornography. Since I have some of the official German language Sesamestreet DVDs for my daughters with the original material including that opener, I sometimes wonder if I could be arrested for possesion of child endangering material.