Youth Organizations and Sexual Positivity or Nudity

I’m not sure if this is the right place to put this but I think it falls under the Parenting side of things and its more of a rambling rant of stuff that has been on my mind for a while than a discussion

anyway, here goes.

I belong to an international youth organization, that provides mentoring, leadership and aim to give the youth experiences and exposure to new ideas that they might not have a chance to have over their lifetimes.

In line with and reaction to International and local scandals around grooming and sexual exploitation the organization has released "information flyers" that give both youth and adults information on how to report and manage inappropriate situations. This is a great idea but I’m not sure it goes far enough, and, in some spaces, it goes too far.

Firstly, there we aren’t allowed to discuss with the youth what may be inappropriate situations. This is leading to complications where 99% of the "reports" are about minor issues that have nothing to do with the purpose of the initiative. Things like the lack of light in the school hall. (They couldn’t find the light switch), Flooded toilets etc. tend to block up the system because we haven’t been allowed to actually talk to the youth about what constitutes an inappropriate situation. I think if we could at least discuss with them how they think this service could be used we could clear up a whole heap of misinformation. However, being risk adverse the organization doesn’t want us discussing sexual or body positive issues with the youth. Even talk of hygiene outside of washing hands and normally exposed body parts is looked upon with skepticism. While I agree a lot of this should be covered by the parents, I have found some of them are almost as scared of discussion this stuff with their children in case someone thinks they are abusing or grooming the child. Then you have solo parents with children of the opposite sex who just don’t know how a penis or vagina should be cleaned.

While it’s not specifically my job to teach these youth how to look after their health and sexual health I don’t see anyone else stepping up to do it. so, we are going in every decreasing spirals. From my perspective, being open and transparent around these topics will help society as a whole. I want to be able to answer the questions that i have answer for or help the youth find the answers. I am happy to teach them how to look after their sexual health and properly clean themselves. I believe that both males and females should be taught together how to wash and look after their bodies not in segregated spaces. They should be able to see what a diverse range of both sexes so they can see that different is normal but also how to know when things aren’t normal. As we all know ignorance is the main reason children and youth can and continue to be abused and taken advantage of. However, we keep pushing these topics further in to the dark. We need to find a safe way to teach them.

While all of this is going on there’s also the push to embrace diversity. In race, religion and sexuality which is amazing. However, i find that while we can talk about all these things and people are more open to ideas around these areas, I still can’t talk to the youth about my lifestyle choices. Now this is going to sound bad, but I can’t think of any way to say it. As a Christian I can discuss my beliefs with the youth, my colleagues who are Buddhist and Muslim can do the same without any repercussions. Even being openly Homosexual can be discussed and appropriately demonstrated. However, what I can’t discuss with the youth is my beliefs in Nudity and sexual positivity. I can discuss this with my other leaders. but never when there are youth around and that is wrong. I feel like I have to hide part of my life.

Both my children are part of the youth group I belong too. They talk with their pears and discuss living in a clothing optional household. And I know they are talking about things in a positive way, but occasionally i get asked the question " are you a Nudists" or "do you always run around in the nude in your house" and then there’s the "if you’re a nudist why are you wearing clothes now" My replies are generally in order - Yes, only when appropriate and "because it is appropriate to were uniform in this environment. But I’d love to be able to elaborate and even answer follow up questions without the fear of a parent calling the police or Organization management to get me removed.

Back in my youth in the same organization we were allowed to dress and undress in the same room as the opposite sex and all range of ages including adults. We did the whole midnight skinny dip because it was dark. we swum naked because we didn’t want to get our uniform wet. Now days even discussion these things can see us getting in trouble with talk of investigations into historical abuse coming up. Don’t get me wrong those investigations need to happen and people who take advantage of youth for their own gratification need to be held accountable. but none of the stuff we did was for that reason. It was all for the experience and no one was excluded or made fun of if they didn’t join in. I'd love to be able to provide a safe space for the youth members to do similar things. Experience a naked mud fight, skinny dipping, the feeling of freedom while sliding thought the water, Walking beside a mountain stream with nothing on. But at the present tie it’s all a pipe dream.