Video: My daughter, The Teenage Nudist (A British Documentary)

[Dario Western]

3) The hair waxing.  Body hair is natural, and it is given to us for a reason.  I think young people need to stop worrying about it and accept it as being natural if they want to be 'naturists'.  Body hair serves to keep the body warm in cold climates. 

Are you saying shaving/waxing stops you being a naturist?

Naturism is about freedom, if you want to wax/shave it's personal, and to me it doesn't mean you're not a naturist. I tolerate both.

Great show by the way! :)

As the title implies, naturism is about respecting nature and what is natural.  Body hair is natural.

[Cabding]

This looks to be amazing! I have the link saved and will be watching it when I have the spare moment. I've watched the entire second season of "walking dead" so i'm a bit worn out on internet videos right now.

[rrs9]

I showed my girlfriend and she loved the vegan cooks. She is even considering having her own little tea party with all our friends to promote body positivity.

[andrewg]

I showed my girlfriend and she loved the vegan cooks. She is even considering having her own little tea party with all our friends to promote body positivity.

That sounds awesome Robin. Nice work!
I take it your girlfriend is a nudist too then? Or was this as a result of watching the doco?

[Stuart]

As the title implies, naturism is about respecting nature and what is natural.  Body hair is natural.

I wish you wouldn't continually attach socio-political agendas to naturism, especially ones you don't live up to yourself, as in this case.

[NaturalInNY]

I showed my girlfriend and she loved the vegan cooks. She is even considering having her own little tea party with all our friends to promote body positivity.

That's really cool. If this doc gets more people trying it out and feeling good about themselves, then that's a great thing.

[Steggsaurus]

My girlfriend was also pretty impressed with the documentary.  She's already made the decision that she wants to go to naturist places and events with me but I think the film did help to show her that young naturists are no different to young textiles, except in attitudes to nudity.

Some specific thoughts:
Much has already been said on Channel 4's choice of title (obviously they were going for the "lonely masturbator" demographic...) as it really didn't fit the film that well.  But Mollie did seem to be the core of the film.

Mollie came across as probably more typical of youth generally than of youth naturism.  There's lots of young women who see nothing wrong with topless sunbathing and skinny-dipping; these aren't activities exclusive to naturism.  She seemed to mostly draw the line at full nudity but maybe that was down to her choosing to disrobe in pretty public places in the company of people who weren't willing to be naked.  She came across well with her body-positive attitude but I don't think she was actually as unique as the film maybe wanted her to be.

Alex topless in Manchester highlighted as usual that there are some problems governing the enforcement of public nudity laws in this country - while it is not illegal to be naked in public, you can be arrested by police who seem to be unaware of exactly what is acceptable and so feel that they should err on the side of caution and let the courts worry about what behaviour is and isn't allowed under law. 

The person who said that promoting body-positivity was easier for those with conventionally-attractive bodies had a point but someone having a "good" body should be no barrier to criticising the notion that there are "good" and "bad" bodies in the first place.  Sure, it might be more encouraging to others so see people of all shapes and sizes being confident naked but anyone being confident naked (even if society tells them they should have no reason not to be) is a positive step.

Something that was emphasised less in the film was interaction between the older generation of naturists and the younger one.  We were told that BN were desperate to recruit new members (which was where Daryl came in and did his job well) but the real test for encouraging young people to get involved in the more traditional aspects of naturism (social events, clubs and spas rather than skinny-dipping on holiday and riding in the WNBR) is in ensuring that when they come into those situations for the first time they don't encounter an "old person's world" with nothing offered to encourage them to stay involved beyond the opportunity to be naked without worry. 

So it would have been nice (and potentially more encouraging to young people interested in naturism) to see more of YBN and the activities they put on, rather than just focussing on the recruitment of new members (although the Bristol university society Jesse has started is impressive, especially given that most universities require around 6-10 interested people before they will grant a society official status - so by the time of the fresher's fair shown in the film, they must already have managed to drum up some significant interest by themselves!)

[NaturalInNY]

The person who said that promoting body-positivity was easier for those with conventionally-attractive bodies had a point but someone having a "good" body should be no barrier to criticising the notion that there are "good" and "bad" bodies in the first place.  Sure, it might be more encouraging to others so see people of all shapes and sizes being confident naked but anyone being confident naked (even if society tells them they should have no reason not to be) is a positive step.

  Very well said.

[john.mowgli]

great documentary! i'd like to get involved
if the same company was making a doc about naturism!

the daily telegraph was really mean about naturism and the documentary!

show support to the naturist way of life in their comments section:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9011160/My-Daughter-the-Teenage-Nudist-Channel-4-review.html

[rrs9]

I showed my girlfriend and she loved the vegan cooks. She is even considering having her own little tea party with all our friends to promote body positivity.

That sounds awesome Robin. Nice work!
I take it your girlfriend is a nudist too then? Or was this as a result of watching the doco?

We are both new to it. Her more so. But we are exploring it together which is great.

[nakedvegancooks]

I showed my girlfriend and she loved the vegan cooks. She is even considering having her own little tea party with all our friends to promote body positivity.

Thats great! Let me know how it goes :D

I rather loved this. Vegan dudes and dudettes you were great in it!

Thanks! and thanks to everyone who have said lovely things. Its all been a bit overwhelming and nakedveganHQ...

2) Clare and Greta.  Both of them are adults, they shouldn't have to go seeking consent or reassurance from anyone to be naturists.  I don't think Greta had anything to worry about with being sexualised in the doco as it was all done above board.  I think it was The Guardian who called Clare a 'free thinker' for being a square peg in a round hole.  Say what??!

Nevertheless, well done to all who took part, and I especially found the NVC scenes to be very inspirational.  I've got a life drawing artist friend who is a nudist and has been talking to me about having a gallery this year featuring our work.  I'd like to make it a clothing optional event with some nice herbal tea and vegan snack foods.  :-)

Greta didnt take part because her mum basically threatened to cut her off. Harsh, I know.

Let us know what happens with the art exhibition! :D x

[Dario Western]

Greta didnt take part because her mum basically threatened to cut her off. Harsh, I know. [/quote]

   

Whaaaat??!  What kind of a mother is she to threaten her daughter with that?  That is one highly dysfunctional mother!!

 

"We cannot form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us." - Johannes Von Goethe

[MERRD]

I think her mother has every right to say whatever she thinks is fit. And Greta can respond to that in every way she wants. I think it's fairly harsh to call her 'a dysfunctional mother'. I atleast am not aware of the background and the context she has said this in and I dont think you are either. Part of naturism for me is the mutual respect. I would not feature on a documentary like this if my mother would advice me not to.

[nakedvegancooks]

Whaaaat??!  What kind of a mother is she to threaten her daughter with that?  That is one highly dysfunctional mother!!

Greta's mum is, on the whole pretty cool. Like most mums I think she has had some problems with how her kids have turned out, but on balance is ok - although i dont know how much I should talk about that sort of thing cause its not my stories to tell.
To provide a bit of context, Gretas mum used to work for the BBC, quite high up before she had to give up her job. I think she is pretty used to seeing how the media can screw people over. Whilst it was a pretty extreme reaction, it understandable. My parents werent exactly happy with me going on the documentary, but after coming out as queer, and seeing me be arrested at protests, and talk openly about doing drugs and stuff, I think they have pretty much learned that I'll just do what I want - I listen to their advice, of course, but dont give them special vetoing powers!

[Danee]