There has been an awful lot of misunderstanding this past week about the nude wave-pool event at a Calgary leisure centre that was cancelled. A lot of people expressed concern that the police were not taking worries seriously and that there would be children present and, therefore, pedophiles.
These concerns are certainly valid, and it's understandable why someone would be confused as to the nature of the cancelled wave-pool night.
We all care about the safety of children, including participants of the cancelled event.
Most people think nudity is equal to sex, as that is often times what results when they see someone naked. Movies are rated based partly on how much nudity they have. You'd never take a kid to an NC17- or R-rated movie, so people mistakenly apply the same logic to nude activities. It's pertinent to point out almost all nudity in movies is meant to be sexual. There are movies such as Schindlers's List that have nudity in non-sexual ways, but those movies are incredibly rare. In fact, I can't think of another one off the top of my head.
There is nothing inherently sexual about nudity. You can be highly sexual with all of your clothes on. You can also be non-sexual with your clothes off.
But while some of the online comments directed at this event were from people who understand and defend social nudity, others clearly don't understand it and apply their false ideas as the reason why children should not be at such events.
The idea that nudity is what would lead a pedophile to molest children is outrageous and offensive. First, it suggests that wearing clothes prevents rape. This contributes to rape culture by promoting the idea that someone "asked for it" by the way they are covering or not covering their body. By not exposing our society to non-sexual-nudity, we teach everyone that nudity equals sexuality. Having non-sexual-nude events encourages a culture of consent. It's important to teach this so that people don't just touch or take what they want without permission.
Second, it suggests that dozens of adults in a pool would stand back and watch a pedophile molest a child – with their parents included in that group – and do nothing.
When this event was first confirmed and posted in November, parents kept e-mailing me to ask if they could bring their kids.
As a result of all the e-mails, a notation was added saying that the event was open to all ages. This was planned as a fun night for adults to have non-sexual, naked fun, with like-minded individuals and a couple of parents wanted to bring their children.
Parents, who are always supervising their children, would have recognized it as a safe place. Children love to run around naked. If children want to wear clothes, they do. Nobody is forcing anyone's children to do anything they don't want to do. The cancelled event was also going to be about 95 per cent adults.
There is nothing immoral or wrong with human bodies, and people wanted to come to this event because they recognize that we are trying to create a safe place for them to be vulnerable in a fun way.
This event was not for people to enjoy looking at other bodies, but rather a place to enjoy being naked. The people that were excited about this event understand that. We were trying to create just another night at the pool, but with a relaxed dress code. Actions that are not acceptable at a public pool during public hours would not have been acceptable at the cancelled event.
Most of the concerns were clearly addressed on the website, though I will concede a lot of the information was spread out, which lead to confusion. It has since been consolidated into the rules & waiver, and policy pages. Believe it or not, nudists do care about their privacy and pictures were a very big concern with ample precautions and safeguards in place.
Family-friendly nude activities happen all across Canada and North America in city pools and are open to all ages. Every single public nude beach in North America is family friendly and open to all ages. Edmonton has two groups that host family friendly swims every month that are open to all ages. This event was going to fall perfectly in line with any other family-friendly nude group in North America.
It takes a lot for people to wrap their heads around the concept that people can be naked without it being sexual.
We understand our events are not for everyone, and we are okay with that. I'm sorry some Calgarians feel we should feel ashamed of our bodies, and that they fear us for refusing to do so. It certainly wasn't our intent to create such a fiasco.
The backlash and outrage to this event proves Calgary needs a lot more healthy nudity.