Nordling said:Laws are an important way to keep a civilized society civil and I am not an anarchist in any way. But I do think that our society, because of our history, is still very prudish. Many societies in the world do not have our stigmas about public nudity and children don't tend to be scarred by it. How do we change this? Well...since laws sometime reflect our social stigmas, the only way to start is by breaking some laws...those that do not support progress as a society.
You must agree that there is a difference between nudity and sexual behavior, yes? Nudity does not equal sexual behavior. Kids exposed to nudity in an appropriate setting like a nude beach or nude sauna is not a problem and likely promotes a healthy body image. However, it is never okay to expose kids to public sexual behavior such as masturbation and flashing. Those things are not the same thing as public nudity.
99 nude at a beach with kids? Meh... who cares ? 99 topless in the back of a bookstore with kids walking around? Not the same thing. An exposed woman in that setting will likely have a very powerful impression on the child, and not a positive one.
I went to nude beaches as a kid and I can hardly remember anything about them except for two times when I came across people having sex. One time a woman was giving a blowjob and another a guy was fingering a woman. I was 5 at the time and those images are as clear as day. They didn't mess me up (I don't think), but they did have a powerful effect on me.
If you're going to argue that society should be more tolerant of nudity, I'll agree. But society should still have prohibitions on sexual behavior in public.