What is your take on everyone in the hot tub nude even the minors?

What could possibly be the point of this ridiculous hypothetical question?

Is “Ewwww” a legitimate answer?

Getting nonplussed over nudity in ones own home is Puritanical, archaic and outdated at best. We are all naked underneath our clothes and this is this mans home, his child and they have open unfettered views over nudity and the beauty of the human body. No big deal!

Ok for a minor to be in the hot tub with his family, but the 2 gals (as you referred too HC) should not be there. Not at age 11!

I know that I don’t want to take a bath with an eleven year old. That kid shouldn’t be there with adults.

I’m with the sage lucille3.

1. For a “mixer” I’m not so sure I would be firing up the hot tub; it would seem that I have other duties to other guests that would preclude soaking in the tub.
2. My 11-year old son would have duties towards other guests his age, if the was a family oriented event. Being the only kid socializing with adults in a hot tub full of adults, naked ones or not, is not what an 11 year old should be doing at a mixed age event.
3. When in Rome, do as the Romans. Unless these people are living living amongst a colony of nudists, going nude in the hot tub should probably be confined to en famille.
4. Allowing to people to get into the tub with clothing but then asking them to remove them because you’re worried about fabric fibers and filters would seem to indicate that you bought a defective hot tub.

I’ve hosted lots of parties, with kids, neighbors, parents of neighbors, co-workers. There is no way that I would have ever had the time at such an event to get into a hot tub with any of them.

I would not do it. I would not enjoy Phil’s hot tub. The fiber thing is bogus.

Most eleven year olds that I know would be bored with the adults. They would rather be in their room playing video games. I would be uncomfortable with that situation.

@chyna That is a little creepy isn’t it?

@Adirondackwannabe I’m imagining a voyeur in the making.

@chyna I’m a perv but even I didn’t get started that early.

@Adirondackwannabe Oh phew. I’m glad I’m not the only perv on fluther…

To answer this “hypothetical” question, I understand that every family has a different take on nudity, but I find the described situation a bit disturbing. As Chyna said, most 11 year olds are bored with adults, so why would this 11 year old boy want to get in a hot tub with a group of them? And while I’m okay with same sex nudity in the family, I’m far from okay with opposite sex nudity where children are concerned. He should not have been allowed to get in a hot tub with naked women. With so many stories of child abuse and rampant pedophilia, I think it’s far safer to be more careful when it comes to nudity. Better safe than sorry.

For most people, our discomfort with opposite sex nudity in the home exists for a reason. I’m perfectly comfortable walking around naked in front of my daughters, but my husband doesn’t even like to walk around in his underwear and prefers to have at least a pair of shorts on. My 9 yr old daughter has been growing more modest each year, with no real prompting from us; it’s a built in sense for most people. She feels comfortable wearing undies with a long tshirt, but doesn’t want to be naked in front of daddy anymore. And it’s not that we’re a prudish family, it’s just a natural instinct to protect innocence and vulnerabilities.

@WillWorkForChocolate I haven’t seen you at the club meetings though.

@Adirondackwannabe Of course you haven’t seen me… Bwuahahahaha!

This is such a culturally determined and culturally charged issue. Right and wrong depends on what people are comfortable with. There are cultures where children and adults are pretty nude with each other on many occasions since birth. In Scandinavia, for example, no one thinks anything about being in the sauna nude with strangers.

Interestingly, I’m pretty sure that the Scandinavian nations have some of the lowest rates of sexual molestation in the developed world. I believe that in places where the human body is demystified (by not covering it up all the time), it isn’t such a fetishistic item. I suspect that cultures where nudity isn’t so taboo are healthier cultures, and have fewer problems with a great many issues, such as body image.

The United States has a significant Puritan heritage. You can see the results of that influence in nearly every comment here.

Cultural norms are picked up very quickly by children. I’m kind of sorry about this one because my son takes it so far that he won’t change his clothes in front of anyone (he goes into a bathroom stall to do it). He won’t use the urinal, either, for the same reason. And he’s a guy who is very physical and strong for his age. Nothing to be ashamed of.

I believe that taboo creates curiosity, and the stronger the taboo, the more interest it generates. I mean, why is it taboo?

Anyway, in an idea world, I’d have no problem with adults and children being nude together in a hot tub. No one would think twice about it because it had been happening all their lives.

But in the culture I live in now, only revolutionaries will do it because it breaks some very strong cultural expectations. When it’s adults and among friends and spouses, it is possible. Otherwise not.

I’m with @Fred931. Ewwwww!!

My biggest issue is the combination of the naked 11 y/o boy and naked adults. I guess the fact that his parents were there for supervision to make sure nothing happened to him is a plus, but how awkward to be one of the women in there with him. Creepy!

No 11 year old naked children in my hot tub, nope, nope, nope!

My daughter bathed and showered with my ex and I until she was about 7. That’s as far as it went in our family.

11 year old boys should not be ‘exposed’ to adult naked women in a hot tub.

I don’t call that puritanical, I call it healthy boundary setting.

But then again, I swim with my goose and he can get pretty worked up in breeding season. lol

I’m pretty experienced with hot blooded ganders in my hot tub. hahahaha

Next time , maybe the 11 year old will invite a girlfriend to join in. Fluther has been quite an eye-opener for me.
If my father and mother had been naked in a hottub when I was a kid there is no way I would have wanted to join them.

@Aster Fluther has been quite an eye-opener for me. You will find that a lot of things you thought correct or logical will be blown out of the water you hang around here long enough, I sure did, I would have never bet against it until Fluther.

@Cruiser We are all naked underneath our clothes and this is this mans home, his child and they have open unfettered views over nudity and the beauty of the human body. As you can see from most of the post beyond yours many have a different opinion not on nudity but who should be nude and where. I don’t think I have too stretch too far to say the culture of America from jump street was laced heavy in Judea/Christian ethics and followings. Many people laugh at how modest the Amish is and think those indigenous people who walk about their village with little more than a banana leaf lion cloth as uncivilized not realizing how ”Naked” they are. I suspect as @ wundayatta bought up they have way less sex crimes because the mysticism of it has been severely watered down.

@BarnacleBill 1. For a “mixer” I’m not so sure I would be firing up the hot tub; it would seem that I have other duties to other guests that would preclude soaking in the tub. I guess that would be determined by how many guest and how familiar or friendly those guest are to be left to entertain themselves, maybe they were shooting darts or playing billiards or spades.

3. When in Rome, do as the Romans. Unless these people are living living amongst a colony of nudists, going nude in the hot tub should probably be confined to en famille. I think this is a demarcation line, one either places it in more of a religious slant or a cultural slant. If I were invited to spend a weekend at a nudist colony even if every one else was naked I don’t think I could warm to the ideal of walking about with my Robert Earl swing in the breeze. I have learned from my time on the Internet chatting with people all over the world some of what we here in America would go ”eeeewwwww…..” too they do to some of the practices and actions we do. I know people who would buy cigarettes for their minors because they figure they already got themselves hooked they don’t want them pan handling for cigarette money or smoking butts who knows where they have been. They think it is the better of two evils while others think you should never enable or help out minors who are smoking and it is illegal on top of that. I guess it comes down to where your ”Rome” is on what protocol or ethics you follow.

@Adirondackwannabe Maybe he was one of those precocious kids and maybe there to sneak drinks becoming an alcoholic in the making and not a perv. Use a bigger brush….. ;-)

We often host gatherings where clothing is optional. I would not presume to tell a child he has to take his clothes off, but in a gathering of friends where it is perfectly natural, I can’t see any problem for those who choose to disrobe.

@noelleptc The people who are invited to our house for clothing optional functions are close enough friends to know our plans, and we freely discuss it with them. We also hold bathing suit only gatherings when unknown guests are coming.