Childhood nudity

For broader coverage of this topic, see Nudity.

Childhood nudity is the state of being in which a prepubescent human is without clothing or not clothed according to social norms. In contemporary societies, the appropriateness of children being unclothed in various situations is controversial, with many differences in behavior worldwide. Depending upon conceptions of childhood innocence and sexuality in general, societies may regard not wearing clothing in public before puberty as normal, as acceptable in particular situations such as same-sex groups, or unacceptable.

Siblings bathing together, Greenbelt, Maryland (1942)

Until approximately 12,000 years ago, all humans were hunter-gatherers living in close contact with their natural surroundings. In addition to sharing a way of life, they were naked much of the time. In prehistoric pastoral societies in warmer climates, and in the ancient civilization of the Mediterranean, adults might be minimally clothed or naked while working, and children might not wear clothes until puberty.

Before the final decades of the 20th century, the nudity of all small children, and boys until puberty, was generally viewed as non-sexual. Since the 1980s, there has been a shift in attitudes by those who associate nudity with the threat of child abuse and exploitation, which has been described by some as a moral panic. Other societies continue to maintain the need for openness and freedom for healthy child development, allowing children to be nude without shame in safe environments.

Stages of human development

See also: Child and Puberty

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents and caregivers learn to understand that a child's explorations of their own and others bodies are motivated by curiosity, not adult sexuality. A report issued in 2009 on child sexual development in the United States by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network addressed the questions parents have about what to expect regarding their children being clothed as they grow up. Preschool children have a natural curiosity about their own bodies and the bodies of others, and little modesty in their behaviors. The report recommended that parents learn what is normal in regard to nudity and sexuality at each stage of a child's development and refrain from overreacting to their children's nudity-related behaviors unless there are signs of a problem (e.g. anxiety, aggression, or sexual interactions between children not of the same age or stage of development). The general advice for non-family caregivers is to find ways of setting boundaries without giving the child a sense of shame.

Early childhood

Sexual development begins in infancy, along with physical and cognitive abilities. Preschool children have little sense of modesty, and will seek bodily comfort by removing their clothes and touching themselves. They are curious about the difference between boys and girls, and learn mainly by sight and touch; wanting to see and touch the bodies of others their own age. They usually learn the difference between boys and girls, including themselves, by the age of three or four. Preschool children have little understanding of the effects of their behavior on others, and seeking comfort, may remove their clothes. As their language use grows, they will use words they have heard (either euphemistic or accurate) for body parts and functions. At age four to six they will ask questions about bodily functions, attempt to see other people when they are naked, and explore the bodies of others their own age.

Normal play includes behaviors such as playing doctor and other sexual games, looking at or briefly touching other children's genitals, sexual talk and jokes, and masturbation. Normal sexual behavior is exploratory, spontaneous and infrequent. It is voluntary, none of the children being upset. The behavior is easily diverted when privacy rules are explained. These behaviors occur occasionally between peers or siblings who are of similar age, size, and level of development. Caregivers must determine when behavior becomes problematic and requires intervention. In some families any sexual behavior, such as masturbation, may be seen as problematic or unacceptable, even though the behavior is generally viewed as normal by child behavior specialists.

Late childhood and adolescence

Between the age of 7 and 12 children may prefer to be alone for dressing and undressing, although there are differences in norms regarding family nudity. There may be social difficulties depending upon individual differences in sexual development of children of the same age, in particular the beginning of puberty. Children's understanding of these changes depends on correct information and educational materials being provided as they grow. Parents may be uncomfortable providing such information, and their children may turn to inaccurate information and values contained in movies, television, and the internet.

Children tend to have friends of the same sex until early adolescence. They may participate in sex play that is motivated by curiosity, and does not reflect upon sexual orientation. Parents may respond to such behavior by providing age-appropriate guidance regarding social rules.

Puberty begins between ages 7 and 12, generally a year later for boys than for girls. Although an adult-level capacity for logical thinking may be reached by 16, psychosocial maturity, the ability to make decisions under stress or emotions may not occur until after 18, creating a maturity gap. Sexual behaviors between adolescents of the same age are generally considered normal by professionals if it does not involve coercion or purely sexual motivation. Otherwise, appropriateness of sexual behavior depends upon family and cultural traditions regarding physical expression of affection, privacy accorded to children, and openness about sexuality.

Cultural differences

See also: Nakedness and colonialism

Anthropologist David MacDougall states that in Western cultures: "The sense of shock at seeing children naked seems to be mainly a recent phenomenon."

Children swimming in the creeks of Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria (2019)

In tropical regions of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, casual nudity existed as a social norm until the colonial era. Many Indigenous peoples with little or no contact with outsiders continue to practice traditional dress, including nudity.

In contemporary rural villages of Sub-Saharan Africa, prepubescent boys and girls play together nude, and women bare their breasts in the belief that the meaning of naked bodies is not limited to sexuality. In Lagos, Nigeria, some parents continue to allow children to be naked until puberty. Some express fears about pedophiles and strangers taking photographs, but parents typically want their children to have the same freedom as their own childhood and grow up with a positive body image.

England

Despite the prudery of Victorian society in Britain, child nudity was accepted as natural in many contexts. Children frequently played unclothed in nurseries, and unclothed children appeared regularly in fine art and commercial advertisements. The British view of childhood as innocent did not extend to America during the same period. In 1891 an American visiting England wrote to a travel columnist that he could not bring his young daughter to the beach without their being surrounded by naked boys. The columnist replied that Englishmen have no problem with their daughters playing with naked boys to the age of ten, but draw a line at fifteen.

Drawing hour at a school in Suffolk, England (c. 1925)

In England during the interwar period (1918–1939), a number of schools were established which practiced an educational program that included coeducation and nudity while playing sports or sunbathing. Children were often on the cover of nudist magazines because nude adults could not be displayed on newsstands.

Children were featured in British nudist magazines during the interwar period

A 1940s film showed an outing for Scouts and Girl Guides in which boys to the age of about ten play nude, while older boys and all girls are dressed.

Finland

Professor of Child Psychiatry Jari Sikkonen notes that visitors may wonder at the liberal attitudes towards nudity, but Finns have seen naked children and adults often from infancy in the sauna, and do not associate such nudity with sex.

Israel

Children at Givat Brenner Kibbutz, Israel (c.1950)

Israeli kibbutzim pursued a program to create a society which included social and gender equality. In some, unrelated boys and girls lived in dormitories together, and showered together.

Islam

In Islamic law, the major legal traditions outline specific age thresholds and conditions regarding when adults may view or touch a child's private parts ('awrah).

Within Sunni jurisprudence, the Hanbali school permits touching or looking at the body of a child under seven years of age, restricting views of a male child's private parts between ages seven and nine and prohibiting non-relatives from viewing a female child over seven. The Hanafi school allows adults to view any part of a male child up to age four, after which viewing the private parts is forbidden until sexual maturity brings full adult modesty rules. The Maliki school permits a woman to look at and touch a boy under eight and look at him until age twelve, whereas a man may look at and touch a female child under two years and eight months, and look at her without touching until age four. For the Shafi'i school, an adolescent boy is subject to adult rules, while a younger boy is exempt only if he lacks sexual discernment; once a boy can understand and describe what he sees with sexual awareness, adult modesty rules apply to him. For a young girl, if she has developed physical maturity, she is treated under adult regulations; otherwise, viewing her private parts is restricted to her caregivers.

In Imami jurisprudence, viewing a child's private parts is permissible up to five or six years of age. Across all schools, viewing any child with sexual interest remains strictly prohibited regardless of age.

Japan

In Japanese culture, bathing is for relaxation and purification as well as cleanliness, and is part of both Shintoism and Buddhism. Purification in the bath is not only for the body, but the heart or spirit (kokoro). Traditionally, the concept of indecent exposure did not exist, so all ages and genders bathed together. Some public baths may offer gender segregation, but the option of mixed bathing continues.

In the Tokugawa period in Japan (1603–1868), entire communities, men, women, boys and girls, frequented public bathhouses where they were unclothed together. Public baths (sentō) were once common, but became less so with the addition of bathtubs in homes. Some parents in contemporary Japan continue to bathe with children up to adolescence without regard to gender.

United States

Precolonial and colonial eras

See also: Nakedness and colonialism § Americas

Precolonial Native American tribes did not stigmatize or impose any association of sexuality onto childhood nudity. An historical example is Pocahontas, who was at an age when first encountering the English that she was reported to have entered their camp naked.

The beliefs of early colonists in America varied based upon religion. The Puritans viewed complete nudity, even in private for bathing, as immodest, and limited hygiene to washing the hands, face and regularly changing undergarments. Bathing remained uncommon until the 18th century.

Late 19th and early 20th centuries

America saw the rise of a subculture of boys and young men who swam nude in any available body of water. Local ordinances often prohibited nude swimming, but they frequently went unenforced or involved very young children who did not receive punishment. In 1907, Nashville, Tennessee deputy sheriffs took no action to stop men and boys from swimming nude in the Cumberland River outside of populated areas. As urbanization in the Northern United States brought this activity into public view, cities and towns responded by constructing swimming pools that continued nude swimming. Outdoor nude swimming in isolated American summer camps also existed as a socially accepted practice usually, but not always, segregated by gender. Farm & Wilderness camps in Plymouth, Vermont were clothing optional from their beginning in 1919 until the late 1980s.

Nude swimming in indoor pools

A swim lesson in a YMCA, 1915

Main article: Nude swimming in US indoor pools

Until after World War II, indoor swimming pools often could not maintain their water quality to limit the spread of disease. Studies found that swimsuits served as disease vectors, resulting in public health recommendations to ban swimsuits for men and boys in indoor pools. Facilities also required boys to use communal showers before entering the pool because they often lived in dirty and overcrowded tenements without showers or bathing facilities. In 1909, The New York Times reported that the youngest boys at a citywide elementary school swimming competition competed nude.

"The athletic prowess of the very small boys in the eighty-pound championship was of less moment to the spectators than the enthusiasm of the youngsters, who discovered in their trial heats that their swimming trunks impeded them, and that they could swim faster nude. Thereafter the rule about trunks went into the discard, and very small boys in a state of nature swam like tadpoles through the many heats necessary for a decision."

In contrast, girls' swim classes almost never featured nude swimming. In 1947, the superintendent of schools in Highland Park, Michigan directed girls aged 9 to 13 at the Liberty School to wear swimsuits in response to a protest by mothers to the board of education. Boys in the schools had not worn suits in their classes for years and girls requested to do the same in order to give them more time in the pool. While following the wishes of parents who believed girls should behave modestly, all the board members disagreed, stating that there was "no moral issue involved."

Nude male swimming in indoor pools largely vanished after the passage of Title IX in 1972, which prohibits sex based discrimination in public education and government funded programs. Scouting America policy requires proper attire during activities and prohibits skinny-dipping.

Contemporary practices

Nudity in the home

American writer Bonnie Rough lived in Amsterdam and the US while raising her children, and learned that Dutch families typically experienced mixed gender family nudity growing up. In the US, children are not likely to have similar experiences; family nudity typically being nonexistent or gender-segregated. A US survey of 500 mental health and child welfare professionals who were predominantly female, white, and middle-aged indicated that siblings of the same gender bathing together was acceptable to the age of 6 to 8, but of mixed gender only to the age of 5 or 6.

Americans avoid talking about the body and sex with their children, in particular not using real or specific names for body parts and functions. Yet giving children correct vocabulary is part of teaching them how to accurately report if they are touched inappropriately. Also, the basic vocabulary is the starting point for a lifetime of sex education, which cannot wait until adolescence to be learned thoroughly. This is made more difficult since most American parents did not learn these things growing up, so they cannot be role models for appropriate behavior. In the Netherlands, sexual education begins at age 4, but in many US communities, early childhood sex ed is thought to be inappropriate.

In a 2009 article for The New York Times "Home" section, Julie Scelfo interviewed parents regarding the nudity of small children at home in situations which might include visitors outside the immediate household. The situations ranged from a three-year-old being naked at a large gathering, to the use of a backyard swim pool becoming an issue when the children of disapproving neighbors participated. For the parents, such behavior was a natural part of childhood. For others, a child being nude is uncivilized and potentially dangerous due to attracting pedophiles. These differing points of view may create conflict.

Although a serious social issue, the American public often greatly overestimates the prevalence of pedophilia, particularly in conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate and QAnon. This phenomenon has been described by Michael Karger, professor of Justice Studies and Arizona State University, as a moral panic; a social movement against an exaggerated or fabricated threat from individuals or groups believed to undermine the safety and security of society, resulting from restrictive norms surrounding nudity and sexuality.

Parent-child nudity

In 1995, Gordon and Schroeder contended that "there is nothing inherently wrong with bathing with children or otherwise appearing naked in front of them", noting that doing so may provide an opportunity for parents to provide important information. They noted that by ages five to six, children begin to develop a sense of modesty, and recommended to parents who desire to be sensitive to their children's wishes that they respect a child's modesty from that age onwards. In a 1995 review of the literature, Paul Okami concluded that there was no reliable evidence linking exposure to parental nudity to any negative effect. Three years later, his team finished an 18-year longitudinal study that showed that childhood exposure to nudity was associated with slight beneficial effects in adolescents, with better social and sexual adjustment.

In 1999, psychologist Barbara Bonner recommended against nudity in the home if children exhibit sexual play of a type that is considered problematic. In 2019, psychiatrist Lea Lis recommended that parents allow nudity as a natural part of family life when children are very young, but to respect the modesty that is likely to emerge with puberty.

In an article on family intimacy, sociologist Jacqui Gabb notes that while parents often attribute changes in bathroom privacy and nudity to the child's growing desire for autonomy, this framing often serves to absolve parents of moral responsibility. Gabb argues that the adult–child dynamic remains hierarchical, with boundary changes ultimately dictated by parental decisions and anxieties over public scrutiny.

Peer group nudity

Societies have various norms regarding children of similar age being nude together when needed, such as changing clothes or bathing. When very young, this may be in mixed gender groups; with sex segregation beginning at or before puberty. Different norms may apply to girls, on the assumption that they are more modest.

Preschool daycare

See also: Day-care sex-abuse hysteria

The normal behavior of very young children may become an issue outside the home. Daycare in Denmark had traditionally been tolerant of nudity and sexuality among preschool children until the beginning of the 21st century, but differences of opinion have arisen with the possibility that not only caregivers but other children may be accused of inappropriate behavior or abuse.

In New Zealand, school staff confront different points of view between those that think children are sexual in age appropriate ways that begin before puberty, versus those that think children are asexual until after puberty. In the former view, behavior involving genitals may be seen as normal play; the latter view, any childhood sexuality is seen as a sign of abuse, which may include labeling one child as an abuser.

In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of charges were brought against daycare providers, mainly in the US, alleging sexual abuse and satanic rituals, but were rarely sustained; being based upon improper techniques for interviewing children, using leading questions and sometimes coercion to elicit the desired result.

Pedophilia panics in France and the United States were found to be due to sensational media reports and political crusading rather than any increase in molestation incidents, which remain rare. However, the term moral panic should not be used to claim that a social problem is not real, as sometimes occurs.

Researcher Steven Angelides finds that the social movement to address the issue of child sexual abuse has had the unintended consequence of reinforcing a public perception of pre-pubescent sexuality as nonexistent, which erases the normal sexual development of children.

Schools and recreation

By the 1990s, communal showers in American schools had become "uncomfortable", not only because students were accustomed to more privacy at home, but because young people became more self-conscious based upon the comparison to mass media images of unrealistic bodies. The trend for privacy is being extended to public schools, colleges and community facilities replacing "gang showers" and open locker rooms with individual stalls and changing rooms. A 2014 study of schools in England found that 53% of boys and 67.5% of girls did not shower after physical education (PE) classes. Other studies indicate that not showering, while often related to being naked with peers, is also related to lower intensity of physical activity and involvement in sports.

The change in privacy also addresses issues of transgender usage and family use when one parent accompanies children of differing gender.

A shift in attitudes has come to societies historically open to nudity. In the Netherlands children up to age 12 used mixed gender communal showers at school. In the 1980s showering became gender-segregated, but in the 2000s, some shower in a bathing suit. In Denmark, secondary school students are now avoiding showering after gym classes. In interviews, students cited the lack of privacy, fears of being judged by idealized standards, and the possibility of being photographed while naked. Similar results were found in schools in Norway.

Communal nudity

Mothers with children in Amsterdam (1973)

Some societies, many in Northern Europe, are tolerant of nudity in places designated as appropriate for clothing optional recreation. Young children in the Netherlands often play outdoors or in public wading pools nude. While this continues, parents must now be more vigilant of strangers taking pictures. A school in New Zealand decided in 2008 that it was safer for five-year-old students to change poolside rather than use the crowded changing room at a public aquatic center. After two weeks, the practice was abandoned due to complaints made by other users.

In their 1986 study on the effects of social nudity on children, Dennis Craig Smith and William Sparks concluded that "the viewing of the unclothed body, far from being destructive to the psyche, seems to be either benign or to actually provide positive benefits to the individuals involved". As recently as 1996 the YMCA maintained a policy of allowing very young children to accompany their parents into the locker room of either gender, which some health care professionals questioned. A contemporary solution has been to provide separate family changing rooms.

Naturism

A naturist family visits the beach at Rio de Janeiro

The naturist/nudist point of view is that children are "nudists at heart" and that naturism provides the ideal environment for healthy development. It is noted that modern psychology generally agrees that children can benefit from an open environment where the bodies of others their own age of both sexes are not hidden. However, there is less agreement regarding children and unrelated adults being nude. While some doctors have taken the view that some exposure of children to adult nudity (particularly parental nudity) may be healthy, others—notably Benjamin Spock—disagreed. Spock's view was later attributed to the lingering effect of Freudianism on the medical profession.

Many tend to view naturism as indecent, and possibly a danger to children, based upon the assumption that nudity is always sexual. Naturist organizations have worked to present their own view that naturism is respectable, maintaining rules such as favoring family membership and excluding single men while offering evidence of the benefits in physical and mental health.

Sex education

Main article: Sex education

In general, the United States remains uniquely puritanical in its moral judgements compared to other Western, developed nations. A survey in 2026 found that 40% of young adults had not received any sex education, while only 15% received comprehensive sex education. The others were in programs that emphasized abstinence.

The health textbooks in Finnish secondary schools emphasize the normalcy of non-sexual nudity in saunas and gyms as well as openness to the appropriate expression of developing sexuality. The Netherlands also has open and comprehensive sex education beginning as early as age 4. In addition to good health outcomes, the program promoted gender equality. Dutch illustrated books for children depict naked bodies when appropriate.

Tous à Poil! (Everybody Gets Naked!), a French picture book for children, was first published in 2011 with the stated purpose of presenting a view of nudity in opposition to media images of the ideal body but instead depicting ordinary people swimming naked in the sea including a teacher and a policeman. Attempts by the Union for a Popular Movement to exclude the book from schools prompted French booksellers and librarians to hold a nude protest in support of the book's viewpoint.

As part of a science program on Norwegian public television (NRK), a series on puberty intended for 8–12-year-olds included explicit information and images of reproduction, anatomy, and the changes that occur with the approach of puberty. Rather than diagrams or photos, the videos were shot in a locker room with live nude people of various ages. The presenter, a physician, is relaxed about close examination and touching of relevant body parts, including genitals. While the videos note that the age of consent in Norway is 16, abstinence is not emphasized. In a subsequent series for teens and young adults, real people were recruited to have sexual intercourse on TV as a counterbalance to the unrealistic presentations in advertising and pornography. A 2020 episode of a Danish TV show for children presented five nude adults to an audience of 11–13-year-olds with the lesson "normal bodies look like this" to counter social media images of perfect bodies.

A 2009 report issued by the CDC comparing the sexual health of teens in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States concluded that if the US implemented comprehensive sex education similar to the three European countries there would be a significant reduction in teen pregnancies, abortions and the rate of sexually transmitted diseases, saving hundreds of millions of dollars.

Depictions

See also: Depictions of nudity § Depictions of youth, Fine-art nude photography § Children as subjects, and Nudity in film § Childhood nudity

In fine art

Outward Bound, 1886 by Edward John Poynter

Victorian culture included contradictions, but the nude images of little girls, as in Outward Bound by Edward John Poynter, did not seem to be perceived as a problem, but as naturally innocent. There was a cultural desensitization toward the nude child which largely dismissed the possible association between nudity and sexuality.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, impressionist painters depicted everyday life, which included scenes of nude toddlers or older children swimming and playing. John Singer Sargent's painting of Neapolitan Children Bathing was done based upon sketches done while traveling. Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) often painted domestic scenes, in particular mothers and children, the youngest being nude.

Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923) returned to his hometown of Valencia frequently from 1899 to 1909 to paint beach scenes, also working in the open air. The children of fishermen and other workers would swim in the ocean; both boys and girls nude to the age of four or five. The boys continued to be nude up to adolescence, girls wore long bathing gowns. Boys and girls talked and played without regard to the difference in clothing, as in Running Along the Beach. An exception is The Bath, Jávea (1905) which Sorolla depicts his own family bathing, including one of his own daughters nude, in a sheltered cove rather than the open beach.

In popular media

Cover of the Saturday Evening Post (August 19, 1911) by J. C. Leyendecker

Historically, the depiction of nude children in fine art, photography, and soap advertisements was widely accepted as a natural representation of purity and innocence, a cultural perception that only faced widespread scrutiny and legal reevaluation in the late 20th century. For example, Life routinely published modestly posed photographs of nude boys to illustrate articles on American life. A photograph of nude boys in a communal shower from a 1941 article on high schools included a caption indicating a perception of male communal nudity as symbolic of social equality.

Family photographs

For decades, parents have taken and shared photographs of their infants and young children naked, often while bathing. Some contemporary parents see such photos as records of ephemeral childhood innocence that are precious, while others view the practice as an intrusion on private behavior that can rapidly spread online. During the final decades prior to digital photography, labs processing film photographs occasionally reported nude photography of children as possible evidence of child sexual abuse, with some charges being filed, but few sustained. An "unsuitable print policy" existed at Walmart as of 2008, when a couple lost custody of their three children for a month due to some photographs taken of them in a bathtub. A judge deemed the photos as not pornographic, after which the parents sued Walmart for damages, stating that the store's policy was unclear. Walmart prevailed, stating that their policy had been in place for 25 years.

Sally Mann's 1992 book Immediate Family includes nude photographs of her three children under the age of 10. Mann stated that she decided to include every aspect of everyday life on their family farm with her children's consent and advice from experts. She attributes any negative response to the book's publication coinciding with a moral panic over depictions of child nudity, combined with debate over government funding of the arts. Mary Gordon criticized Mann, perceiving her work as sexualizing children despite its artistic merit. Mann responded that any sexual connotations came from the viewer, not the images. In her 2015 memoir Hold Still, Mann recounts that during her own childhood in rural Virginia, she had resisted wearing clothes until the age of five. In 2025, four images from Immediate Family were removed from an exhibit at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, prompted by a letter from The Danbury Institute, a conservative religious organization. A grand jury did not bring charges, but the photographs remained out of the exhibit.

In social media

Meta policy prohibits nude images of children from its social platforms, citing the possibility of abuse by others. In 2014, Facebook removed a mother's photo of her two-year-old daughter showing her bare bottom, an image intended as a parody of a Coppertone ad from the 1950s. In 2015, photos copied from Facebook appeared on a Russian website frequented by pedophiles, but they included images of clothed children and police found none of them indecent.

Childhood exposure to nude images

Following a controversy over the inclusion of a photograph of Michelangelo's David in a Florida school lesson, a survey was done of the general population. Seventy-five percent of Americans say they do not find the depiction of nudity in paintings and sculptures by classical artists to be problematic, and only 14% say they do. A smaller majority (55%) agreed when the question was whether children should view nudity in art.

In a 2018 survey of predominantly white middle-class college students in the United States, only 9.98% of women and 7.04% of men reported seeing real people as their first childhood experience of nudity. Many were accidental, such as walking in on parents, and were more likely to be remembered as negative by women. A majority of both women (83.59%) and men (89.45%) reported seeing their first depictions of nudity in film, video, or other mass media. Only 4.72% of women and 2% of men reported seeing nude images as part of sex education.

Pornography

Child pornography laws in the United States (18 U.S. Code § 2251) prohibit the depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving any person under 18, although what constitutes "sexually explicit" depends upon interpretation. In the absence of explicit conduct, the determination of whether a particular image violates the laws results from speculation as to the intent of the creator and the response of the viewer. In 2010, Project Spade convicted numerous Americans for possessing child pornography that did not involve sexually explicit conduct, but instead included "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area" of a minor. The European Union also prohibits images of children that are sexualized.

In recent years, the identification of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has led to the development of programs that use artificial intelligence to flag images that are then reviewed by humans before further action occurs. The advocacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation views these programs as a dangerous violation of the integrity of end-to-end encryption, which promotes privacy in online communications.

See also

• Child sexuality
• History of nudity

References

Books

• Angelides, Steven (2019). "Child Sexual Abuse". In Angelides, Steven (ed.). The Fear of Child Sexuality: Young People, Sex, and Agency. University of Chicago Press. doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226648774.003.0003. ISBN 978-0-226-64846-0. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
• Beaumont, Lesley A.; Dillon, Matthew; Harrington, Nicola, eds. (2021). Children in antiquity: perspectives and experiences of childhood in the ancient Mediterranean. Rewriting antiquity. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-54281-2. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
• Bolin, Anne; Whelehan, Patricia; Vernon, Muriel; Antoine, Katja (29 June 2021). Human Sexuality: Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives (2 ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-26915-8.
• Bonner, Barbara L. (1999). "When does sexual play suggest a problem?". In Dubowitz, Howard; Depanfilis, Diane (eds.). Handbook for Child Protection Practice. Sage Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-1371-9.
• Clark, Scott (1994). Japan, A View from the Bath. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1615-5.
• DePanfilis, Diane; Dubowitz, Howard (2000). Handbook for child protection practice. Counseling and Psychotherapy Transcripts, Volume 1 (1 ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-1370-2. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
• Gilligan, Ian (2018). Climate, Clothing, and Agriculture in Prehistory: Linking Evidence, Causes, and Effects. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108555883. ISBN 978-1-108-47008-7.
• Gordon, Betty N.; Schroeder, Carolyn S. (1995). Sexuality: A Developmental Approach to Problems. Springer. ISBN 978-0-306-45040-2.
• Higonnet, Anne (1998). Pictures of Innocence – The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood. New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28048-5. OL 705008M.
• Karger, Michael (2022). "Moral Panics of Sexuality". The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95352-2_5-1. ISBN 978-3-030-95352-2. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
• Kawano, Satsuki (2005). "Japanese Bodies and Western Ways of Seeing in the Late Nineteenth Century". In Masquelier, Adeline (ed.). Dirt, Undress, and Difference: Critical Perspectives on the Body's Surface. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-21783-7.
• Mann, Sally; Gordon, Mary (1997). "An Exchange on 'Sexualizing Children'". Salmagundi (114/115): 228–232. JSTOR 40548981.
• Mann, Sally (2015). Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-24776-4.
• Parry, Odette (1996). "Growing up respectable". A Case of Neglect? (1996). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-16868-7.
• Rough, Bonnie J. (21 August 2018). Beyond Birds and Bees: Bringing Home a New Message to Our Kids About Sex, Love, and Equality. Basic Books. ISBN 978-1-58005-740-0.
• Seton, Ernest Thompson (1978) [1st pub. 1951]. Trail of an Artist Naturalist. London: Hodder and Stoughton. p. 297. ISBN 978-0-405-10734-4.
• Smith, Dennis Craig; Sparks, William (1986). The Naked Child: Growing Up Without Shame. Elysium Growth Press. ISBN 978-1-55599-000-8.
• Tiffen, Rodney (2019). "Moral panics". The Routledge Companion to Media and Scandal. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-17300-1.
• Wiltse, Jeffrey (2003). Contested Waters: A History of Swimming Pools in America. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-8898-8. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
• Young, Mary de (31 December 2003). The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2689-8.
• Zafirovski, Milan (2007). "Authoritarian Legacy of Puritanism in Contemporary Society". In Zafirovski, Milan (ed.). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism: Puritanism, Democracy, and Society. New York, NY: Springer. pp. 246–308. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-49321-3_6. ISBN 978-0-387-49321-3. Retrieved 25 October 2021.

Journal / academic articles

• Akas, Nicholas Chielotam (2017). "Nudity versus Morality in 'Women of Hope' Dance Performance". IKENGA International Journal of Institute of African Studies. 17 (1): 8.
• Allen, Katherine R.; Gary, Emily A.; Lavender-Stott, Erin S.; Kaestle, Christine E. (2018). "'I Walked in on Them': Young Adults' Childhood Perceptions of Sex and Nudity in Family and Public Contexts". Journal of Family Issues. 39 (15): 3804–3831. doi:10.1177/0192513X18793923.
• Balberg, Mira (2024). "Here on Earth: A History of the Kibbutz". eScholarship. San Diego, California: UC San Diego. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
• Chatzinikolaou, Argyro (30 April 2020). "Sexual images depicting children: the EU legal framework and online platforms' policies". European Journal of Law and Technology. 11 (1). Retrieved 10 November 2025.
• Cherrier, Hélène (2016). "Material Presence and the Detox Delusion: Insights from Social Nudism". Journal of Consumer Affairs. 50 (1): 100–123. doi:10.1111/joca.12085.
• Feijoo, A. (2009). Adolescent Sexual Health in Europe and the US – Why the Difference?. National Prevention Information Network. p. 6. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
• Flanagan, Paul (2011). "Making sense of children's sexuality: Understanding sexual development and activity in education contexts". Waikato Journal of Education. 16 (3): 69–79. doi:10.15663/wje.v16i3.36. hdl:10289/6115.
• Frydendal, Stine; Thing, Lone Friis (2020). "A Shameful Affair? A Figurational Study of the Change Room and Showering Culture Connected to Physical Education in Danish Upper Secondary Schools". Sport, Education and Society. 25 (2): 161–72. doi:10.1080/13573322.2018.1564654.
• Gabb, Jacqui (August 2013). "Embodying Risk: Managing Father–child Intimacy and the Display of Nudity in Families". Sociology. 47 (4): 639–654. doi:10.1177/0038038512448558.
• Gage, Stephen DeM. (1918). "The Sanitary Control of Swimming Pools". Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers. V (6): 229–306. hdl:2027/hvd.hxhgpz.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Gage, Stephen (1926). "Swimming Pools and Other Public Bathing Places". American Journal of Public Health. 16 (12): 1186–1201. doi:10.2105/AJPH.16.12.1186. PMC 1321491. PMID 18012021.
• Hoagland, Alison K. (2011). "Introducing the Bathroom: Space and Change in Working-Class Houses". Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. 18 (2): 15–42. doi:10.1353/bdl.2011.0023. Project MUSE 462714.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Honkasalo, Veronika (3 September 2018). "Culture and sexuality in Finnish health education textbooks". Sex Education. 18 (5): 541–554. doi:10.1080/14681811.2018.1437030.
• Icenogle, Grace; Steinberg, Laurence; Duell, Natasha; Chein, Jason; Chang, Lei; Chaudhary, Nandita; Di Giunta, Laura; Dodge, Kenneth A.; Fanti, Kostas A.; Lansford, Jennifer E.; Oburu, Paul; Pastorelli, Concetta; Skinner, Ann T.; Sorbring, Emma; Tapanya, Sombat; Uribe Tirado, Liliana M.; Alampay, Liane P.; Al-Hassan, Suha M.; Takash, Hanan M. S.; Bacchini, Dario (2019). "Adolescents' cognitive capacity reaches adult levels prior to their psychosocial maturity: Evidence for a 'maturity gap' in a multinational, cross-sectional sample". Law and Human Behavior. 43 (1): 69–85. doi:10.1037/lhb0000315. PMC 6551607. PMID 30762417.
• Johansen, Bjørn Tore; Mæhle, Martine; Oland, Øyvind; Haugen, Tommy (2017). "Being Together in the Locker Room Is Great, but Showering Together – Just Forget It! – The Janus Face of the Wardrobe Practice in Physical Education". International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research. 16 (10): 41–57. doi:10.26803/ijlter.16.10.4.
• Johnson, Toni Cavanagh; Huang, Bevan Emma; Simpson, Pippa M. (26 May 2009). "Sibling Family Practices: Guidelines for Healthy Boundaries". Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. 18 (3): 339–354. doi:10.1080/10538710902901630. PMID 19856737.
• Leander, Else-Marie Buch; Larsen, Per Lindsø; Munk, Karen Pallesgaard (May 2018). "Children's Doctor Games and Nudity at Danish Childcare Institutions". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 47 (4): 863–875. doi:10.1007/s10508-017-1144-9. PMID 29450663.
• Leander, Else-Marie (12 October 2022). "Children's Sexuality and Nudity in Discourse and Images in a Danish Education and Care Journal over 50 Years (1970–2019): The Emergence of "The Child Perpetrator of Sexual Abuse" in an International Perspective". Archives of Sexual Behavior: 1–30. doi:10.1007/s10508-022-02421-5.
• MacDougall, David (26 May 2020). "Children through the Looking Glass". Visual Anthropology. 33 (3): 212–236. doi:10.1080/08949468.2020.1746616.
• Manheimer, W. A. (July 1914). "Studies on the Sanitation of Swimming Pools". Journal of Infectious Diseases. 15 (1): 159–186. doi:10.1093/infdis/15.1.159. hdl:2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t3xs6gg9m. JSTOR 30073404.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Molloy, Lauren E.; Gest, Scott D.; Feinberg, Mark E.; Osgood, D. Wayne (2014). "Emergence of Mixed-Sex Friendship Groups during Adolescence: Developmental Associations with Substance Use & Delinquency". Developmental Psychology. 50 (11): 2449–2461. doi:10.1037/a0037856. PMC 4315307. PMID 25221839.
• Neuilly, Melanie-Angela; Zgoba, Kristen (September 2006). "Assessing the Possibility of a Pedophilia Panic and Contagion Effect Between France and the United States". Victims & Offenders. 1 (3): 225–254. doi:10.1080/15564880600626122.
• Ni, Ming-Tsuey (2002). The construction of childhood space as represented in Victorian art (Thesis). United States -- Kentucky: University of Louisville. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-493-98595-4. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
• Okami, Paul (1995). "Childhood exposure to parental nudity, parent-child co-sleeping, and 'primal scenes': A review of clinical opinion and empirical evidence". Journal of Sex Research. 32 (1): 51–63. doi:10.1080/00224499509551774.
• Okami, Paul; Olmstead, Richard; Abramson, Paul R.; Pendleton, Laura (1998). "Early Childhood Exposure to Parental Nudity and Scenes of Parental Sexuality ('Primal Scenes'): An 18-Year Longitudinal Study of Outcome". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 27 (4): 361–384. doi:10.1023/A:1018736109563. PMID 9681119.
• Pollen, Annebella (December 2023). "'Indignities imposed by arbitrary adult rule'? Children's dress (and undress) in progressive schools in interwar England". Costume. 15 (2): 183–204. Project MUSE 933826.
• Pols, Jonathan D. (2013). Regenerative themes in selected child bather paintings by Joaquin Sorolla from 1899-1909 (MA thesis). Long Beach, California: California State University. ProQuest 1449378157.
• Scull, Tracy M.; Stump, K. N.; Evans-Paulson, R.; Dodson, C. V.; Schoemann, A. M. (24 July 2026). "Moving Toward a More Comprehensive Standard for Sex Education: A Latent Class Analysis and Examination of Young Adult Sexual Health". The Journal of Sex Research. 63 (6). Taylor & Francis: 946–959. doi:10.1080/00224499.2025.2475549. ISSN 0022-4499. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
• Shantz, Mary-Ann (2017). "'Nudists at Heart': Children's Nature and Child Psychology in the Postwar Canadian Nudist Movement". Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth. 10 (2): 228–247. doi:10.1353/hcy.2017.0026. ProQuest 1901236165.
• Sinkkonen, Jari (2013). "The Land of Sauna, Sisu, and Sibelius – An Attempt at a Psychological Portrait of Finland". International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. 10 (1): 49–52. doi:10.1002/aps.1340.
• Stanley, Lawrence A. (1991). "Art and 'Perversion': Censoring Images of Nude Children". Art Journal. 50 (4): 20–27. doi:10.2307/777319. JSTOR 777319.
• Tamer, Christine (2011). "Toddlers, Tiaras, and Pedophilia: The 'Borderline Child Pornography' Embraced by the American Public". Texas Review of Entertainment and Sports Law. 13 (1): 85–102. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
• Uhlmann, Eric Luis; Poehlman, T. Andrew; Tannenbaum, David; Bargh, John A. (2011). "Implicit Puritanism in American Moral Cognition". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 47 (2): 312–20. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.013.
• Weinberg, H. Barbara (1 October 2004). "Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844–1926)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York City, New York. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
• Weinberg, Martin S; Williams, Colin J. (2010). "Bare Bodies: Nudity, Gender, and the Looking Glass Body". Sociological Forum. 25 (1): 47–67. doi:10.1111/j.1573-7861.2009.01156.x.

Newspapers / magazines

• Booker, Jarrod (11 September 2008). "Pool Ban on Nude Children". NZ Herald. Christchurch, New Zealand. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
• Erdbrink, Thomas; Sorensen, Martin Selsoe (18 September 2020). "A Danish Children's TV Show Has This Message: 'Normal Bodies Look Like This.'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020.
• Hampton, Olivia (25 September 2025). "Photographer Sally Mann warns of 'new era of culture wars' after art seizure". NPR. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
• Johnson, Dirk (22 April 1996). "Students Still Sweat, They Just Don't Shower". The New York Times.
• Lis, Lea (5 May 2019). "Eight Things to Know About Nudity and Your Family". Psychology Today. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
• Marder, Jenny (16 July 2020). "Keeping Kids Curious About Their Bodies Without Shame". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
• Melvin, Joshua (19 February 2014). "Naked protest: Literary world mocks politician". The Local France. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
• McCombs, Phil (22 November 1996). "Kids in the Locker Room Discomfort Over Mixed Nudity at the Y". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
• Scelfo, Julie (16 July 2009). "When Do They Need a Fig Leaf?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
• Yanek, Dawn (15 November 2020). "Why your toddler is obsessed with being naked". Today's Parent. Retrieved 28 February 2023.

Websites

• American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Child Abuse and Neglect (17 April 2023). "Sexual Behaviors in Young Children: What's Normal, What's Not?". HealthyChildren.org. American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
• Dumitru, Oana (7 April 2023). "What do Americans think about works of art that depict nudity?". YouGov. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
• Fogiel-Bijaoui, Sylvie (n.d.). "Kibbutz". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
• Gurney, Tom (19 June 2020). "The Pink Robe by Joaquin Sorolla". TheHistoryOfArt.org. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
• Hamilton, Fiona (14 January 2015). "Facebook photos found on child abuse site". Retrieved 24 August 2025.
• Hull, Tim (7 March 2013). "Wal-Mart's Nude Child Photo Policy Hits 9th". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
• Kardashian, Kirk; Yahm, Sarah (19 August 2009). "Nature and Nurture". Seven Days. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
• Little, Becky (21 November 2019). "Why Pilgrims Arriving in America Resisted Bathing". HISTORY. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
• Moe, Kirsti (21 May 2015). "Why we show children how sex works". NRK. Retrieved 7 September 2026.
• Murphy, Meg (25 January 2016). "Surprising number of Japanese kids still bathe with their parents up until high school". Japan Today. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
• Mughniyya, Muhammad Jawad (n.d.). "The Rules of Modesty". Al-Islam.org. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
• Mullin, Joe (22 August 2022). "Google's Scans of Private Photos Led to False Accusations of Child Abuse". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
• Peavey, Heather (2008). "Changing Underage". Athletic Business. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
• Sofola, Bunmi (27 March 2022). "At what age should you allow your kids to play naked in the street?!". Vanguard News. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
• Steffensen, Louise Older (31 October 2017). "Norway's National Broadcaster Is Asking Couples to Have Sex on TV". Culture Trip. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
• Steinbach, Paul (2017). "Designing Public Locker Rooms with an Eye on Privacy". Athletic Business.
• Tarapacki, Thomas (26 July 2018). "When skinny dipping was required". ampoleagle.com. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
• Wroton, Ashley (May 2016). "Addressing children's curiosity of private parts". Counseling Today.

By title, no author

• "18 U.S. Code § 2251 - Sexual exploitation of children". Legal Information Institute. Cornell University Law School. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
• "A 'Bewildered American'". The Sunday Herald. Syracuse. 23 August 1891. p. 4 col B. Retrieved 15 August 2014 – via Newspaper Archive.
• Amateur home movie film made in the summer of 1945 or later (Motion picture). Britain: Huntley Film Archives. 1945. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
• "Apple Will Scan U.S. iPhones For Images Of Child Sexual Abuse". NPR. Associated Press. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
• "Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Nudity". Meta:Transparency Center. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
• "Democracy in US Schools". LIFE. 13 January 1941. pp. 61–71.
• "Facebook removes mom's photo of 2-year-old daughter's bare bottom". TODAY.com. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
• "Hatton Knows His Business". Wichita Daily Eagle. 28 June 1895. p. 5. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
• "Hot Weather Makes Swimming Popular". The Nashville Tennessean. 12 July 1907. p. 4.
• "How Police Cracked Canada's Largest Child Pornography Ring". The Walrus. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
• "Kids Swam to Olneyville Boys Club Pool". Life. 15 April 1940. pp. 71–74. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
• "Neapolitan Children Bathing". Retrieved 8 December 2025.
• "Nude Swimming in Detroit School Comes Under Ban". The News-Palledium. 16 January 1947.
• "Pocahontas Legend Hides Unromantic Realities : Cultures: Disney tale reflects current values more than historical truths, experts say". Los Angeles Times / Religion News Service. 24 June 1995. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
• "Rhode Island State Probation Officer Convicted On Child Pornography Charges". United States Department of Justice, District of Rhode Island. 22 June 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
• "Rules Girls Must Wear Swim Suits: School Board at Detroit Acts After Mothers Protest - Search - Newspapers.com™". Iowa City Press. Iowa City, Iowa. 15 January 1947. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
• Sexual Development and Behavior in Children: Information for Parents and Caregivers (PDF) (Report). American Psychological Association. 2009. doi:10.1037/e736972011-001.
• "Sexual Development by Age". National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth. Retrieved 21 July 2026.
• "What you need to know about Sorolla ― Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light". National Gallery. London, UK. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
• "When Getting Photos Developed Leads to Trouble With the Law". NBC News. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
• "Young Swimmers in Championships". The New York Times. 18 April 1909. p. 30. Retrieved 17 November 2015 – via Newspaper Archive.
• "When to Educate My Preschooler About Their Body". Planned Parenthood. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
• "YouthProtection". East Carolina Council. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved 31 October 2025.