Next of Skin
The Schuttauffs incorporate nudism into their family values
Photo Provided By:The Schuttauffs
Last year, Georgie Schuttauff delicately painted her 7-year-old son’s Halloween costume on his torso and bottom. He had spider webs on his stomach and a spider on each rear cheek.
He was Spider Man, and he was undressed to perfection.
“I get twice as much candy in my nude costume,” Timmy says.
Georgie and her husband Eric have three other children, daughters Alix and Maddie, 13 and 11, and son Max, 4, and they are all active nudists. For Halloween, the Schuttauffs, who live in Kissimmee but visit Cypress Cove Nudist Resort about 15 miles away, allow their four children to dress in traditional costumes for trick-or-treating in their home neighborhood, and then paint on parts of the costumes and use props for trick-or-treating in Cypress Cove.
In years past, the Schuttauff children have chosen many nude-friendly Halloween costumes such as Maddie’s Eve costume, which consisted of a rubber snake wrapped around her upper arm and an apple in hand. Max, the youngest, was Baby New Year last year with nothing but a big, black, velvet top hat and a sash across his chest that read “Happy New Year.” Alix was Raggedy Ann with a red yarn wig, white gloves, red and white-striped socks, a red, painted-on triangle nose and a red heart painted on her upper chest. Other than their props, the Schuttauffs don their birthday suits.
Eric, who didn’t discover nudism until he was in law school, now serves as the executive director of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR), an organization that is represented in every state and Canada. He uses his legal expertise to carry out the duties of AANR’s board of trustees and aide in many of the association’s legal battles. Georgie home schools their children.
Although they live outside of a nudist resort, the Schuttauffs practice nudism within their home. The kids have certain times of the day for school work, playtime, TV time and eating and, for the most part, it is all spent in the nude. The Schuttauffs say that they are nude so much of the time that the dog knows something is up when they get dressed.
Nudism has never been a struggle with any of their children. Children are natural nudists, Georgie says.
“The girls are militant about nudism; they don’t let anyone say the word ‘swimsuit’ in the house,” she says. “But kids are very contextual; they know when it is appropriate to be nude and when it isn’t. If they go to a friend’s house to go swimming, they know they must wear a swimsuit.”
“Timmy, why do you like being a nudist?” Georgie poignantly asks her 7-year-old.
“Be free,” Timmy replies.
“Be fwee,” Max parrots back as he clumsily fumbles his handful of Cheetos and plops into his dad’s naked lap.
“Because being naked is being free,” Timmy finishes. “Clothes stand for sin.”
Georgie giggles. “Well, clothes do represent sin in the Bible,” she says with a hint of “Kids Say the Darndest Things” in her voice.
“The very first people were naked,” Timmy says.
“Very good, Timmy,” Maddie says, encouraging her younger brother.
Both Eric and Georgie were raised in very traditional and conservative homes.
“Our parents weren’t even comfortable with breastfeeding, they were so conservative,” Georgie says.
But the curiosity for something adventurous came soon after they were married. Eric was stressed while studying for the bar exam and was looking for something fun that he and his wife could do together. What they found was extremely relaxing, and they met some of the friendliest people.
“I realized that normally, when we went on vacation, it took us a few days to forget about the cell phones and the office but, at the nudist resorts, it seemed like we were relaxed right away,” Eric says. “Just one day felt like a weekend, and a weekend felt like a whole week. We were hooked.”
Georgie and Eric consider their family to be highly Christian-oriented. They see a natural link between nudism and their faith so, when it came time to raise their children, there was no discussion about whether or not to change their way of life, Eric says.
“You look around at these people without clothes and you can’t > tell who is the president of a bank, who graduated from college, or who drives a bus for a living. Your neighbor truly is your neighbor,” he says.
Eric and Georgie are also very open with their children about their bodies. With one daughter already seeing the changes of puberty, questions about why certain body parts look the way they do and why certain changes happen already have been asked. Both parents feel it is most appropriate to answer the questions matter-of-factly without too much elaboration and, before you know it, their mind has wandered to “can we go to McDonalds?” Eric says.
Partly for educating their children about growing up nudists, and also for just good, plain fun, the Schuttauffs have been active in the children’s and teens’ summer camps at Cypress Cove Nudist Resort. Alix and Maddie have attended as campers, and their brothers hope to attend as campers when they are old enough. All four children were able to attend with their parents before they were old enough to go by themselves.
There are three levels of the camps, the Juniors, for ages 11 to 15; the Academy, for ages 15 to 18; and the New You, for ages 18 to 25. The two older age groups guide and mentor the groups below them, and all campers enjoy normal summer camp activities such as tennis, camping and swimming. They also hear speakers from various professions such as nurses, doctors, lawyers and psychologists, many of whom are also active nudists. These speakers help guide the campers in their nudist lifestyles, as well as their professional goals in life. Eric and Georgie have both spoken at many of these camps on issues ranging from being a professional, being comfortable with your body and balancing faith and nudism.
Ted Hadley, 34, co-owner of Cypress Cove, is the grandson of the original owners and now a father of four; all of whom are nudists. He grew up going to the camps as well.“A lot of teenagers tend to go through an awkward stage and some decide to wear clothes for a few years,” Ted says. “Used to be, parents who were nudists made their children go nude too, but we really discourage that now. It is a personal decision and some teens are just not comfortable with their bodies.”
Georgie’s favorite part about having her daughters go to these camps is that they have so many great role models. They hear talks about loving your body and being healthy, and that is so important for a girl’s self esteem, she says.
“My daughters, at 13 and 11, have never said ‘I need to lose weight,’” she says. “They are happy with their bodies.”
Eric and Georgie also believe that nudism helps their children get along well because there is nothing hidden.
Steve Vickers, 24, works for AANR’s public relations department. He grew up at Cypress Cove and spent many summers as a nudist camper. He also believes nudism helps families keep closer ties.
“They are a very open and communicative family,” Steve says of the Schuttauff family. “Often times, you find better relationships between kids and their caregivers in a nudist community, because being nude helps break down barriers. I was raised by my grandmother [also a nudist] and we never argued.”
“Nudism is the closest thing to perfection in the world. I bet if you were to get the UN naked, they’d get along a lot better,” Georgie says with a giggle.
In vacationing to several of the nearly 300 nudist resorts nationwide, the Schuttauffs get to meet other nudist families. The resorts are family-friendly and have access to surrounding attractions just like any other resort would.
“The kids have some really great friends all over the country, and they’ve never seen them dressed,” Georgie says.
“I make a lot more friends here [nudist resorts],” Timmy says. “Twice as many as other places.”
During their vacations, Eric and Georgie have to be careful that their daughters do not sneak their bathing suits out of their suitcases.
“The good thing is that you don’t have to pack very much at all,” Maddie says, clearer than most 11-year-olds. “I usually pack books, sunscreen, soap and stuff.”
“And what’s the most important thing, Maddie?” Alix asks, but Maddie just looks at her puzzlingly. “You don’t remember what the most important thing is?” she says as she twirls her towel over her head suggestively.
“A towel,” Maddie says with a smile. “You don’t panic and you always take a towel.”
A towel is to be sat on at all times in a nudist resort, in order to protect against germs and bacteria. The children, though young, are well educated in the etiquette of the community. No staring or rude comments are ever acceptable. No behavior that would ever warrant an apology is ever accepted either. They are all very well behaved.
Alix wants to be a writer; Maddie, an engineer. Timmy just wants his office to be at Cypress Cove so he doesn’t have to wear any clothes, and Max wants to work with Daddy, he says.
Though they have been taught what is proper about nudism and they have big dreams about their future, they are still just children. They like to learn, swim, jump, run and play. They just like to do it naked.
“It’s much easier to hula-hoop without any clothes on,” Alix says.