Move over Farrah Abraham! There’s a new contender for “worst mom of 2014.” [1] Rita Templeton is a stay at home mother of four young boys, who range in age from two to nine, and she is a blogger who calls herself an “over sharer.” That is putting in mildly.
One specific article of hers was picked up by, no surprise here, the Huffington Post and it was posted on HuffPo “Parents” on Thursday, September 18. Then, to make sure she got extra attention for her twisted views, she also appeared in a Huffington Post Live interview. The topic HuffPo and Rita felt the need to over share with us? Parental nudism. Yep, you read that correctly. The article [2] and interview [3] are titled: ‘Why I Want My Sons to See Me Naked.” You really can’t make this stuff up.
Rita Templeton claimed that the decision to be nude around her boys wasn’t premeditated. Well that’s a relief at least. Instead, she said she was taking a shower one day and she took her youngest boy into the bathroom with her to keep an eye on him while she showered. While reaching for a towel, her son on the bathmat staring up at her she thought, “If I cover up in front of them and try to be modest then they will never see what a “real woman” looks like.” In her article she further explained that, “before they’re exposed to boobs that are as round and firm as cantaloupes and pictures of taut, airbrushed, dimple-less butts -- I'm exposing them to a different kind of female body. Mine.” She congratulated herself that “there are no nudie mags stashed between mattresses, no stealthily-accessed porn sites that someone forgot to erase out of the Internet history.” Duh! They are pre-pubescent, innocent minded little kids!
Oh, but we ought to commend her for the fact that she doesn’t intentionally draw attention to her nudity. She answers questions and talks about body parts, “only if the boys ask” while noticing the “anatomy they see is different from their own,” because it’s “not bad to be curious about it.” Her ‘significant other’ or “partner,” is on board with her decision to be nude around the boys. He “agrees the human body is nothing to be ashamed of,” and even parades around the house wearing nothing but his birthday suit too, “though not as often as she does” since he works and she’s home alone with the boys more.
When asked at what age she thinks she’ll stop being nude around her kids, Templeton replied that “it depends on them.” She said that she feels it will come naturally, she’ll learn to recognize their cues and when they are uncomfortable with her nudity she’ll stop. But prior to that claim she proudly said that her eldest son, a nine year old, was “already learning to realize boundaries.” He will still talk to her while she’s naked, getting out of the bathroom or changing, but he naturally looks away while doing so.
And those of us who were “disgusted by the article, have a pretty misconstrued idea of what she was trying to convey.” She said that we, “seem to think she’s walking around in pasties and a g-string saying “hey boys, come look at this!” which is just completely not true.” That would almost be preferable. At least she’d be wearing something!
She admitted that their home is not a modest household in one breath and complains that her boys lounge around without pants more often then she does and she’s constantly telling them to put on some pants. Why would they feel the need to keep their clothes on when their own mother doesn’t?
Templeton believes that her actions are simply de-mystifying the female body so when they see one of those supposed too perfect, airbrushed nude females they will realize that they’re not an honest depiction of a real woman, like mom, is … not that they’ll think of mom in a sexual way because, “who thinks their mother is sexual?” Ever heard of the Oedipus complex? If anything all she’s doing is making those nudie magazines and porn sites un-necessary. Kids develop memories [4] and can recall images of emotional connections and people from as young as 3-4 years old and while puberty in males [5] usually begins around age 13 but can begin as early as age 8!
Rita Templeton’s attempt at demystifying and desexualizing the female body for her sons is just going to strip away the young boy’s innocence, lead to early onset puberty and lead to warped views on sex and relationships. [6]Congratulations Rita, you really did your sons a favor.