As Children of the Gods, as Witches, as Keepers of the Earth, one of the most sacred things we can put our energy and effort into is holding our children sacred: our living, breathing, giggling, joyful, sad, lonely, and in-need children. Our children are vulnerable. They are in need of protection by their communities so they can grow to be physically and mentally strong and well-adjusted adults. The Conclave of the Craft understands this vulnerability and finds that it is our moral, ethical, and honorable duty to stand up in defense of the children in our community.
In general, in the Pagan community, nudity is seen as a sacred and joyful expression of self. Allowing ourselves to be skyclad in our rites is one of the foundations of many Pagan paths. In Traditional Wicca, you are not allowed to practice these types of rites, or even be trained in them, until you are of age. When we do have family rituals, they are specifically crafted with the children present in mind. As a consenting adult – that is, a person aged 18 and over and of sound mind – the attendee could make the choice to participate in a skyclad event or not.
Let us be clear: our bodies are sacred vessels in which the energy of the Cosmos resides. We can embrace a variety of paths, views, and experiences for our bodies as adults. However, our children cannot make these decisions for themselves. In the vast majority of situations, minor children, by which we mean those aged 17 and younger, are understood by society to be incapable of giving consent. That consent must be given for them by a parent or guardian according to the laws of the state in which they reside. It is illegal in most states in the United States for a minor to be unclothed in the presence of an adult, or to be in the presence of an unclothed adult outside of direct family members or legal caregivers.
Why then do many Pagan festivals have children in clothing-optional conditions, either with just the adults being unclothed or with the children being unclothed as well? What is the mindset that makes us believe this is just, ethical, moral, or in honor of the sacred responsibility of caring for our children? I was speaking to a Pagan counselor about my struggle with accepting this as a practice, and her answer struck a chord. She said, “We, as a Pagan community, are using an immature mindset to overcome trauma in our lives, to live in a false dichotomy where we wish, as children, we would be safe, and are presenting that as a reality in our practice. What better statement of safety could there be than to strip away all barriers of security from self and set us about in a public area? What better way to see that our inner children are “safe” by vicariously putting our children in this position?”
The Conclave of the Craft has taken the time to discuss the practice of nude minors at festivals and would like our statement to be recorded in written form for the record.
A festival has many attendees who are not vetted – after all, you can’t run a background check on every single registrant and be cost-effective. We know that in any such gathering the odds of sexual predators attending is high. In fact, we know that they attend our events because we have to warn parents to “keep your little ones away from such-and-such, because they are just a little too handsy.” We also have convicted sex offenders attending our festivals because we don’t vet them to weed them out. In 2022, there were 767,023 people listed on state sex offender registries. This does not include non-reported offenses, which we know make up a significant percentage of cases; only one out of three cases of sexual abuse, assault, or rape are reported to the police. In Missouri, we have 22,641 people on our sex offender list or about 368 per 100,000 people. That is about 0.4% of our population, and we know that not all cases are reported, so we can triple that percentage to account for those. That’s 1.2% of the population.
A medium-sized festival with 350 attendees will have between 1 and 2 people who are sex offenders (based on the 0.4% figure). If we take into account that most cases are unreported to the police, then then we would actually have approximately 4 to 5 sex offenders on-site (based on the 1.2% figure). Those numbers represent those who have already committed a sex crime. In any other setting, such as going to the local pool or park, most parents would not tolerate their children being naked in the presence of clothed or unclothed adults because the risk of molestation is too great. Why then do we think that because we’re in the Pagan community – which already draws more than its fair share of predators simply because our community-held standards are so permissive and malleable – that our children’s risk is any lower than it would be while interacting with the general public? It is not.
Given this rationale, our understanding of the laws of the State of Missouri, and the strong feelings of justice placed in our hearts by the Divine, the Conclave of the Craft and its affiliated working groups feel that no minor at a publicly promoted or hosted event, regardless of whether or not that event is held on private land, should be exposed to nude adults, nor do we feel that any minor should be without clothing themselves in the presence of naked or clothed adults. We will not support any events or organizations that put our children at risk in this way.
If we are currently involved with events or organizations who permit the exposure of nude adults to children or nude children to adults, we will remove our support with all due urgency and no later than October 31, 2022.
May the Gods preserve the Craft.
In Service,
Victoria “Taz” Chance, HPs. 3*^ (Conclave of the Craft and Naofa Tintean)
In Support,
Alex Gonzalez, HP 3*^ (Conclave of the Craft and Naofa Tintean)
Amy E. Rhea, HPs. 3* (Conclave of the Craft and Coven Morannwn)
Heather “Squirrel” Shawver, Ps. 2* (Conclave of the Craft and Naofa Tintean)
Samantha Jones, Ps. 2* (Conclave of the Craft and For Pirates)
Jeffrey Stevens, Pr. 1* (Conclave of the Craft)