Topless sunbathing

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 20

Topless sunbathing

Sir,—l am suitably impressed by Robert Norwood’s morality (February 4); he must indeed live in an ivory tower. I assume, of course, that his children watch a properly censored “Sesame Street,” with “clothed Grovers.” I, for one, despise not merely topless sunbathing but any exposure of flesh whatsoever and I firmly believe that God, a nice old man in a white sheet, invented skin cancer as a purgatory for sunbathers. — Yours, etc.,

KATHRYN SWEENEY. February 18, 1987.

Sir,—From W. Heinz’s irrelevant pedantry concerning the sun (February 12), a genuine question emerges: How do psychological problems arise from condemning nudity? William James, a pioneering psychologist, helps to answer this question. In the presence of a child, James repeatedly introduced a white rat paired with a frightening

noise. Eventually, the child came to fear the rat even when the frightening stimulus was ,no longer presented with it. Many examples of aversive conditioning can be taken from everyday life. This is another: By repeatedly associating a punishing stimulus (for example, that “nudity” is an "assault ..; on the sensibilities,”) with nakedness, an impressionable child can be made to experience disgust or anxiety when presented with nudity. This type of anxiety can lead to impotence and frigidity. W. Heinz, then, would do well to control his own neuroses lest he impart the same to impressionables. — Yours, etc., MICHAEL C. PETERS, February 17, 1987.