jfc I’m so tired of this puritan insanity. No, nonsexual nudity is not harmful for even very young kids to see. It’s actually beneficial, as any civilized society understands. All across the world it’s common for parents to bathe with their children at least up until puberty starts. Public bath houses and saunas have all-ages and full nudity. They teach their kids about personal boundaries and how to not stare or be inappropriate. Tv and magazine ads in many places have topless women uncensored because not all cultures conform to the fetishization of mammary glands. The US is pretty much the only country that completely erases the boundary between casual nudity and sexual nudity, and it seriously contributes to how screwed up we are about soooo many things.
Now, early exposure to sexual nudity, as in, witnessing a sex scene on tv, that can very easily be harmful to young kids. But there IS a difference between that and just seeing your family naked, or even onscreen nudity that’s not in a sexual context. It’s been studied. And my mother thoroughly looked into this research as she was pregnant with me, so I grew up enjoying baths and showers with her that very naturally tapered off as I reached puberty. My father was only around until I was six, and I never saw him naked since he had body image issues due to a condition that left his ribcage somewhat concave, so even aside from being gay, I’ve never felt comfortable seeing dangly bits, and I have no way of knowing if there’s any correlation.
So seriously. Stop being a prude and learn about the world.
As for kink at Pride, it’s perfectly fine. “Kink” is not sex. These days, kinks and fetishes and paraphilias are interchangeable terms, which is frustrating, but essentially, “kink” is anything besides the “norm,” besides “vanilla.” Gayness is kink. Transness is kink. BDSM, D/S, DDLG, fursuits, pup/pony gear, etc are kink. None of that is inherently or automatically NSFW, since it’s all as much an aesthetic as an act. Kids will see ppl in bondage gear and leather and such and just see Halloween costumes, except less scary. That’s the only explanation they’ll need: “it’s a costume party for ppl who like specific costumes.” Nudity is not generally kink, and if you take your kids to the beach or pool, they won’t be seeing any more skin at Pride than they’ve already seen. If there’s nudist stuff ever going on at Pride, it’ll be a separate event that makes it clear that ppl will be naked.
Fetishes, on the other hand, are when something, usually a bodypart, is sexualized, or “fetishized” that is not normally sexual. Feet is an unexpectedly common one, but breasts are easily the most fetishized. Fetish can also extend to things like clothing, thus crossing over into kink territory. For instance, fursuits are always kink, but not always a fetish, bc not all furries find them sexually appealing, and there’s not much way to know who is who. Common fetishes are actually rather important for kids to learn about, and in the case of breasts, girls are already taught young that they can’t go shirtless in public even before their chests have developed. If an adult or older kid wants to see them shirtless, they’ll be more likely to know that’s abnormal and feel uncomfortable with that. It stands to reason then, that if kids knew to be wary of adults that seem to be fetishizing something about them, they have a better chance of speaking out about it, and to grow up not feeling like just talking about fetishization is taboo. Then we might not end up with situations like Dan Schneider getting all the kids in his tv shows to be barefoot and showing off their feet on camera for years while everyone was too embarrassed to say “Wait a minute. WTF are you doing.”
And as for paraphilias, that’s a wide range of things, but regardless, there’s nothing going on at regular, all-ages Pride events that will hurt kids. It’s just prude parents that can’t handle the thought of having to answer any questions kids may have. Is there a stall selling sex toys and condoms? “Those are adult things you’ll learn about when you’re older.” Are there shirtless women? “There are times and places when they can do that, and this is one of them.” Are ppl, I dunno, twerking or something? “They’re dancing.” Ta-da.
It’s all just your own hangups about sexuality. Stop pinning your unhealthy relationship with it on kids.