Natural Humanists believe that sharing love, physical affection, nudity and sex with other people is potentially a source of significant happiness and emotional fulfilment for every human being.
They believe that everything that it’s natural for a human being to do, as animals, is ‘normal‘, but that many things considered to be ‘normal‘ in some communities are, in fact, unnatural and unacceptable; for example, any unnecessary control of the sexual and romantic freedom of young people and those with intellectual impairments, any genital mutilation of girls and boys for religious or cultural reasons, and any attempts to require girls to wear clothing which hides their natural beauty, in order to protect their modesty, chastity and virginity.
Natural Humanists never criticise, or negatively judge, any human being for acting in any way that’s natural, but they believe it’s extremely important for people to be encouraged and enabled to meet all of their natural needs, desires and genetic drives in ways that never cause harm to other people and which, ideally, cause other people as much happiness as possible.
They believe that an important part of the State’s role, and duty, should be to ensure that the needs of every citizen, for love, affection, and sex, can be met safely, whatever their age, gender, sexuality or degree of physical or mental impairment. In other words, they believe that the State should be a ‘safe enabler’ of love and intimacy for all.
They recognise that, for over 3000 years, religious organisations and the State have, inappropriately and immorally, groomed human beings to be monogamous, and for girls and women to be modest, chaste and virginal, but they believe strongly that this is not (and never has been) what is in human beings’ best interests.
Natural Humanists believe that a parent deliberately grooming or using coercive control to prevent a young person from having sex, or from having a loving relationship, is just as immoral and abusive as grooming or using coercive control to cause a child to have sex. Similarly, they believe that grooming a child to believe that natural sex and romantic relationships are ‘sinful’, is a wicked form of psychological abuse of children and a totally unacceptable abuse of parents’ power, regardless of their religious or moral beliefs.
They also believe that no child should ever be groomed to be unnaturally modest, or to always hide their natural beauty by wearing head or face coverings, or clothing which unnecessarily hides their body, or its natural shape. They’re fully supportive of any adult whose brain has had the opportunity to fully develop, to do any or all of these unnatural things to themselves, but they believe that the grooming of children to engage in any such unnatural behaviour is a form of deliberate and harmful child abuse.
The past 3000 years of unhealthy religious grooming and control may seem like an extremely long time, but it’s actually only about 1% of our own human species’ history, and it’s less than 0.0001% of the history of our ancestors. For the remaining 99% of our own species’ history, humans were free to love anybody they wanted to love, to love as many people as they wanted to love, and to love people of any age, belief system or background, and they were also free to have sex with as many people as they wished to, throughout their lives.
Natural Humanists believe that, when it comes to sex and relationships, a ‘perversion‘ is something that goes against what is natural, not something that goes against what society, or a particular community considers to be ‘normal‘, or what religious or ‘moral’ groups consider to be ‘acceptable‘.
They believe strongly that it’s the natural and moral right of every human being to decide who they wish to love, and with whom they wish to share emotional intimacy, physical affection, nudity and sex, throughout their life. They acknowledge that it’s completely normal and totally natural for most animals to have sex with large numbers of their own species, of all ages, throughout their lifetime, and even to have sex with members of their own family, and that all such behaviour is just as natural, and therefore just as ‘normal’, for every single human being as well, because all human beings are, in every sense, animals.
Despite this, however, they believe that, uniquely, as a highly intelligent species, human beings have a strong moral responsibility to always try to control their own natural behaviours, not to avoid offending other people who might have an opinion on what they choose to do, because of their own religious or moral beliefs, or cultural traditions, but because, in some cases, it can be harmful, if it’s not fully, meaningfully and enthusiastically consensual, or if any sex is in any way forced, aggressive or involves deliberate coercion or grooming, or any abuse of a ‘power’ relationship.
They believe that every human being is a ‘sexual being’, from the moment they’re born, regardless of their age or life stage, and regardless of the roles they have in life, such as pupil or student, employer or employee, daughter, son or parent. They therefore believe that every single human being should live every single part of their life as the sexual being that they are, and should be fully free to do so, right from early childhood, particularly when they start to be affected by the hormones that are released from the very start of puberty, which can result in powerful and compelling sexual feelings and desires[i], [ii], from which point they have exactly the same strong genetic drives and impulses to have sex and to develop loving relationships as adults.
They recognise, however, that, despite their natural needs, drives, and rights to do so, many people fail to live their lives as ‘sexual beings’, because of a lack of knowledge of the full range of sexual activities, or a lack of experience of experimenting with and practicing them, or a lack of knowledge of the significant happiness and pleasure that they can bring, both to themselves and to other people. Many lack confidence or self-esteem, or fear negative judgement by friends, family or society for being polyamorous, or being openly sexual, and for fully meeting all of their sexual and romantic needs, or they lack opportunities to do so, possibly due to a physical or intellectual impairment.
They may also lack suitable opportunities to meet potential sexual partners, to whom they’re sexually, emotionally or romantically attracted, or may lack social skills or confidence, which prevents them from communicating with, and forming relationships with people they do meet in their lives. Unfortunately, it may also be due to the fact that the people they do meet fail to see them as the unique and attractive people that they are, because their hearts and minds are not open, as Natural Humanists believe that every human being’s should be, to connecting with every type of human being, to valuing everybody for the unique individual that they are, and to living a polyamorous lifestyle, which involves sharing love, affection, nudity and sex with a wide range of different people, regardless of whether they necessarily ‘tick all of their boxes’, as long as they care about and respect them, enjoy their company and enjoy all of the nudity, sex and physical affection that they share.
Many Natural Humanists believe there is little in life more satisfying than offending the small-minded, not ever by being in any way abusive to them, but simply by living their own life in a way that they know to be right, while gaining deep pleasure and sharing true joy with others in the process, regardless of outsiders’ views on the matter. If anything, they take the offence of such small-minded, controlling and judgmental people, to be clear conformation and evidence, that what they’re choosing to do must be right and that their life must be ‘on the right track’.
They recognise that, for virtually all of human history, human beings have enjoyed gaining pleasure from freely touching and ‘playing with’ their own genitals, and from exploring each other’s bodies and genitals too, right from early infancy and throughout their childhood and adult lives. They also recognise, however, that, despite this, for a tiny proportion of their history, human beings have been inappropriately groomed to believe that all such totally natural and highly pleasurable behaviour is somehow sinful or immoral, or should only ever take place alone and in private, as if it’s dirty, rude or shameful.
Natural Humanists believe that every human being, from birth, and throughout their childhood and adult life, should be free to touch their own body and to masturbate themselves at will, without negative moral judgement, and that they should have access to somewhere private to masturbate alone, if they wish to have such privacy, or if other people would feel uncomfortable with this happening in their presence, but they acknowledge that the law in most countries controls this, as it does virtually every other sexual freedom.
If a parent requires that their children only masturbate in private, but they fail to provide them with that privacy, or don’t allow their child the necessary time to gain the maximum possible pleasure from that masturbation, then Natural Humanists consider this to be a form of abuse, and to be an unacceptable denial of their child’s natural human rights, which will unnecessarily prevent them from satisfying their strong, natural human needs and drives, and from experiencing the significant sensual and sexual pleasure that masturbation allows.
Natural Humanists believe that, just like with all other life skills, having the opportunity to learn about, and practice, romantic and sexual skills, is important for human development, and that no human being should ever be denied the ability to do so, safely and legally.
They believe that enforced ignorance about all aspects of sex, relationships, sexualities and genders is immoral, and that for the State, religious organisations, the media, and parents to ‘groom’ any child not to explore sex and relationships, in healthy and legal ways, is, itself, hugely abusive, and is a totally unacceptable abuse of power.
They believe that all human beings should be taught, from early infancy onwards, in as much detail as they’re capable of absorbing, about love, sex and masturbation, and about all the various fun and pleasurable ways of sharing consensual nudity, physical touch and affection, as well as about consent, personal hygiene, pregnancy, contraception and safe sex and that they should have an unrestricted legal right to this information, regardless of the moral or religious beliefs of their parents.
Natural Adults
Natural Humanists do not recognise the arbitrary ‘age of majority’, when human beings are considered, by the State and by society, to have become an adult, which was as high as 21 years old in England, until as recently as 1969[iii], and, in most countries of the world, is now 18 years old[iv], but in England, during the Middle Ages (476AD-1450AD) was 21 for all males, but, at the same time, was only 14 for females, if they were married, and was 16 for females if they were single[v].
Contrary to common belief, the age of majority is not linked to the end of a human being’s growth and development, as they can continue to grow and develop until they’re 30 years old, and it’s not linked to the end of sexual development, as it’s not uncommon today for puberty to end as young as 14 in boys and 12 in girls.
Natural Humanists believe that every human being should be considered to be an ‘adult’, from the very first day that they, as an individual, become fertile, because it’s from that exact point in their life that nature has given them the ability to start creating new human life, to become a parent, and to start taking responsibility for the raising and nurturing of a child.
Becoming a parent is a particularly important responsibility for human beings to be given, as unlike many other species, human babies are dependent on their parents for all of their needs for many years.
Natural Humanists believe that they should always celebrate the start of a child’s puberty, at around 9-12 years old, which is the point at which they start to ‘evolve’ from childhood to adulthood, and that they should also celebrate the actual start of their ‘natural adulthood’ (which is the point that a girl has her first period, or a boy is capable of ejaculating sperm, approximately 1 year after the start of male puberty) and that this should involve a ceremony, parties and celebrations.
They also believe that, from this point onwards, all such ‘natural adults’ should be given additional rights, freedoms and responsibilities by their families, communities, society and the State, with their full adult rights and freedoms, only being in any way curtailed, if it’s been proven that there is no way of safely avoiding this.
They acknowledge that, far from being weak and vulnerable, many ‘children’ are intelligent, imaginative and deeply compassionate, and have a huge amount to contribute to the world, as well as seeing the world from an un-biased and totally fresh perspective.
Just one notable example of this, is Greta Thunberg[vi] who, at 15 years old, started school ‘strikes’ every Friday, to protest against governments’ lack of action in dealing with climate change. This motivated other students to take part in similar protests, leading to the ‘School Strike for Climate’ movement. She also addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, while she was still 15, and later went on to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, to write numerous books, and to set up an ethical foundation[vii].
Natural Humanists share Greta Thunberg’s belief[viii] that being young is a great advantage, because it allows young people to see the world from a new perspective and to not be afraid to make radical changes, although Natural Humanists also acknowledge that some young people never stop seeing the world from new perspectives, and their passion for radical change only grows with time, so that, when they themselves become older people, they’re just as open-minded, passionate, innovative and radical as they were when they were young.
Natural Humanists believe that all human beings should ideally see the world, throughout their entire lives, through the eyes of the open-minded, passionate young people they once were, who should always remain an important part of who they are, every day of their life.
Natural Humanists always value children and adults equally, and value childish thoughts, feelings, beliefs and behaviour equally to those that are considered by society to be ‘adult-like’.
They believe in allowing children to become adults only when they feel ready to be, believing that it’s perfectly acceptable for any human being to retain as many child-like qualities as they wish, well into their adulthood, and throughout their life, and they celebrate both child-like and adult qualities in every human being.
However, they are also strongly against any child being ‘required’ to act in childish ways, or being prevented from developing adult skills, or being denied adult rights and freedoms, if they wish to take advantage of them and can safely be enabled to experience them, whenever they feel ready to.
Despite believing that children become ‘adults’ at a much earlier age than society and the law acknowledges, Natural Humanists recognise that ‘adults’ of this age, potentially as young as 11 years old in some girls, continue to need additional support, supervision, guidance and protection, to ensure their safety and welfare, if their brain development isn’t complete, or they’ve had a sheltered upbringing, or have very limited social and practical skills, or are at risk of exploitation or harm. However, they believe that none of this support and protection should ever unnecessarily control or restrict them, and that ‘natural adults’ of this young age should have full adult human rights in law, and should be recognised and respected, by all other Natural Humanists, as full adults, in all areas of their lives.
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References
[i] Romeo, R.D. “The teenage brain: The stress response and the adolescent brain”. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 22 (2) (2013): 140-145. Cited on: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/chapter/brain-development-during-adolescence/#footnote-2982-1
[ii] Romeo, R.D. “The teenage brain: The stress response and the adolescent brain”. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 22 (2) (2013): 140-145. Cited on: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/chapter/brain-development-during-adolescence/#footnote-2982-1
[iii] Wikipedia contributors. “Age of majority (England).” 13 Jul. 2024. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 29 May 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority_(England)
[iv] Wikipedia contributors. “Age of majority (England).” 13 Jul. 2024. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 29 May 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority_(England)
[v] Walker, Sue Sheridan. “Proof of Age in Feudal Heirs in Medieval England”. Mediaeval Studies, Vol.34, 1973, p.307; quoted in Young, Charles Robert. The Making of the Neville Family in England, 1166-1400, p.44, note 5[1]. Cited on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority_(England)#cite_note-4
[vi] Wikipedia contributors. “Greta Thunberg.” 25 May 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 May 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg
[vii] Wikipedia contributors. “Greta Thunberg.” 25 May 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 May 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg
[viii] Belam, Martin and Guardian staff. “Greta Thunberg: teenager on a global mission to ‘make a difference’”. 26 Sep 2019. theguardian.com. 6 June 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/26/greta-thunberg-teenager-on-a-global-mission-to-make-a-difference