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That's still the case for some of us in the USA. No running water at home, so ... showering at the gym is 'hog-heaven'. They even have WARM running water!
Getting naked is part of the process, tho sometimes I take a clothed shower to wash off my dirty clothes every couple weeks.
This reminds me of an episode of Family Guy when Stewie saw an old naked guy in the shower and asked him "why do you have all those cuts on your butt?" lol
I think nudity should be more normalized, is not sane to give it all this importance to the human body. The more nudists there are, the less fuss it will cause to see a naked body in public.
Agreed. We are as a whole way to uptight about this subject.
I've spent some time in Japan and enjoy Onsen experience which is nude. It isn't a big deal and bathing nude is so much more comfortable.
Pools and summer camps where men and boys would swim were all male, no women or girls allowed, so the concept of modesty we have today didn't exist, you were just one of the guys, so why would you need to cover up? You had nothing that the other swimmers hadn't seen before. Of course it was different at the beach.
After all, the root word of "gymnasium", "gymnos", is Greek for "naked."
gymnasium (n.) -- 1590s, "place of exercise," from Latin gymnasium "school for gymnastics," from Greek gymnasion "public place where athletic exercises are practiced; gymnastics school," in plural, "bodily exercises," from gymnazein "to exercise or train," literally or figuratively, literally "to train naked," from gymnos "naked" -- Online Etymology Dictionary.
Yes, and the fear of nudity is a mental health condition named gymnophobia (fear of nakedness). The condition can be regarded as hypochondriasis or an anxiety disorder if the person cannot control the phobia or it is interfering with their daily life. Another phobia that has a significant amount of overlap with gymnophobia is dishabiliophobia, which is the fear of undressing in front of others.
I still don't get why all the insistence on men and boys swimming in the nude.
It is one thing for boys to throw off their clothes and swim nude in a lake, but why in swimming pools?
I don't buy that business of swimming suits being made of wool and the fibers clogging the filters. Cotton swimming trunks have been available for some time now. All they would have to do is ban wool swim, and the problem of wool fibers in the pool filters would be solved.
And so what if the old guys grew up swimming in the nude, why are they hanging around gym locker rooms in the nude now?
Is it like a nude social club?
Why don't they put their clothes out and go for coffee?
Come on, there is no insistence on men and boys swimming nude. People have tried to point out that this was once the norm. Things change. I doubt anyone swims nude in school or YMCA pools anymore.
Before I entered 7th grade, boys were afraid we would be made fun of, if we wore bathing suits. This was finished by 1970 when we moved to a new high school with a brand new pool. In one year my school went from swimsuit optional to coed classes with bathing suits required.
Hygiene is good for you, and so is nudity, learning not to be ashamed of yourself and learning not to let it bother you if someone looks. It's OK to look at someone and it's OK if they look at you. But they probably aren't looking at you more than anyone else. Not many people are that special.
Gym teachers might also have been told to look for signs of physical abuse in the showers.
It's as if Americans are more Puritanical now than ever.
There's no 'might' about it. Gym teachers were trained and required to look for signs of gym or sports related injuries, of bullying, of self harm, of beatings or domestic abuse, of sexual abuse, and in girls signs of pregnancy, and even signs of phobias and other mental health issues.
If the gym teacher observed signs of such concerns on the bodies of their students they were required to report it to the school nurse. The school nurse would then have an appointment with the student(s) in question for a physical examination and if abuse or other harm was evident the nurse would take it from there to report it to the principle, doctor, guidance counsellor or whatever other authorities might need to be involved, including the student's parents.
I don't know if schools still do stuff like that today on behalf of their students' health and well being but if they don't they should be doing it.
With regard to your comment "It's as if Americans are more Puritanical now than ever." it's not really puritanism as much as it is fear. Americans have become more fearful now than ever before.
I still don't get why all the insistence on men and boys swimming in the nude.
It is one thing for boys to throw off their clothes and swim nude in a lake, but why in swimming pools?
I don't buy that business of swimming suits being made of wool and the fibers clogging the filters. Cotton swimming trunks have been available for some time now. All they would have to do is ban wool swim, and the problem of wool fibers in the pool filters would be solved.
And so what if the old guys grew up swimming in the nude, why are they hanging around gym locker rooms in the nude now?
Is it like a nude social club?
Why don't they put their clothes out and go for coffee?
In some countries wearing clothing like swimsuits was considered unhygienic and bad for the pool water.
As an example, Just put your laundry in the washer -without detergent- and see how much detergent your clothes released from the previous washing anyway - double rinsing notwithstanding.
And who knows what else clings to that clothing - proteins, bacteria, etc.
One suppose to shower before going to the pool to rinse all traces of human elimination from the body, sweat, etc.
Again, people freaking out - even on this board-and have firmly associate nakedness and sex; it is kind of a “fundamentalist” view - religion based.
in fact it is a “learned” association, peculiar to the US and a few other countries with the strict religion - like covering woman’s hair - as “too sexy” or even covering not only the whole body but make sure to cover the shape of the bodies - as in “burka” - or whatever it is properly called.
When we were shown the photo from another country of a bare-chested man on a horse - it was immediately made fun off and called “gay”
We are condemning some countries for strict rules regarding covering women and loose clothing for man - to cover the body’s shape - but we here hypocritically the same in a way - to a lesser degree perhaps.
God forbid the women’s nipple is showing; we were all upset and it was a controversial topic about women breastfeeding in public - the most natural and non-sexual thing of all.
Or when parents of young babies got in trouble posting their babies at bath times. Crazy how far we could go.
Just review our ads or not too late night tv programming.
That type of programs instill “perfect nakedness =perfect young bodies =sex association
That is why someone made a comment here about perceived “ugliness” of old naked people - again - due to the sex association with the nakedness..and being brainwashed what perfect body suppose to be.
Well, ugly, old, fat people have sex too - and it could be even better than everyone else’s
Last edited by L00k4ward; 12-20-2022 at 06:25 AM..
Discussion has strayed from understanding why old men sit around naked in locker rooms.
Makes no difference that people in nudist colonies or other countries are completely comfortable with their naked bodies. Locker rooms in the U.S. are neither nudist colonies nor in other countries.
Speculation is that when these old men were young they swam naked because those were the rules back then, so they got comfortable hanging out naked.
I was astounded to read that YMCA's, schools, swim competitions, ... required male swimmers to be nude. I had never heard of that before this discussion.
If it was such a healthy, nonsexual thing to do, why were girls and women never required to swim nude?
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