Locker Room Nudity, Have Things Changed?
Recently I joined a gym with a pool featuring a steam room and sauna room in the locker room. To my surprise, the showers were all individual stalls with a curtain. In the main locker area I noticed when many members were dressing, they kept wrapped in a towel. Only a few people were naked in the locker room. Then I observed most of the nude members were approximately over 40 years of age. When I entered the locker room from the pool, I took of my wet bathing suite and took a shower. I exited the shower nude and walked over to my locker to hang up my bathing suite. I then walked over to the steam room with towel in hand and entered the steam room naked. When I entered, there were two other members in there. One wearing shorts and the other wrapped in a towel. I relaxed there for a while feeling a comfortable but wondering why so many people were so covered up. I then exited the steam room after a while and walked across the hall still naked into a hot sauna room. I placed my towel on the bench to sit on and stretched out in the corner and enjoyed the heat. After several minutes alone, one person entered wrapped in a towel and hesitantly greeted me as if he was shocked that I was sitting there naked. A few minutes later another person entered the sauna room much to my shock fully clothed carrying a basketball and sat down. Again, I was the only naked person in the sauna but didn't care. In the main locker room there a few other nude people but they were in the minority. Has locker room nudity changed over the years?
Recently I joined a gym with a pool featuring a steam room and sauna room in the locker room. To my surprise, the showers were all individual stalls with a curtain. In the main locker area I noticed when many members were dressing, they kept wrapped in a towel. Only a few people were naked in the locker room. Then I observed most of the nude members were approximately over 40 years of age. When I entered the locker room from the pool, I took of my wet bathing suite and took a shower. I exited the shower nude and walked over to my locker to hang up my bathing suite. I then walked over to the steam room with towel in hand and entered the steam room naked. When I entered, there were two other members in there. One wearing shorts and the other wrapped in a towel. I relaxed there for a while feeling a comfortable but wondering why so many people were so covered up. I then exited the steam room after a while and walked across the hall still naked into a hot sauna room. I placed my towel on the bench to sit on and stretched out in the corner and enjoyed the heat. After several minutes alone, one person entered wrapped in a towel and hesitantly greeted me as if he was shocked that I was sitting there naked. A few minutes later another person entered the sauna room much to my shock fully clothed carrying a basketball and sat down. Again, I was the only naked person in the sauna but didn't care. In the main locker room there a few other nude people but they were in the minority. Has locker room nudity changed over the years?
yes and sadly for the worst/you and a few others were the BEST/ddont stop
Your experience seems to be typical of men's locker rooms in the US. Nudity seems to be a big taboo topic with American men. It used to be women who were afraid of being seen nude. Now it's men. When I used to go to a large, chain gym, there was a sign on the door of the men's sauna (inside the men's locker room) that all users must wear something in the sauna. Nudity was strictly forbidden. At another large gym, I would often see 20-something guys wrapped tightly in a towel while they changed clothes. I would see guys fully clothed, including shoes in the sauna. I once saw a guy shower in his underwear and then put his jeans on over his wet briefs. That must have felt terribly uncomfortable. I guess to him, it was better than letting other men see him nude.A few years ago, I visited a Korean spa in the Chicago suburbs. The wet areas at Korean spas are always gender segregated and nude mandatory. A younger man was sitting in the hot pool wearing a bathing suit. Every other guy there was following the posted rules and was nude. After just a few minutes, a staff member told the clothed guy that nudity was mandatory in the wet area. The user protested by saying he had showered. The staff member persisted. Rather than comply with the rules, the man packed up and left after only 10 minutes. He had just paid about $30 to get in and stayed only 10 minutes all because he was afraid of being seen nude by other men. It was so strange.It's hard to believe that American men used to swim nude at the YMCA. Now, they don't even get nude in the men's locker room! My, how times have changed for the worse!
yes they have changed for the worse
Recently I joined a gym with a pool featuring a steam room and sauna room in the locker room. To my surprise, the showers were all individual stalls with a curtain. In the main locker area I noticed when many members were dressing, they kept wrapped in a towel. Only a few people were naked in the locker room. Then I observed most of the nude members were approximately over 40 years of age. When I entered the locker room from the pool, I took of my wet bathing suite and took a shower. I exited the shower nude and walked over to my locker to hang up my bathing suite. I then walked over to the steam room with towel in hand and entered the steam room naked. When I entered, there were two other members in there. One wearing shorts and the other wrapped in a towel. I relaxed there for a while feeling a comfortable but wondering why so many people were so covered up. I then exited the steam room after a while and walked across the hall still naked into a hot sauna room. I placed my towel on the bench to sit on and stretched out in the corner and enjoyed the heat. After several minutes alone, one person entered wrapped in a towel and hesitantly greeted me as if he was shocked that I was sitting there naked. A few minutes later another person entered the sauna room much to my shock fully clothed carrying a basketball and sat down. Again, I was the only naked person in the sauna but didn't care. In the main locker room there a few other nude people but they were in the minority. Has locker room nudity changed over the years?
Weird. In the UK, it's mandatory in mainstream Spas to wear something. However, there are Spas that do cater for the traditional approach, you just have to find them. As for covering up in the locker room, we just get changed, not a towel dance, not a guys hanging out naked together thing either. It's not a big deal in my gym. The shower is communal though and although I'm in when it's not busy, I haven't noticed anyone wearing shorts to shower.
I always thought that the principal reason for having separate locker/changing room and other facilities such as saunas and steam rooms for men and women and separate days or times of use in places with only one set of facilities is to allow people to use them in whatever clothing or no clothing they prefer. When I grew up in Scandinavia it was always like that. And it was the opposite of today - the very few who were wearing something in the sauna or showers were the ones who were stared down - not the naked ones which is the case today ... Without any intention of broadening this topic - co-ed naked saunas were also available in some places ... no big deal ...
Ironic isn't it? The younger generation that apparently
thinks nothing of sexting each other on one end, and adults that
feel shamed into covering up on the other. The gym I belong
to has only a sauna and no steam room. I don't go in the sauna
often except to warm up my gym clothes in cold weather, but it
seems people are mostly covered up. Locker room nudity seems
limited to changing only, and it's not uncommon to see the change
under a towel bit either. A more full service gym I went to
before was a country club in comparison. it was not uncommon
for most of the elderly men to stand nude and shave, or parade
around nude chatting. Somewhere in the middle is a good happy
medium probably. I'm not advocating sexting, but I suppose
the relaxed attitude of the younger generation may bode well for
nudism in the future if they grasp it. I don't think that's much of a valid link, sexting is probably more hormone motivated than anything.
I haven't been to a gym or public baths for some years now, but I noticed the nudity I was accustomed to was becoming scarce the last times I went to the swimming baths. I think things gradually changed in the late '80s among young men, who appeared to be influenced by American T.V. Gone were the "Speedos" of my generation, replaced by long, voluminous "swim-shorts" as worn on U.S.T.V. and films. Back in the '60s we had to shower after work (dirty job) and everybody stripped naked. It was the same at the public baths, and school swimming lessons. It is totally different in Europe and Scandinavia, where commonsense prevails; no hang-ups about the human body. That's why I holiday in Spain.
It worries me the double standards of our society. Its OK to be virtually nude and flaunt your body on TV , adds on the road site Bill Boards, vet simple nudity in the gym locker room and at the beach is not tolerated by the same society. Wearing clothes and shoes in the sauna sounds totally bizarre. Sex sells, but naturism/nudity is illegal! I am perplexed.
Yes I too think you are right in your assessment ... But what can we do about it? ... I am not real comfortable having my freedom options (former YMCA standard as we have discussed here) curtailed by someone else's insecurities ... if we always adjust to the lowest common denominator - we will all regress and regret ...
Excellent topic!
I was precisely thinking of this while watching in amusement some guys at my rather small gym (it's actually a functional training studio) really struggling to put their underwear while wrapped in their towels so that nobody can get even a glimpse of their penises or their asses. Seems like these guys don't even see themselves on the mirror when showering privately... It's ridiculous to me and I don't care if they think I'm a show-off because I walk around naked and only dress as the very last step before leaving.
When I was young, going naked in the locker room was very uncommon and only the bravest in school did it, with the rest were watching in amazement. I used to belong to the latter group and it took me many many years to regard nudity as something normal, so I'm not going back to A1 now!
In Mexico it's not as bad as you guys comment is happening now in the States. Yet, one of my best friend's wife was mentioning that a beautiful girl we all know could be a slut because she was walking naked all over in the locker room showing-off...
For some time I even thought that things were evolving to having a common locker room for gents and ladies, but it's quite much the opposite...
I was in junior high in the mid 60's and high school in the late 60's. We showered and changed in the men's locker room open at the public pool, showered with all the other boys after gym in junior high and high school and had open showers at the YMCA. In school you showered and the teacher with his assistant tossed you a half towel and you dealt with it. At school, the "Y," and the public pool you just accepted those were the policies and there were no discussions about feelings and self esteem. As far as I know no one was permanently damaged.
I don't know what has happened over the years, but suddenly parents demand private showers, say that their kids should be exempt from gym or showering and bring lawsuits when their babies don't get their way. I can just imagine what the Army would have said in WWII if my father had said he wanted a private shower while stationed in the Philippines. He's lucky he had a door on the latrine. Kids seem to have major self esteem issues and no one wants to step up and say those are the rules. Accept it and move on.
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