How comfortable are men with being nude in communal showers and locker rooms in your country or culture?

[mikyang]

You're right.

My father and grandfather generations (one born in the 50s and the other one born in the 20s) grew up in a world where "men were not allowed to have modesty regarding nudity, that was for women." My dad told me that communal showers and being nude among other guys were an everyday thing in his young years, so everyone was used to that. Of course, there were guys that were uncomfortable with nudity, but when the whole world works in a certain way you just go along with it. And if you do some research, before the 80s or 70s, individual privacy was not as valued as today. My father had 4 brothers and they all share one big bedroom with bunk beds, and there was just one bathroom for a family of 9, so most of the time they had to shower in pairs to save time and water. Then you have to add that social institutions and activities reinforced the whole thing about nudity among men as just the norm (schools, sports, military, boy scouts, public recreational facilities, etc.)

why was it a thing in america? Yeah my dad and his class mates all had to swim naked. i can understand if some of them wanted to be naked but if a person didnt why didnt they just respect that guy and let him wear trunks the girls did wear trunks and it didnt hurt the pools

 

[steamyman]

two of the leisure centres I used to visit (both in London UK) had makeovers in recent years. They went from seperate sex changing rooms with open showers (ok, I can't speak to the womens if they were open) to a unisex changing village - everyone uses the same space. Cubicles to change, cubicles to shower. The only showers that are "open" are to rinse off before/after swimming but you cannot be nude.

I hate them so much. They are never as clean as the men only communal change/shower because there are more surfaces (benches/doors/walls) to clean and people just leave their crap in the cubicles instead of putting in the bins.

I do, kind of understand that the changing village concept "works" for everyone though - London has a wide variety of cultures and faiths. Many of whom have very conservative views on nudity - so this works for all.

I mate of mine, some time ago, after his swim, opted to use one of open showers that were opposite shower cubicles in teh men's changing room. He was the only one there until a Dad and young son arrived - the Dad decided to berate my friend for showering naked "out in the open" - my mate told him it's none of his business and to fuck off. Good for him!

Communal showers certainly seem to be a thing of the past - and that is a shame.

 

[opinionman]

This isn't remotely true, staggeringly inaccurate in fact - it's almost none, not almost all, and that has been the case for ages.

I went through all my schooling right up to university and never once in all that time saw a peer naked, in fact, we would go to afternoon lessons with mud on our necks from morning rugby because no-one wanted to use the showers. I'm nearly forty now and if anything it's gotten worse - the prudishness isn't creeping in, it's already here.

Today i think it's 98% guys doing the towel dance, and almost nobody showering naked if you can even find a communal shower anymore. The only people doing that are pensioners with nothing to lose and you don't see them at the gym too much. I have had stares and aggression for being naked in the showers before, it's a pretty big social faux pas.

It's not as if younger people are just more shy though, i dont think it's aboyt prudishness - they post explicit things on social media, full nudes on reddit and share them with mates through snapchat, it's something else, I'm not sure what

This matches my experience in the US as well.

 

[mikyang]

two of the leisure centres I used to visit (both in London UK) had makeovers in recent years. They went from seperate sex changing rooms with open showers (ok, I can't speak to the womens if they were open) to a unisex changing village - everyone uses the same space. Cubicles to change, cubicles to shower. The only showers that are "open" are to rinse off before/after swimming but you cannot be nude.

I hate them so much. They are never as clean as the men only communal change/shower because there are more surfaces (benches/doors/walls) to clean and people just leave their crap in the cubicles instead of putting in the bins.

I do, kind of understand that the changing village concept "works" for everyone though - London has a wide variety of cultures and faiths. Many of whom have very conservative views on nudity - so this works for all.

I mate of mine, some time ago, after his swim, opted to use one of open showers that were opposite shower cubicles in teh men's changing room. He was the only one there until a Dad and young son arrived - the Dad decided to berate my friend for showering naked "out in the open" - my mate told him it's none of his business and to fuck off. Good for him!

Communal showers certainly seem to be a thing of the past - and that is a shame.

so all boys and man should be naked to show how confident they are!?!?!?

 

[mikyang]

This matches my experience in the US as well.

didnt you feel ashamed and why did i have to get naked while females didnt have to get naked

 

[opinionman]

Actually, yes. Well, let me speculate. I know it'll never happen,but imagine a world where guys grew up surrounded frequently with other guys in various scenes where they had to be naked AND (and this is the point), the culture promoted the older guys being SUPPORTIVE of the younger: talking openly about what it was like to grow up, talking candidly about body changes, generally acknowledging that growing up can be hard but that the younger guys will have mentors, etc. Compare that to the culture of harm that you find so much: teams that haze their new players in a misguided attempt to make them "tough." If we all had this kind of mentor relationship with an older guy in our formative years, men's psyche's wouldn't be so warped.

so all boys and man should be naked to show how confident they are!?!?!?

 

[JohnGw]

This isn't remotely true, staggeringly inaccurate in fact - it's almost none, not almost all, and that has been the case for ages.

I went through all my schooling right up to university and never once in all that time saw a peer naked, in fact, we would go to afternoon lessons with mud on our necks from morning rugby because no-one wanted to use the showers. I'm nearly forty now and if anything it's gotten worse - the prudishness isn't creeping in, it's already here.

Today i think it's 98% guys doing the towel dance, and almost nobody showering naked if you can even find a communal shower anymore. The only people doing that are pensioners with nothing to lose and you don't see them at the gym too much. I have had stares and aggression for being naked in the showers before, it's a pretty big social faux pas.

It's not as if younger people are just more shy though, i dont think it's aboyt prudishness - they post explicit things on social media, full nudes on reddit and share them with mates through snapchat, it's something else, I'm not sure what

I was going by my own experience.

 

[mikyang]

Actually, yes. Well, let me speculate. I know it'll never happen,but imagine a world where guys grew up surrounded frequently with other guys in various scenes where they had to be naked AND (and this is the point), the culture promoted the older guys being SUPPORTIVE of the younger: talking openly about what it was like to grow up, talking candidly about body changes, generally acknowledging that growing up can be hard but that the younger guys will have mentors, etc. Compare that to the culture of harm that you find so much: teams that haze their new players in a misguided attempt to make them "tough." If we all had this kind of mentor relationship with an older guy in our formative years, men's psyche's wouldn't be so warped.

Just becuase boys had mentors didnt mean they were not warped we didnt have man who knew even how to be man! Being naked in front of other guys would give you confidence? No confidence comes from males helping one another gay or straight and be supportive of eachother instead of pulling our pants down laughing about it and doing the same thing to another guy to toughen him up. Greeks wanted older guys to have sex with young boys that wasnt right! THere brains are not developed enough to understand what sex was and they were both naked. We as gay man need to be more supportive and to understand its okay to have both mascluine and feminine traits but being naked with other boys didnt give any of the boys confidence they even said why did it happen!

 

[Jason]

The new issue is Covid. In UK just about everywhere is stating that they have an enhanced cleaning regime and this translates into a cleaner cleaning surfaces. Whether this actually achieves anything much in terms of reducing Covid transmission is debatable, but it does translate into institutIonal unease about the surfaces of changing cubicles.

For years UK leisure centres (the majority of pools and gyms, run by local councils) have felt that “changing villages”, cubicles and shower in swim costume showers is the way to go. However we may be on the cusp of a change. Living with Covid means that everywhere has to demonstrate what the are doing. Single sex open locker rooms ticks this box.

anyway I’m an optimist!

 

[mikyang]

The new issue is Covid. In UK just about everywhere is stating that they have an enhanced cleaning regime and this translates into a cleaner cleaning surfaces. Whether this actually achieves anything much in terms of reducing Covid transmission is debatable, but it does translate into institutIonal unease about the surfaces of changing cubicles.

For years UK leisure centres (the majority of pools and gyms, run by local councils) have felt that “changing villages”, cubicles and shower in swim costume showers is the way to go. However we may be on the cusp of a change. Living with Covid means that everywhere has to demonstrate what the are doing. Single sex open locker rooms ticks this box.

anyway I’m an optimist!

thank god my dick balls and butt are for my boyfriend not for the world to see

 

[Dik Ryder]

About 5 years ago I was attending a Community College, and one of the classes I took was Volleyball! It was outdoors of course, so before I went to my next class I would take a shower to clean up, and yes, guys had an issue with the nudity! Of course I wasn’t going to stop doing it, and I of course some guys tried complaining to the staff, but that fell flat really fast! Funny thing though, I would see some of those guys cruising the bathrooms on other parts of the campus!

 

[Jason]

Went to a London pool this afternoon which has open showers and locker room. A couple of thoughts:

* it isn’t a display of the body beautiful. A lot of men are in poor shape. It’s not like porn.
* it just seems so normal.

 

[opinionman]

Just becuase boys had mentors didnt mean they were not warped we didnt have man who knew even how to be man! Being naked in front of other guys would give you confidence? No confidence comes from males helping one another gay or straight and be supportive of eachother instead of pulling our pants down laughing about it and doing the same thing to another guy to toughen him up. Greeks wanted older guys to have sex with young boys that wasnt right! THere brains are not developed enough to understand what sex was and they were both naked. We as gay man need to be more supportive and to understand its okay to have both mascluine and feminine traits but being naked with other boys didnt give any of the boys confidence they even said why did it happen!

A little hard to understand what you're saying. I couldn't disagree with you more (obviously) when you say being supportive of younger guys wouldn't increase their confidence. I don't see how you can make a claim like that. Half the world's ills come from men who are insecure, violent, and in power (Putin). If male's insecurities about themselves and their bodies were assuaged by having older guys help them along life's path, then surely the younger would be more fully developed human beings. I have no idea what your last sentence means: We as gay men need to be more supportive and to understand its okay to have both masculine and feminine traits but being naked with other boys didn't give any of the boys confidence then even said why did it happen." Perhaps if you reread your post, punctuated, and clarified.
Seems to me you're making MY point: I said IF the world were arranged such that older guys helped younger, then it would indeed give them more confidence. Just because it might not have happened in your experience, doesn't mean that the THEORY of it isn't solid. I admit it's a fantasy, but I think the basis of it (older helping younger), is proven.

 

[mikyang]

A little hard to understand what you're saying. I couldn't disagree with you more (obviously) when you say being supportive of younger guys wouldn't increase their confidence. I don't see how you can make a claim like that. Half the world's ills come from men who are insecure, violent, and in power (Putin). If male's insecurities about themselves and their bodies were assuaged by having older guys help them along life's path, then surely the younger would be more fully developed human beings. I have no idea what your last sentence means: We as gay men need to be more supportive and to understand its okay to have both masculine and feminine traits but being naked with other boys didn't give any of the boys confidence then even said why did it happen." Perhaps if you reread your post, punctuated, and clarified.
Seems to me you're making MY point: I said IF the world were arranged such that older guys helped younger, then it would indeed give them more confidence. Just because it might not have happened in your experience, doesn't mean that the THEORY of it isn't solid. I admit it's a fantasy, but I think the basis of it (older helping younger), is proven.

So let me understand you. IF all guys were naked in front of eachother then we wouldnt be so savage!?!? Guys need male mentors gay or straight but being naked in a pool with them isnt giving them confidence

 

[mikyang]

Went to a London pool this afternoon which has open showers and locker room. A couple of thoughts:

* it isn’t a display of the body beautiful. A lot of men are in poor shape. It’s not like porn.
* it just seems so normal.

How about some modesty? I understand we shouldnt be ashamed of our bodies but come on

 

[Luvcutdick]

I would like to know how comfortable are men with nudity in public spaces or among peers in your country or culture? Especially I am talking about gym showers, locker rooms, dorms, communal showers, public baths, and even nudist beaches or lakes.

My question comes because it has been discussed extensively here and in another site, how open showers and communal showers are disappearing in the United States and other countries in the west. That the last two generations are more prudish about being nude in front of others, that most gyms or sports facilities are taking privacy into consideration when designing locker room areas, and that in general men are less comfortable with being around other naked men, some people even see it as gayish, I guess meaning homoerotic.

But, that's not true for other countries. From Russian banyas, Finland saunas to Korean spas or Japanese sento, to name a few, it seems that men in other cultures still have no problem with getting naked in front of each other. A friend from New Zealand told me that men down under are more open to getting naked than Americans for example. Also, in some countries in Latin America men still feel comfortable with nudity among guys and open showers are still the norm.

What do you think? How's it in your country or culture?

Being naked has never bothered me ....................

However, to add to that, I am a nudist. Initial reactions that I get are that I must be sexually motivated by it. My response is "absolutely not. If nudism is sexual to you, then please don't come to a nudist resort that I am visiting".

The homophobic angle; in my 67 years I am of the opinion that those men who come across as homophobic are uncertain of their own sexuality".

 

[steamyman]

How about some modesty? I understand we shouldnt be ashamed of our bodies but come on

the above in reply to
"Went to a London pool this afternoon which has open showers and locker room. A couple of thoughts:

* it isn’t a display of the body beautiful. A lot of men are in poor shape. It’s not like porn.
* it just seems so normal."

Not sure what you're trying to say? Should men be modest (as in not be seen nude in communal showers) if they are NOT in shape? Isn't that the point of commnunal showers? You'll see all shapes and sizes and realise that there's nothing wrong with anyone being nude in those places. It's meant to be acceptable and 'normal'. If you're offended by an old man naked with a pot belly and low hanging balls, well that's your problem.

Being in shape doesn't always mean you have a six pack, pecs etc. You can be a musclebound boy and not be able to run 100m without collapsing. I can swim at an ok rate without tiring and I'm a big old bear so I do have some decent level of fitness but wouldn't be featured on the cover of Mens Fitness!

 

[Jason]

How about some modesty? I understand we shouldnt be ashamed of our bodies but come on

We show our faces, and some are more attractive than others.

I don’t see that modesty is relevant here, just as I don’t cover my face in order to be modest. I don’t care who sees me naked. Other men don’t care if they are seen naked. We all have a body. There’s the “see but don’t see” concept. People aren’t blind but it’s not about looking either.

 

[mikyang]

the above in reply to
"Went to a London pool this afternoon which has open showers and locker room. A couple of thoughts:

* it isn’t a display of the body beautiful. A lot of men are in poor shape. It’s not like porn.
* it just seems so normal."

Not sure what you're trying to say? Should men be modest (as in not be seen nude in communal showers) if they are NOT in shape? Isn't that the point of commnunal showers? You'll see all shapes and sizes and realise that there's nothing wrong with anyone being nude in those places. It's meant to be acceptable and 'normal'. If you're offended by an old man naked with a pot belly and low hanging balls, well that's your problem.

Being in shape doesn't always mean you have a six pack, pecs etc. You can be a musclebound boy and not be able to run 100m without collapsing. I can swim at an ok rate without tiring and I'm a big old bear so I do have some decent level of fitness but wouldn't be featured on the cover of Mens Fitness!

NO I am saying lets have some modesty in communal showers etc etc since anything can be online

 

[mikyang]

We show our faces, and some are more attractive than others.

I don’t see that modesty is relevant here, just as I don’t cover my face in order to be modest. I don’t care who sees me naked. Other men don’t care if they are seen naked. We all have a body. There’s the “see but don’t see” concept. People aren’t blind but it’s not about looking either.

faces are far different from dicks balls and butts