Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute football team lockerroom, East Campus Athletic Stadium, Troy, NY
College of the Sequoias, Visalia, California
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute football team lockerroom, East Campus Athletic Stadium, Troy, NY
College of the Sequoias, Visalia, California
I wish I could be a fly on the wall for the conversations about removing open showers. What is the justification given for making that change?
Gym managers are not the ones to make the choice the chain owners demand them. World Gym was a great example. The franchise owners often bought and rehabbed older clubs with open showers, ONE complaint to corporate and they all had to find ways to put dividers into spaces not made for them. In the case of the YMCA there are often both such as on 63rd street as some members complain there is no privacy so they add what are now rusting stalls for those members keeping one shower room as it was.
I agree with your astute comment. It's MUCH easier to have a tryst with a dude if you have individual stalls that are completely private. If that's why people are installing cubicles, they're defeating their own purpose. Alas that open showers are on the wane. I am grateful to have grown up in the era of open showers and jockstraps.
Privacy is just another word for anxiety. They don't want to be seen nude. It's no different than the dividers that are on urinals now. Back in the 50's and 60's there were none while now it's required and with unisex bathrooms on the rise we're going to see urinals vanish and there will be nothing but stalls.
A google map of all the open showers worldwide.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/v...J&ll=23.86688021685283,-45.11070528001312&z=2
Men’s shower room at the YMCA Saskatoon in Saskatoon, Canada.
Fitness First Frankfurt - Konstablerwache gym in Germany.
I actually flew to Buffalo specifically to enjoy this awesome shower room filled with Bradley Poles. They also have a steam room (large size and kept pitch black dark) and a sauna that was frequented by several of the schools wrestlers the week I was there.
Fun times and experience with sincere hopes it'll never be remodeled.
I feel like there should be a hybrid model like the gym I went to recently when I was out of town that had two closed off cubicle showers and a handicap curtained shower on one side and then five open showers on the opposite side. Everybody's happy. Unfortunately there's always a creeper in any open shower environment that freaks people out so everybody should have a choice.
My old gym, pre-renovation, was like that. It had a pair of open showers and then 3-4 showers with curtains which I used once and a friend laughed at me as we had always used the open showers. Post-renovation all had shower curtains. They also gutted the men's whirlpool for a unisex one and gutted the steam room, halving the size of the men's locker room to essentially share the same square footage as the women's locker room.
Sign of the times. They can no longer mandate showers and it follows no students will on their own take them.
Josh95
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I've recently switched from a gym with all cubicle showers to one with a couple of cubicles and about 6 open showers. I didn't realise until my first visit so came as a little surprise to turn the corner and see 3 very naked men happily showering away!
A cubicle was free but I decided to just go for it and became number 4...and I'm glad I did. It was my first ever experience of open showers and my overwhelming feeling was it just felt more comfortable than being crammed into a tiny dark cubicle. I'm not going to pretend I didn't sneak a little peek at the other guys (who incidentally were all probably early-mid 20s despite the stereotype us young guys do everything possible to avoid being naked in public) but to be honest it didn't feel sexual, just relaxing and refreshing to see each other on the same level. I noticed the other lads having a quick glance too, it's only natural for guys to compare.
Next to the showers is a drying off area with the idea being you get basically dry before heading back to your locker to avoid wet floors etc. Guys seem pretty relaxed about drying off in the buff, which is the only way, no point trying to pull your boxers up under a towel. For me, that's way less awkward then drying off naked by your locker next to a fully dressed guy who's just arriving.
I've seen young guys, older guys and everyone in between enjoying a shower uninhibited and it's honestly great. It's not just gay/bi guys showing off, some of the lads are obviously straight 'gym lads' but are secure enough not to care who sees them naked.
For me open showers are quicker, more efficient and probably more hygienic than stalls where guys like to shave, and maybe do other things...if I ever move out of Manchester I'd make it a key reason for choosing another gym/pool. We need less modesty and more natural, non-sexual nudity!
A cubicle was free but I decided to just go for it and became number 4...and I'm glad I did. It was my first ever experience of open showers and my overwhelming feeling was it just felt more comfortable than being crammed into a tiny dark cubicle. I'm not going to pretend I didn't sneak a little peek at the other guys (who incidentally were all probably early-mid 20s despite the stereotype us young guys do everything possible to avoid being naked in public) but to be honest it didn't feel sexual, just relaxing and refreshing to see each other on the same level. I noticed the other lads having a quick glance too, it's only natural for guys to compare.
Next to the showers is a drying off area with the idea being you get basically dry before heading back to your locker to avoid wet floors etc. Guys seem pretty relaxed about drying off in the buff, which is the only way, no point trying to pull your boxers up under a towel. For me, that's way less awkward then drying off naked by your locker next to a fully dressed guy who's just arriving.
I've seen young guys, older guys and everyone in between enjoying a shower uninhibited and it's honestly great. It's not just gay/bi guys showing off, some of the lads are obviously straight 'gym lads' but are secure enough not to care who sees them naked.
For me open showers are quicker, more efficient and probably more hygienic than stalls where guys like to shave, and maybe do other things...if I ever move out of Manchester I'd make it a key reason for choosing another gym/pool. We need less modesty and more natural, non-sexual nudity!
Tony56
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Sign of the times. They can no longer mandate showers and it follows no students will on their own take them.Sign of the times. They can no longer mandate showers and it follows no students will on their own take them.
Not completely true. I know younger guys that do shower after sports practices.
Not completely true. I know younger guys that do shower after sports practices.
It will soon be as showers vanish. I wouldn't be surprised if locker rooms vanish and in there place just changing rooms like in clothing stores. Why bother with the expense?
FareTheeWell
Cherished Member
My sexual orientation was awakened when I was taken to an open shower room at a campground in Florida. I don't think I'd ever seen a fully naked adult man or pubic hair before. I was shocked that men could get hair in their butt cracks. I still have clear memories of all the dark wet fur in that shower room.
Gym & school showers in the USA are NOT going to vanish anytime soon u Brit Kazon225 / "shower DebbieDowner".
Why won't they ? Because we value independence, originality, small business ownership etc and so there are segments of our country [just for perspective England is almost the size of Alabama except smaller], where communal showers are used daily still by high school students and these areas tend to have depth & high concentration of facilities with open showers still in usage.
Your premature obituary for another countries open shower scene is inaccurate, negative and uninformed
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I saw my first adult man naked in a communal as well fella, in my case at a leisure centre. His hairiness made a lasting impression on me too, and I've always preferred my men hairy ever since. Today the only thing I regret about my hairy chest is that the fur isn't a bit thicker, but you can't have everything sadly.
FareTheeWell
Cherished Member
You have an amazing bush so be happy about that.