The Days when Nude Swimming was Required
Anna
YMCAs and even many High Schools use to have that men had to be naked
in order to swim in their pools. This occurred even up into the 1970s
when it finally died out do to the fact that women had started to be
allowed into these pools. You know I find it interesting that the
Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) allows women now but the
Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) still doesn't let men use
their facilities. Not that any man would want to (well I guess I
shouldn't say that because there are weirdos out there) but still it
seems hypocritical that women can now join a club that was
traditionally for men but men can't use the female counterpart.
Well here's the web page
http://www.topix.com/forum/education/TID0DQ0GJR34GB55G
There's 308 comments on this topic.
Here is just one of them.
Phillip from Minneapolis, MN posts:
"I grew up always swimming naked at school, at the Y, and on the swim
team. This wasn't a choice, so we didn't consider it right or wrong.
Adults made choices for us all the time. When to go to school, what
kind of shoes to wear to church, how to behave at the grocery store.
We were accustomed to rules already being in place, and we adapted to
them, as kids do everywhere. So nudity in gym class and at the YMCA
was an accepted part of a pre-existing system. And as an accepted part
of this system, we considered it normal, not sexual. It helped that
the gym teachers were also nude. Generally, before class got underway,
the teacher would be wrapped in a towel, but once class started, he
would hang it over a chair and get in the pool nude with the rest of
us. No one thought anything about this. It was completely accepted
that swimming was done nude, so we would have thought it strange if he
hadn't swum nude as well. I don't know when things changed, or why.
That happened after I graduated from high school. Nudity among boys in
environments such as these - public or private - was never something
to be feared or ashamed of. I should add that, because it was pre-
accepted, we didn't have to go through any sort of adaption or
acceptance phases. We were free to enjoy it, without guilt or
embarrassment. In 11th grade, mine was the last gym class of the day.
We often stayed after for another half hour or so, if the swim team
wasn't practicing, and played in the pool naked. I feel bad for kids
today who are so ashamed of themselves that something as pleasant and
innocent as this is necessarily avoided. We've lost a lot.
Phillip "
Zee
you were free to enjoy same sex social nudity...i grew up in that
era...and i do not remember enjoying the same sex nudity...rather a
convenience and nothing more and nothing less....but when the feminist
said hey the girls are gonna join you and use the same
bathrooms...then hey ...that just aint gonna happen and thus all
nudity was banned from all public places...makes sense huh...jz