Nude Swimming in USA High Schools
Dan Rondello
nude, the girls however wore suits.
This was in the 1930's, and the reason given for not allowing the boys
to wear suits, was to keep the pool cleaner.
It is interesting to note that as many of you ma know nudity was common
in gymnastics, and athletics in ancient Greece, this again wa mainly
done by men and boys, however the more liberal city-state of Sparta, did
have female gym classes in the nude as well. A couple of friends of mine
went to Greece, and they had re-enactments of nude olympic games (again
with men.) I believe that he etymologies of the words gymnasium and
gymnastics have something to do with nudity.
In a back issue of <I> Nude And Natural </I> I once read where someone
had wrote of swimming nude at the local YMCA , according to his story
the swimmers were male, he says that they once hired a female lifeguard,
who started working in the nude , the story states that the swimmers and
the lifeguard got along well, and none of the swimmers seemed to be
bothered by the woman's nudity.Someone did eventually complain,
however,and the woman was fired.
Bmasonjohnson
And furthermore, if she was swimming nude WHO IN THE HELL WOULD COMPLAIN?!
That somewhat pornographic site Nialos has a story about a boy taking nude
swimming lessons at a Y with a female (suited) instructor. Totally absurd.
WHS
Through the years of following this subject when it reappears, I have never
read anything cited from a YMCA source that says what their official policy
was or still is regarding nude swimming. Same goes for all these high
schools we keep hearing about, we seldom see a cite or quote from a school
administrator or school board member specifically stating that students
routinely swam in the nude during physical education classes. The news
group stories tend to be more fantasy i.e.. female coach/instructor or life
guard supervising little boys, or males doing the same for little girls.
Bill S in NC
Dan Rondello
I certainly wouldn't complain about a female nude lifeguard, but sadly,
I know some people might, even though at times, their complaints are a
bit hypocritical.
Mike B.
find their butts with both hands. They are so disorganized it's pitiful. I
have done several jobs for the local outfit and it's cash up front only.
So much for the OFFICIAL response.
The unofficial one is that at the Pasadena, CAlif YMCA and at the YWCA down the
street, nude swimming in the 60's was the norm. It was also the norm at the
LAPD Academy in the early 60's.
No, there was no mixed gender useage at either place.
Mike B.
In article <9apjo2$vnf$1...@slb3.atl.mindspring.net>, "WHS" <whs...@hotmail.com>
writes:
Mike B.
he is having swimming lessons, and oh btw they're in the nude, and oh, btw, our
instuructor is female.
No School district would allow that, period. Even in the 60's.
So knock off the fantisies
In article <7662-3AD...@storefull-616.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
RenderedBrian
618.iap.bryant.webtv.net>:
>My father once told me that when he was in High School, the boys swam
>nude, the girls however wore suits.
>
>This was in the 1930's, and the reason given for not allowing the boys
>to wear suits, was to keep the pool cleaner.
>
So, i suppose female swimsuits have some kind of magical property which
means that they are clean and dont block the filters, whereas male swimming
costumes mess the water up / block the filters?
--
brian
"I am the Prince of Insufficient Light"
Dan Rondello
It doesn't make sense to me either, but those were the 1930's, and
things were a lot more sexist.
Jeffrey Allen Roberts
R\ nake...@webtv.net (Dan Rondello) wrote in <26338-3ACEA4FB-67@storefull-
R\ 618.iap.bryant.webtv.net>:
>>My father once told me that when he was in High School, the boys swam
>>nude, the girls however wore suits.
>>
>>This was in the 1930's, and the reason given for not allowing the boys
>>to wear suits, was to keep the pool cleaner.
>>
R\ So, i suppose female swimsuits have some kind of magical property which
R\ means that they are clean and dont block the filters, whereas male swimming
R\ costumes mess the water up / block the filters?
More likely just an application of a double standard, all boys skinnydipping is
ok, girls no way.
--
Jeffrey
o. caipora
>Through the years of following this subject when it reappears, I have never
>read anything cited from a YMCA source that says what their official policy
>was or still is regarding nude swimming
However, if Bill will be satisfied with the Boys' Club and the National
Public
Health Service, here are relevent regulations and recommendations.
From _Manual of Boys' Club Operation_, by Boys' Clubs of America, A.S.
Barnes
& Company, NY. Copyright 1947.
*Chapter XX - The Physical Program* is divided into several sections,
including SWIMMING POOL.
On pages 263-264 are _Regulations for Users_. There are eleven of these. I
will quote only three:
2. Require all swimmers to take a cleansing shower bath in the nude with
warm
water and soap followed by a careful rinse before entering the pool.
5. Permit boys to swim only in the nude.
6. If girls and women use the pool, require sterilized wool or cotton suits
of undyed fabric or material tested for color fastness, and rubber bathing
caps. Bathing suits should be cared for by the swimming pool management.
In the discussion of physical pool facilities, there are frequent references
to "Report of the Joint Committee on Bathing Places," U.S. Treasury
Department, Public Health Service, Supplement No. 139 (1937).
I found the 1957 version in the public library, as follows:
From "Recommended Practices for Design, Equipment and Operation of Swimming
Pools and Other Public Bathing Places" by the Joint Committee on Bathing
Places of the American Public Health Association and the Conference of State
Sanitary Engineers, 10th Edition, 1957, p. 21:
"At indoor pools used exclusively by men, nude bathing should be required."
Brian Kasl
high schools at least until the early 1970s - the girls wore suits. I
also remember an all ages, all male nude YMCA swim sometime in the 1960s
in Chicago. Nude swimming for girls, even sex- segregated, was unheard
of, at least in that part of the midwest, in schools or Ys.
Dan Rondello
the double standard, of boys going nude, but not girls.
Neil Midkiff
>
> That's pretty interesting, I'd like to know how in 1957, they justified
> the double standard, of boys going nude, but not girls.
In 1957 nearly everyone accepted double standards about nearly everything
involving boys and girls.
That's of course an oversimplification. There was, I'm sure, a lot of
resentment among women about the lack of equal pay for equal work.
But the culture I grew up in (I was born in 1956 in Kansas City, Missouri)
was not aware of the issues that would be raised in the next decades about
feminism and sexual equality.
Boys were supposed to be tough little soldiers. I suspect that one of the
reasons why boys were raised to be tolerant of all-male nudity was in
order to be prepared for the lack of privacy inherent in military service.
Girls were to be protected and shielded from anything that might be
unpleasant or upsetting. Few girls were encouraged, or even allowed, to
be athletically active apart from some basic physical education classes;
the few who insisted on it were called "tomboys" as if a predilection for
sports cancelled out all their femininity. If there was any
interscholastic competition for girls' teams I don't remember it. I
remember being told that in the girls' locker rooms they had individual
shower stalls with curtains; we boys got one big shower area with multiple
shower spray nozzles. I don't think we felt deprived, or felt that they
were being unusually coddled; that's just the way things were done.
-Neil Midkiff
Tom
Diego. Boys swim classes were in the lake and nude. We found out that
the girl's camp was across the lake (quite large). One of the guys in
my cabin got some field glasses from his father during parent's day.
Some of the gals wore suits, some did not. Mandatory for us; not for
them is what the girls said upon return to school that Sep. It turns
out that they had field glasses too.
Dan Rondello
girls had to wear suits?
It was a double standard, and in the 30's they probably feared that the
girls might be shocked by that, and the it was also probably an indirect
way of teaching them to be "modest" , epecially considering the nearly
victorian style of swim wear that girls wore in those days.
Dan Rondello
I can see in a pool, the cleanliness issue, but why in lake?
My Dad told me that when his high school had nude swimming that they
had to shower before hand.
Tom
I do not know. In those days(early 1950s), in THEN very conservative
San Diego, children did not ask "Why?" without consequence. I can only
guess, but that guess would be to level the playing field amoung those
who brought up suits and those who did not. My second guess was that
the folks at the Y wanted the city kids to have an "Old swimmin' hole"
experience. I remember one fellow crying because he did not want to go
in nude. I believe he was worried about a whipping when he got home for
doing it. I would have had one too, but I never told my mother and just
enjoyed the swim.
There was a cold water shower on the dock over the lake where we would
rinse after swiming, but not before. There were warm open showers
within the bathroom/shower room complex.
Tom
St John
Kasl" <bria...@webtv.net> wrote:
At bridge tonight I and my partner got to talking about summer camp at a
YMCA camp. He and his wife worked at a summer camp during college. This
was in Ohio. He said half the summer was boys the other half was girls.
The boys simming was always nude and the girls could go nude if they
wanted to. He said many of the younger girls swam nude but as the girls
got older more and more wore bathings suits. He is in his 70's so that
wuold have been in the 50's.
FrankV8
were in suits I can remember going to Cub Scout camp. At the swimming holes at
the camp we went swimming nude, the adults were clothed. Some of the adults
present were women (the mothers). Thought nothing of it at the time since they
were our 'mommies'. Still think it to be absurd?
Bmasonjohnson
young girl, who herself is nude.
Kathleen
>
biology dear. Girls sometimes had sanitary protection to wear
Kathleen
"Counting My Blessings!"
Kent
On 13 Apr 2001, Kathleen wrote:
> paradise>And what was the reason for allowing the girls to wear suits?
>
> biology dear. Girls sometimes had sanitary protection to wear
But, back then, wasn't "No swimming during that time" the rule, anyway?
Kent P