The good old days: nude male swimming at school and the YMCA

Has anyone here ever experienced or lived through this era? In the past year or so, I've read numerous blog articles, personal accounts, and even saw several Youtube documentaries discussing how prior to the 1980's, males swimming nude at many public schools and especially the YMCA was extremely common.

While this was a strictly male activity during regular lessons, competitive meets were open to spectators of every gender and age category. Needless to say, it was a visual feast for all the females in attendance. Some of the guys absolutely relished the attention they got from the girls and women up in the stands, while others hated it. Many would become visibly aroused, while others would practically shrivel up inside themselves.

Back in those days, males were afforded no consideration for privacy. Besides openly swimming naked in front of a mixed-gender audience or competition days, there was another common, impromptu CFNM scenario that often happened, due to this. It was quite a regular thing for female teachers, administrators, counselors, and even moms to barge into male locker rooms, supposedly to “talk to the coach” or “look for somebody”. This was only true about half the time. the rest of the time, well, they weren't fooling anyone. Everyone knew what those ladies were up to. Some would occasionally sneak a peek, while others would openly stare. Eventually some of the young men made a game of it, showing off for any girl or woman who happened to enter. All in all, that part of it was a harmless game where no one got traumatized, disciplined, fired, or arrested. Not at all like the legal, judicial, and politically correct shitshow that everything is now.

Born in 42 and I never heard of any of this in the US. Four years of high school gym and never saw or heard of a female in the locker room. Sounds like fantasy to me.

We swam nude as kids at the YMCA in the 50’s, up until 10-12 years old or so. Even for swim team practice. Suits were not allowed. There were showers along the wall in the pool area and I recall seeing grown men showering nude as well.

We didn't have starting blocks on the semi team to push off for the backstroke, so another teammate would face away and bend over so we could grab their ankles and pull forward to get a good push start. Got my first close up shot of an asshole there!!!

My brother and I learned to swim at a YMCA in a small Southeastern Michigan city….not Detroit, in the late 1950’s! We always swam in the nude and so did all the other guys. We never swam in front of girls. However, I do remember the older lady who ran the front desk of the Y coming into the pool area on several occasions to deliver messages to the swim coach (who USUALLY, but NOT always, wore swim trunks). We didn’t think anything of being nude with “the guys”.

Men shouldn’t be ashamed of seeing other men nude or being seen nude by others, it’s called not being a wimp. I know people who lived through the nude swimming in high school, and I can remember the female coaches being in our locker room in junior high school. She was a teacher so no one thought much of it, or at least they didn’t seem to. Correct me if I’m wrong but women interviewers go in men’s locker rooms to this day to conduct interviews on live TV, don’t they? Especially football locker rooms.

Men shouldn’t be ashamed of seeing other men nude or being seen nude by others, it’s called not being a wimp. I know people who lived through the nude swimming in high school, and I can remember the female coaches being in our locker room in junior high school. She was a teacher so no one thought much of it, or at least they didn’t seem to. Correct me if I’m wrong but women interviewers go in men’s locker rooms to this day to conduct interviews on live TV, don’t they? Especially football locker rooms.

I'm in my 60s, and I was conditioned from an early age not expose myself; I became absolutely frightened by it. It wasn't till 7th grade gym that I lost my hangup.

In my K-12 years we had a female coach who was the gradeschoolers' only PE teacher, but so far as I know, she didn't go in the boys' locker room.

When I started high school in 1968 we took swimming class in the nude and did so until my senior year (1970 to 1971) when they made us wear swimsuits. Of course being back in that era of rampant homophobia, no one would dare look at another guys “junk” unless you wanted to be labeled as a queer.

Long LONG time ago

Elaine

I was born in '34 and lived in a small rural community so the only swimming was in local ponds and horse tanks. When about ten or eleven I would often be working in the fields and walk the short distance to our pond, strip nude and swim to cool off from the hot Texas summers, some days several times. Once in a city, I went with a family member to a Y and was surprised that they swam nude. I was comfortable since I had always swum nude at home. The next year I went back and they required swim suits. I suppose I got in on the end of that trend.

The town where I grew up had no YMCA and while some bigger schools in the county had pools ours did not. I first learned about nude male swimming at about 5 when I attended a cousins' high school swimming meet. During warm-ups all swimmers were suited but when the heats started more than half the boys(/men) stripped off their suits. I asked my dad what was up with that and he told me that you can swim faster without a suit.

I didn't miss out on nude swimming myself, it was just in smaller venues; neighbor and friends backyard pools and occasionally while camping (scouts included). As boys, the presence of moms or big sisters were not a concern. Usually, it only took one boy to drop their swim trunks first before most of the other boys did likewise. Around age 11 or 12 things changed, swimming nude only happened when it was only the boys and female intrusion was unlikely. During high school years, swimming was more likely to be dating event and became much private, daring, sexually charged and FUN!

Living in New Jersey from the early 50' on to the early 60s, in the local YMCA it was mandatory nude swimming.

My dad took me for a signing up or something like that and we got a tour of the facilities while they were in use. Since it was summer and this being NJ, swimming was about all that was important to folks that time of year. I remember my heart sort of flipping over when I saw that everyone was swimming nude. The coach/instructor/director or whatever explained that swimming suits weren't allowed. I doubt he ever said the actual word ‘nude or naked’, but used the workaround by saying something in the order of no swimming suits allowed.

I think neither of my parents knew about this policy, but when we got home and my mother was told, she thought it something of a joke and a lark. How cute, all the boys swimming in their altogether! And no having to wash swimming trunks or bring them home wet in the shiny car. A win all round.

I suppose I was a little apprehensive the first time, but not really very much. I usually went along with anything grown-ups told me to do and I was moreover a bit naïve and a wimp and not very knowledgeable about the naughty matters of sex so that played not much of a part at all.

So, the first time I just stripped along with everyone and that was that. No one ever said anything more of it at home and I thought nothing much either.

Like many have already said, it was how things were done at the Y and no one gave it much thought. You got used to it quickly.

After reading many of these comments I am so happy that I grew up in a sexually open household where we were allowed to swim nude in front of family and friends.

After reading many of these comments I am so happy that I grew up in a sexually open household where we were allowed to swim nude in front of family and friends.

Despite swimming nude at the Y, that didn't mean my family was open in much of any way about sex or nudity at home. They most certainly weren't.

There's lot of info/pics on swimming naked at www.frank--answers.com.

The link I gave my not work. Instead-type in : Frank Answers on Google Search. Tap the September 2018 Archive icon. There's a good amount of data/photos/vintage films on swimming naked in the Archive..

I am simply amazed at the number of people who continue to say nude swimming NEVER HAPPENED at the YMCA.

One summer in my late teens back in the 1960s I did a bike trip from Springfield Ma. to Quebec Canada. Stopping first in Montreal, we stayed for a few days at the Y M C A. One afternoon we decided to go for a swim. When we got to the pool, much to our surprise we found out about the no swim trunks rule. It was a pleasant surprise for all of us. We had lots of fun.

I am simply amazed at the number of people who continue to say nude swimming NEVER HAPPENED at the YMCA.

From what I've read, most of the mandatory nude male swimming at the Y or in school took place in the midwest and other northern states. There are a lot of articles talking about it in Chicago public schools for instance. Even for a national organization like the YMCA, nude swimming wasn't a national policy. It was left up to the individual locations to decide, no doubt based on what local communities felt was “proper” or not.

If you happened to live in one of these areas, then you probably have no doubt that this was real and actually happened. But if you lived in another part of the country, say the overtly puritanical deep south for instance, then you likely have no clue that this took place, and doubt the truthfulness of these accounts now.

As for me, I have swan in the nude before. However, the only other person in the pool with me was a girlfriend who was also nude. We did not do anything really sexual. However, we did feel each other up while in the water only for a minute or two. We continued to swim in the nude for about 30 minutes. Then we got out, dried ourselves off and put our swim suits back on. We then sat in some lounge chairs flat on our backs for about another hour before we went in and took our bathing suits off again in front of each other and put on our regular clothes. This was at her house when her parents were not at home.

I took swim lessons at the YMCA in the mid 50’s and yes the lessons were given in the nude. Boys and girls classes were separate and I am told girls did wear swim suits. Our class was given by a female instructor who wore a swim suit. I remember that parents were permitted to observe but could not go into the locker room. Oh, how things have changed

I was 8 when we moved to town, and I took swim lessons at the WMCA. There, we all wore suits. Then when I went to high school, swimming for boys was done nude, except for a ridiculous rubber swim cap. The girls wore suits, in separate classes, of course. One time after a summer school class some of us were doing some work for a teacher, and he let us take a swim--then a girl walked in, took one look, and quickly retreated. We all thought that was hilarious.

Without a doubt, nude swimming in the YMCA was a fact in North Jersey, in the 50's & 60's. I went a few times and know others that would not go at all because of the nude requirement. It was awkward at best for me.

Without a doubt, nude swimming in the YMCA was a fact in North Jersey, in the 50's & 60's.

I can attest to that. I had swim lessons at the YMCA in 5th-8th grades. No bathing suits allowed. I also attended YMCA day camps and the day started with a 90 minute swim session at the Y before they shipped us off to a park. Again, nude swimming. In both instances the swim instructor wore shorts and a t-shirt. For the swim lessons there were always 2 or 3 or 4 dads who stayed on the pool deck, mostly talking to each other, waiting for the lessons to end. I liked that these dads saw me nude.

For those who never experienced this, back in the good old days the YMCA was a men's only place. There was a separate YWCA in another building elsewhere in town. Women, such as the mothers of the boys, were not allowed in any further than the lobby.

We didn't have a Y in town when I was growing up but we did have a prestigious all boys prep school where they gave swimming lessons to the townies in the summer. They had only one pool but they gave lessons to boys and girls. We went first and the girls had the second hour. We were nude but I doubt that the girls were. That ended when the mother of a girl came early and she and her daughter saw the boys swimming nude. After that we had to wear bathing suits.

They should never have stopped this policy. For one, everyone - boys and girls - need to learn how to swim. I think that for boys who grow (or grew) up in modest households where puberty wasn't brought up, boys seeing other boys to men in a non-sexualized environment like a swimming pool helps prepare them for the day when they start to go through the change. Believe me, I was not prepared when puberty came my way! In general, gyms and swimming pools should be segregated by sex. This country was a lot better off before feminization took over and the men effeminately bowed in submission.

They should never have stopped this policy.

I would agree that nude swimming should be the accepted way to swim, for both sexes. Nor would I care one way or the other if there was no segregation. Probably be better without separating the sexes when all is said and done.

But the US feminized? Seriously? I doubt any country anywhere in the world is feminized. Most countries are not even near equality let alone feminization. That is a different discussion.

Thinking back on learning to swim at the YMCA going from Tadpole to Fish to Flying Fish to Shark……the drills I remember the most were “bobs” to learn how to breath: eg. jump up out of the water, and then down under water - inhale when out of the water and exhale (blow bubbles) when you go under. I think we had to do like a hundred bobs at a time. Oh yeah, and keep your eyes open (sometimes you had to count fingers underwater). Of course, we were naked for this drill!

I would agree that nude swimming should be the accepted way to swim, for both sexes. Nor would I care one way or the other if there was no segregation. Probably be better without separating the sexes when all is said and done.

Firmly agree

As long as everyone shows mutual respect, there's really no good reason to segregate the girls from the boys. I think that interactions between the two genders would be a lot less awkward and confusing once you take all the taboo and mystery away.

The Puritans royally fucked up in this regard.

Around the late 50's, I was a Boy Scout and also a member of the Boy's Clubs of America. Both organizations used the swimming pool at the Boy's Clubs and they required males to swim nude. I never understood it, but at that age you don't question things. That rule also applied to our adult leaders. Females were not allowed in Boy's Clubs so I don't know if any other location had that rule.I would also swim at the public park district pools and no such rule was in force.