School showers

Heh. So it's OK to undress in front of strangers and close friends/family members, but in between, there's the uncanny valley of seeing each other naked for the first time.

No no, It was the friends who didn't wish to go to a nudist beach with me. I was in a way, sort of hinting at it, but none would have anything to do with it. Nor even discuss it either or ask me about what it was like.

And thinking about it, none of my siblings would wish to either had I ever mentioned such a shocking thing to them.

I have some good friends, almost all of which I have known since university, now 55 years ago. Steadfast and true enough. But still prudes when it comes to sex or even nudist beaches. No discussing intimate things ...

Can't have it all like I wished I guess ...

Showered every P.E. class in high school beginning at age 14. The showers were communal as were the changing areas. Of course when I went to high school, this was very much the norm and by high school age, you had already seen most of your male friend naked many times. We often swam naked together at the YMCA all year round or in the river in the summer. Communal nudity among males was no big deal back in the 1950's where I lived.

In the locker room, particularly in 9th grade, you saw boys in various stages of puberty. Some had already achieved a lot of hair even chest hair. Other were still as smooth as an 8 year old. Shaving was not a thing back then. I don't recall there being much teasing at all regarding development. The most teasing occurred if you had been recently spanked at home or paddled in school and your bare buttocks were still displaying some results of it. Even that was good-natured and gentle teasing because we all knew that the P.E. teacher could smack our bottoms at any time and the large majority of us knew from experience what it was like to get a good spanking at home, even if at that age, they had stopped or were very infrequent.

Showered every P.E. class in high school beginning at age 14. The showers were communal as were the changing areas. Of course when I went to high school, this was very much the norm and by high school age, you had already seen most of your male friend naked many times. We often swam naked together at the YMCA all year round or in the river in the summer. Communal nudity among males was no big deal back in the 1950's where I lived.

Remember the above events very well. Toilet stalls had no doors and no one cared! If you had to go, you just dropped your pants and grabbed a seat….. and let go….. in front of all your buddies! No one cared because everyone was in the same situation. Nude swimming at the Y was also mandatory. Where? In Southeastern Michigan where I lived at the time. Later moved to Southern California and it was much the same…except there WERE doors on the toilet stalls!

Our showers were an open row at the end of the changing rooms - no stalls or dividing wall so full exposure. That said, the "rules" were that your eyes did not wander and anyone caught obviously looking would be branded a "willy watcher"! Not a badge of honour.

That said, it was inevitable that the full body would be on show at some point. Over the course of seven years, there were all stages of development and growth. Despite the risk of being shamed as a "willy watcher", there was one individual who was obviously much larger than average and he did get the nickname - behind his back - of "clubber"!

As for was anyone shaven? Absolutely not, it simply wasn't the sort of thing that would have occurred to anyone to do back then (mid-70s/early 80s).

Ok. Showers now are virtually a thing of the past in schools.In an age of sexual freedom, so-called, this seems odd. Guys used to just accept it. Now your personal space makes it seem weird. I was scared the first few times, but slowly realized that I found it a turn on to see male classmates naked. To this day I remember a guy whose dark, almost black bush seemed amazing.

Observe much the same at the Y. Some younger guys shower but usually in swim shorts. In the sauna same thing. Young guys keep shorts on,but older guys generally don't. Myself usually a towel to sit on and draped just to cover my junk.

Growing up beginning in the 8 th grade was my first exposure to public showers at school. After PE class it was off to the locker room, undress, go shower, get dressed in clean panties etc and pull something on to get out for lunch.

Like others mentioned there was always various stages of development. I, unfortunately myself was still flat, smooth, not developing much. Others were well into 32-34 size cups. But there wasn’t any overtly teasing because the teacher was also there and she tolerated very little foolishness. But it was a smaller school anyway so not a lot of “ meanies” to make someone uncomfortable. I remember feeling a little bit jealous of those girls who had to have a bra vs. my little buds. But it was just that part of life.

Ok. Showers now are virtually a thing of the past in schools.

This is largely true but the tide may be turning slowly. Up until a few years ago I worked in a high school and in the last 3 or 4 years there were references in the yearbook to certain teams that showered nude. Interestingly these were not the "big jock" sports like football or basketball, but the cross country and track teams. It also was well known that the hockey team showered at the ice rink.

Not long ago I had a conversation with a young lacrosse player (high school team). Met him in a local sandwich shop and it was right after his game and I noted that he wasn't all sweaty and dirty and he said that he always showers after practice and games. He acknowledged that not everyone on the team does, which he described as "disgusting".

Ok. Showers now are virtually a thing of the past in schools. In an age of sexual freedom, so-called, this seems odd.

I don't want to sound like a recorded loop, but while we may perhaps live in an age of comparatively more sexual freedom than say in the 1950s/60s, we are now most certainly living in an Age of Sexual Disapproval.

So many sexual freedoms that people took for granted in the 1980s and 1990s are slowly but surely being called into question and actively opposed by many social and religious organizations and groups. They are doing their concerted utmost to strip away the sexual freedoms that we first saw beginning to emerge in the 1970s.

So what you are seeing in school showers is not odd, but typical of our times. People are becoming more prudish by the decade.

We had naked communal showers after swimming and rugby throughout my time at school. Also had communal showers at school "camp" which was a week in the summer term each year where we went to an outdoor activity centre with dormitory accommodation in huts and a separate shower block. Saw a lot of full untrimmed bushes of pubic hair, although more and more trimmed or shaved as we got older. Also interesting to note differences in size and circumcision status. This was England so most of us were uncut - I would say around 75%.

I attended primary, middle then a senior school and the middle had showering. I guess I was introduced to it a couple of years younger than many others, and that may have made it easier to get used to.

I found later sudden changes in what we wore in those lessons themselves more memorable (beyond this thread I suppose), but this was when I was older so sticks in my memory better.