Parents Attitude Towards Nudity At The Doctor

Growing up, whenever me or my sister complained about having to get naked for the doctor, my parents would say that everyone has to get naked for the doctor, it's just what you do. It was made to feel like a normal part of life and childish to complain about. It seemed so opposed to everything we were told about nudity being something private and something to be ashamed about. It made getting naked for the doctor seem so much more arousing. Did anyone else have a similar experience growing up?

I am sure my experiences with parental attitudes towards taking me for an exam was like others, namely, "Do as you're told," and often asking the nurse, "Should he undress now?" It was never a question that I didn't have to meet.

I never got it from my parents, I don’t think. But my doctors have.

During one of my teen exams when it was just me, my regular doctor scolded me once cause I didn’t take off my socks and when he came over and took them off for me, he told me that I know better and I should have taken them off at the beginning. He lifted my ankles in the air with one hand and took them off with the other (which he always did when he examined my legs and feet) and that would cause my to fall back onto the table. This particular situation he told me to stay lying down as he continued examining me. It was a different sequence than his usually exam on me and the order he did.

My other time was during an exam at 17, a different doc than my normal one was giving me the physical and halfway through told me

To get off the table and take off my underwear. I said “really?” And he told me that I need to get use to it because most adult exams are done this way and I need to get use to it. He finished the exam with me completely naked; I was so embarrassed. I later found out from a friend who saw him regularly that he usually has to get naked for his exam with that doc so I got lucky starting in my underwear.

It was never discussed that I can remember. It was just done. Mom was from a generation where you didn't question the doctors and nurses. Also, I was brought up to do as I was told until I was an adult. She was fine with it, and if we resisted... I wouldn't be sitting after I got home, and not because of the shots.

No discussion for me, either. It was just what was done.

My first pediatrician started me in my briefs but ended with me naked.

My second pediatrician, after we moved in 6th grade, had me naked from the start. I had friends who had doctors that examined them naked start to finish so I wasn't shocked by that.

My mom was in the exam room with me for all of those exam but this was back in the day when boys weren't supposed to be shy about being naked and doctors thought nothing of telling a teenage boy to take off his underwear with his mom sitting there.

My dad started taking me to his doctor at the end of high school, and as I was getting undressed my dad told me to strip naked because this was going to be a "man's exam". My dad's doctor used to be an Army doctor so I wasn't surprised about being examined nude.

@Kid89 I remember visiting the doctor in high school for a high grade fever. The nurse didn't tell me to undress so I thought I was in the clear. My pediatrician was accompanied by a medical student. She chastised me saying, "how do you expect me to examine you with your clothes on?" The exam ended with her pulling down my sweatpants and underwear in front of the student and checking my genitals. I assume this was punishment for not undressing at the start.

No explanation, no discussion. I was expected to do what I was told, and frankly, at the time I just accepted that this what happens. Essentially I had to deal with it.

There was a firm expectation that I would do as the medical staff asked regardless of setting, and once I was fully into puberty at like 12 or 13 I tried to keep my pants on and refuse to remove them and it did not go well. The pediatrician said my parents had signed all consent forms for the examination and so they were either going to basically force me to have it or I could comply. My step mother was glaring at me and turning red in the face with anger so I got the point that I had gotten as far as I was going to with resistance and undressed. Nudity prevailed.

It was never really discussed out loud, but I felt like the expectation was just to go alone with what was asked. Never was really given a choice otherwise and mom in the room never really opted for the seat that would give me the most privacy either.

If I had complained about having to get naked at the doctor, my parents would have given me the third degree. I’m not “old” but in the era when I did grow up, the authority of doctors was not questioned.

I remember being extremely reluctant to undress at doctors appointments when I was younger (12-16) and as I recall, I usually did not get undressed until the doctor was finally in the room (I don't know, hoping for a reprieve I guess). In any event, I can remember being told that I needed to grow up about it by both my aunt (who raised me and took me to those appointments) and the doctor.

The truth is that while I don't think that I would have ever liked being undressed, my real embarrassment at those appointments was having to undress completely in front of my aunt (who I disliked) and my pediatrician (who was the mother of a friend of mine), but either I could not articulate my concerns well enough or they did not care (probably both).

My parents never had any problems with this issue,My brothers and I, after the age of 12, were already starting to feel ashamed. Even more so when there were nurses present. But I always ended up obeying because they didn't give me a choice.

My pediatrician was very nice and respectful of me. No rectal temperature was ever taken, and he only briefly checked me for a hernia during yearly physical exams, and without my mom in the room. He worked alone, without a staff. Even the pediatrician that I went to before him, had an office staff, but the nurse never took my rectal temperature after age 4 or 5, as I was able to hold the thermometer under my tongue. I find it to be weird when I hear about older children and teens getting their temperature taken rectally, because of a blanket medical policy. But I know from experience that it happens.

I was not undressed completely in front of the doctor unless the examination specifically needed access to my intimate parts. However, if it needed access (genital exams, digital rectal exams…) there was no question it would happen.

I was raised in a house where nudity was a no no. I was constantly warned about stranger danger. This was a sharp contrast to going to the doctor. This person is basically a stranger. And I’m going to get naked for her.

“It’s part of growing up. Everyone gets naked at the doctors office. “

“I don’t want to grow up”

“You don’t get that choice. We are here so the doctor can make sure you at healthy. She needs you undressed to do that. “

My feelings and modesty didn’t matter. That power dynamic plays into my thoughts a lot now.

The attitude of my parents was there is nothing to worry about or to be shy. It’s doctor’s and nurse’s job to make sure they do everything properly. If it’s needed to be naked then so be it. Don’t waste time, take off all your clothes and get prepared now. My mum or dad when they were not sure would ask for clarification - does he need to remove all clothes?

The attitude of my parents was there is nothing to worry about or to be shy , , . . If it’s needed to be naked then so be it. Don’t waste time, take off all your clothes and get prepared now.

You and I are of the same age and back when we were kids there was very little concern about patient privacy or modesty. It was not that the doctors were being mean - it's just the way things were done. Getting a physical exam - of course you'll strip. Your mom is in the exam room with you - no reason to be modest around your mom.

It was the same way with nude swimming and group showers in school - it was just what was done and it was the norm and we accepted it.

I don't recall my parents ever being present for any of my exams. They discussed things with the Doctor before and after. Other than that, nothing. Nudity did not bother me then. Still doesn't.

You and I are of the same age and back when we were kids there was very little concern about patient privacy or modesty. It was not that the doctors were being mean - it's just the way things were done. Getting a physical exam - of course you'll strip. Your mom is in the exam room with you - no reason to be modest around your mom.

It was the same way with nude swimming and group showers in school - it was just what was done and it was the norm and we accepted it.

Group showers never bothered me. I never had a full, proper physical exam as a teen- only quick check-ups. I missed the nude male swimming era by at least a decade.

I don't recall my parents giving me a lot of direction. It was the nurse who told me to get undressed for the doctor. I was so in awe of him and his knowledge and ability to help me, that I just did what the nurse told me to do without any question.

Yes definitely. My mom was a nurse and there were times we got check ups at home. It was taught that it was only ok at the doctor though, or with my mom. I also remember the attitude was it would be less uncomfortable with a female doctor, and being super anxious the year a male associate in the pediatric group had to see me for back to school physical (which also was the last year I had my exam in front of my mom, but she started checking me at home as well anyway).

You and I are of the same age and back when we were kids there was very little concern about patient privacy … … - it was just what was done and it was the norm and we accepted it.

@Tighty_Whiteis_Now ,

Agree, things change over time. I think it’s coming from the society. Many things which were common in practice 30-40 years ago now would be considered inappropriate and even unacceptable. Will we ever return back to the standards of the past?

I was expected to lose all modesty at doctors visits. It rarely came up that something really needed to be said as I just obeyed what the doctor said typically. However the few times I was hesitant I was told, they’re a doctor and this what they do. It’s nothing that they (or my parents) haven’t seen before.

Many things which were common in practice 30-40 years ago now would be considered inappropriate and even unacceptable. Will we ever return back to the standards of the past?

Over time, elements of practices now thought inappropriate will return and be considered normal again. It's not so much that trends or history are cyclical. But rather that people as a society are fickle and can never seem to definitely make up their mind about what is the proper way of doing things. People grow bored and want change. Or some groups in society really start to take certain trends too far and exaggerate causing unnecessary distress and commotion.

And so people long for other ways of doing things and often look to the past for inspiration. Or invent alterations and permutations.

But in any case, for the older amongst us, don't count on things reverting to past ways anytime in our lifetime. Things are going to get much more depressing and oppressive in the coming years. We will be lucky enough to hold on to even a semblance of our present way of doing things and our present attitudes.

Soon as got into clinic my mother start striping me off for nurse to start getting my

Bp pulse wight hight rectal temp once it was all done doc start his exam

... the people as a society are fickle and can never seem to definitely make up their mind about what is the proper way of doing things... for the older amongst us, don't count on things reverting to past ways anytime in our lifetime. Things are going to get much more depressing and oppressive in the coming years.

I normally defer to the village elders ;-) but...

I think this may be too pessimistic. First, it's not just irrational fickle people -- even those who consider themselves rational and evidence-based can swing 180 degrees fairly quickly. My 15 year old niece was alarmed at brunch recently when I was reaching for the sweetener for my coffee, and since there were none of my preferred yellow or green sugar-free packets, I settled for a blue one. "That causes cancer," she stated unequivocally. And I replied, in village elder fashion, despite not being 50 yet, "I remember when they told us the pink ones caused cancer, and the blue ones were the safe ones."

As for this specific topic, if you look at how exams have changed over the years, it was during fairly conservative periods, like the one it seems we're heading into, when teenagers were infantilized by both doctors and parents. Videos like "Journey in Health: The Continuous Health Supervision of Children (Smart Family Foundation, 1960)" which you still can find on YouTube (and one by the same producers apparently shows an older teen get the same treatment, though that has disappeared from the internet) show old-fashioned exams like mine, done only in briefs, and with an undies-at-the-knees lying-on-the-table genital exam in full view of the mother. That Ozzie and Harriet time period was just about as conservative as it gets. Likewise, my own exams like that were during the Reagan-Bush years of the 80s and early 90s. If you're a fan of this thread and others like it, get ready for the "good old days" to return, IMHO.

Attitudes of parents change with overall social attitudes and expectations. It was not specifically political conservatism that led to the increased conservativism we see now in physical exam settings as compared to years past. In my estimation, the changes come down to four things (NOTE - this is primarily to do with school-based physicals but the larger affect on private clinic settings is certainly related:

1. The end of the draft with now fewer and fewer young doctors having had military service of their own and had in their own personal past experiences a military physical. This one is the weakest of the three, but I think plays a role. It also cannot be overstated just how much attention was paid, particularly as kids went through the junior and senior high school years, on readiness for military service. It was practically a fetish of its own in a societal sense. This was much more reflected in more rigorous standards in phys. ed., but overall student health was part of it, too. The physicals I had for sports in HS were more detailed and comprehensive than the ones I have today as a man in his 50s. ALSO, fewer fathers went through military physicals and no longer had that in their heads as an idea of the sort of things boys needed to expect in life. (This is gender specific, but as everyone on Zity knows, there was a long double standard between boys and girls at the doctor).

2. Rapid changes in technology. This is the broadest of the four but the most unavoidable. They can simply learn more about your body now with less invasive means. In the past, you simply HAD to be undressed for doctors to access the information they needed. That is less and less true now.

3. It cannot be overstated just how sudden and massive an impact on this matter the infamous Franco videos of the 1990s were. He is best known for his college wrestling videos but he also managed to make one of a high school physical at one point. He was sued in absentia for his intrusive videos and the plaintiffs won over $500 million!!!! That ALONE changed the official rules of wrestling at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels to stop doing nude weigh-ins which were, prior to that, generally mandatory (mandatory when I wrestled in the 1980s). The same chill the Franco matter had on school weigh-ins affected school physicals. EDIT: link to article about the suit: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125551&page=1

4. Economics. The rapid growth of employer sponsored health insurance, the rise of penny-pinching HMOs, and the changing financial expectations of medical establishments also plays a key role.

I think @JakeNewYork summed it up quite well with all four of these points, especially point number one. I grew up in a very military friendly area that had several bases nearby and a big veterans hospital as well. Military culture was ingrained into the town and surrounding area. All of my doctors growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s were former military who served in either WW2, Korea or Vietnam. Their fathers (and doctors) were WW1. Having boys, and men, completely naked from start to finish for everything from an annual physical to a sore throat, was not unusual, was expected, and no one thought anything strange about it, let alone questioned the doctors policies and procedures.

I think @JakeNewYork summed it up quite well with all four of these points, especially point number one. I grew up in a very military friendly area that had several bases nearby and a big veterans hospital as well. Military culture was ingrained into the town and surrounding area. All of my doctors growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s were former military who served in either WW2, Korea or Vietnam. Their fathers (and doctors) were WW1. Having boys, and men, completely naked from start to finish for everything from an annual physical to a sore throat, was not unusual, was expected, and no one thought anything strange about it, let alone questioned the doctors policies and procedures.

As tangential as it may be, the idea that boys specifically got undressed for physical because of some larger relationship to eventual military service was pervasive to the point even kids had that awareness. I remember my very first group physical that required full nudity and hearing "you're in the army now" jokes from my teammates. And none of had any firsthand knowledge of military physicals - only school ones.

I realize this is all only of glancing relation to the parental attitude matter in the subject, but parental attitudes DID matter to the schools, too. By the end of HS, there was already some controversy among parents about what we wore for physicals and some parents were noisier than others - and gowns open in the front were finally introduced by the end of my time there.

As medical technology continues to advance all the concerns with patient privacy may all soon become a moot point, with full body scanners and AI conducting the bulk of routine exams. That time-honored, humiliating yet erotic young male rite of passage known as medical CFNM may soon occupy the same corner of history as Studebaker autonobiles, 8-track tapes, the Sears catalog, and acid washed jeans. Where future generations of young medfetters are gonna be able to get their kicks is anyone's guess.