Most embarrassing age

For me I can tell you exactly. It was 12, because I don't remember being examined before that age so I don't remember it being an issue before then. My father was a physician so he always took care of any medical issues that came up.

For some reason that changed when I was in middle school, maybe it was a school thing, I don't know.

But I got sent to a pediatrician, and making things worse, she was the mother of a friend of mine (small town, so all the doctors families knew each other). I had slept over at their house plenty of times. And it being the 1970s, pediatric exams at least in that office were done without clothes. And since a parent had to be in the room for the exam, and I had lost my mom, my aunt used to drive all us kids to our appointments.

So to the day I die I will remember being 12 and having to undress completely in front of Mrs. K and my Aunt Fran, and having them both reassure me that it is totally normal for boys to get an erection like that.

45 years later, I still blush.

I’d say teenage years and anything to do with puberty.

For me…it definitely started at 12. And every exam til I was 18, had some kind of embarrassing moment or talk about growth and development.

Embarrassing in the moments but fun to think back and talk about. If you wanna talk more….just ask! I love talking about embarrassing exams and embarrassing moments during them, especially during puberty years.

Definitely the teenage / high school years! You're body is changing, getting hair in places that you didn't expect to get hair. Getting erections any second. A doc touching your body as you lay on the table in your underwear...erection!

Definitely the preteen/early teen years, so around 10-14.

Being taken by mom to her OBGny (male) aged 15 was pretty embarrassing though so were the school exams though they were much less intrusive.

With puberty comes embarrassment definitely.

I can't remember ever being embarrassed before that. 2 weeks after my mum bought me my first bra I'm standing in the doctors office showing it off...omg

I agree with @Laura_L that it is definitely the first time after puberty.

That happened to me at age 15 and really was the first time anyone had examined me while I was stripped naked. I had terrible body self-image at that time, something I only ever overcame when I entered middle age. The hernia exam and rectal exam were humiliations. The experience likely shaped my medley. I wrote an account of the experience on Zity , in case anyone is interested.

https://en.zity.biz/index.php?mx=forum;ox=display;msg=1199088

I’m going to break the mold and state truthfully that for me, it was age 10-11. At that time in my life, I suddenly got a little pudgy, which in my mind, meant that I was fat. I hated being seen naked and that’s what going to the doctor meant.

Definitely puberty. The female doctor examined my testicles with usual cough and then totally retracted my foreskin! Of course the expected happened as I turned beat red!

For girls there are several embarrassing events that seem to occur in rapid succession. The one that sticks in my mind is when I had to buy a box of tampons for the first time. It was in the healthcare section of the supermarket and my fear was that I would be in the checkout and run into someone I knew and there I was about to make my purchase.

For me I think it’s around 12-13, when your sexuality awakens, your body starts to really change and you all of a sudden become hyper aware of your differences.

About 14-15 when you really start to think things tru.

Question for you guys. Do you think that teenage body shame is natural and instinctive, or is it the result of negative conditioning? In either case, what can be done about it so that future generations don't suffer needlessly like in the past?

Overall I would say the middle school years were the worst. I remember getting one exam when I was much younger though and the doctor slid a finger in my butt. That mortified me after it happened but it wasn't as embarrassing as things were in middle school.

In general terms: I think something like around 14. You're unsure of your body. Girls have to deal with adult problems (periods, etc.). Yet you're ordered around like a child.

(This remark is general! In my own particular case, I don't re call any intimate examination in those years. I had a number of embarrassing examinations and procedures done to me in elementary school, with, like @Nixie, among other things, digital rectal exams. The embarrassment then came from things never quite being explained.)

@emom For girls there are several embarrassing events that seem to occur in rapid succession. The one that sticks in my mind is when I had to buy a box of tampons for the first time.

My mother would at times send me to the small neighborhood store to buy her sanitary napkins. That was when I was around 14. And that was in a small store where you had to ask the storekeeper for what you wanted. While other customers waited in line (more or less) after you.

Talk about embarrassing. I stuttered and stammered so much in a low voice that of course no one understood me until repeating the item I had to purchase several times.

For me it would also be between the age of 12 and 16. But I never liked going to the pediatrician and being undressed.

Definitely between 11 and 16 years old

I’d say 10-13

8 getting first rectal exam and enemas when home

I would say the earliest parts of puberty for me. Like 10-12 when everything just started developing

For me it was very young. As I got older I understood more abt what was happening and why.