showering nude?

[Blueberry]

My gyms have always had separate "shower stalls" much like toilet stalls, but with a curtain as the door. One then goes to the dressing area, and gets dressed. Some (nicer) shower areas have separate, curtained dressing areas attached.

I do think there is a mentality of getting dressed as modestly as possible, here. I'm sure you've observed that the US appears to be much less comfortable with nudity than the remainder of the world

[lph]

Thanks Blueberry! Is it customary then to wear a towel between the shower and the changing area? And are you expected to keep the towel around you until basic clothing is on? I know how to do this, from changing on public beaches, but in womens showers and changing rooms here it's considered acceptable to wear no clothes at all, as if you were at home in your own bathroom.

Sorry to be clueless, but you may be saving me from some major embarrassment if I ever visit the States and go swimming

[OakLeaf]

I think it's goofy too, but yeah, in the USA in gyms and pools it's customary to have separate stalls and to wrap yourself in a towel between shower and locker. Some older school gyms still have common showers. Some places have double stalls with a curtained changing area in front of the shower.

Everywhere I've been, if there's no curtained changing stall, you're not really expected to go through contortions to avoid exposing anything while dressing. Some people do, but they're the exception rather than the rule. It's okay to take the towel off while you're putting your clothes on.

[katluvr]

Actually at our pool (when I was swimming --or trying to swim w/ the tri group) the shower area has a few stalls and one "shower tree" that can be a group shower. I would do my hair there and rinse while in my suit then go change privately...but many of the women would strip their suits right there while talking to you. I don't think I am that comfortable with my body or maybe general nudity at all!

K

[Blueberry]

I agree with Oakleaf and GLC.

What I've seen is that most people will pull on panties with the towel on, and then sort of face the wall until the bra is on. After that - no worries. I'm sure it varies from location to location (and I'm sure I've offended some people because I do try not to be in your face - but I get dressed comfortably). The walk from shower to locker with no clothing or towel on would be odd, I think.

[lph]

It really depends what you're used to. I can feel a bit self-conscious if it's been a long time since I've been in a common shower, but next visit I'm wandering around forgetting that I'm not wearing anything.

I think this might be changing a bit over here too, though. I know many schools have trouble enforcing showers after phys.ed., and I can see that at some of the pools that immigrants frequent people cover up more.

In summer I much prefer bathing without clothes altogether, I really hate wearing a clammy suit, so I love bathing up at my in-laws cabin in the mountains where I can skip the suit when nobody's around Not brave enough to go to the nude public beaches. They all seem to have someone sleazy hanging around.

PS. That was an interesting comment about maybe a "random older person". Was nudity more common and accepted before than it is now? Otherwise I'd think older people to be more conservative in their ways and dress rather than less.

[Irulan]

The efforts that I see of women to NOT be naked in the locker room just astound me. The difficulty of completely undressing and putting on workout clothes, and then after the workout reversing it, all with a carefully draped towel.... so that you never show boobs, or butt, or a little pubic hair...astounding. I think it's ridiculous.

So yeah, Americans are way too uptight about this stuff. It's funny, I can go 100 miles away into Canada, to the hot springs, and it's amazing the cultural difference over an imaginary line.

As for major embarrassment if you ever come to the states, not to worry. There are always some who just do whatever they do.

[VeganBikeChick]

I am one of those very modest people who wouldn't be caught dead walking around in the nude. I grew up in a very modest family and the thought of strangers seeing me naked freaks me out. I also think that others who saw me naked would stare and judge the whole time (like they don't have anything better to do, right?!) and there's been lots of press lately about cell phones and videos in locker rooms. I'd rather not have my large butt up on youtube :P

[pll]

It's not so bad! In the gyms I have been, there are separate shower stalls. With exceptions, people tend not to walk around naked between the shower and the locker section, but wrapped in a towel.

Only once did I encounter a shower "tree", in the change area by a pool in a state park. I had finished an organized ride. By the amount of giggling from girls and teenagers in bathing suits, I inferred that showering in the nude was not customary there (it is what it is... nobody was showering when I started), but several women from the same ride then did the same.

The only place in the US where women seem to walk around in the nude is the women's area in a Korean sauna I go every now and then.

[Melalvai]

That was an interesting comment about maybe a "random older person". Was nudity more common and accepted before than it is now? Otherwise I'd think older people to be more conservative in their ways and dress rather than less.

I've also noticed that older women seem more comfortable being nude than younger. That always made me laugh because you'd think it would be the opposite, right? We generally look better nude when younger! I figured it was just that it takes a few decades to get comfortable with your body. I'm certainly more comfortable now, approaching 40 yrs, than I was when I was 20 or 18.

I was offended in the locker room this summer when I was there with my daughter and a woman was loudly criticizing people's habits of using the cubicle shower and the curtained off changing room, instead of the open shower and the rest of the locker room. My 16 yr old is NOT comfortable being naked in front of anyone, and while I'm ok with all of that when complete strangers are around I wasn't comfortable with it around her either. (That seems weird to me-- that I'm more comfortable being naked around strangers than around family. But there it is!) Anyway it wasn't that woman's place to be judgmental about it.

[Irulan]

I've also noticed that older women seem more comfortable being nude than younger. That always made me laugh because you'd think it would be the opposite, right? We generally look better nude when younger! I figured it was just that it takes a few decades to get comfortable with your body. I'm certainly more comfortable now, approaching 40 yrs, than I was when I was 20 or 18.

I was offended in the locker room this summer when I was there with my daughter and a woman was loudly criticizing people's habits of using the cubicle shower and the curtained off changing room, instead of the open shower and the rest of the locker room. My 16 yr old is NOT comfortable being naked in front of anyone, and while I'm ok with all of that when complete strangers are around I wasn't comfortable with it around her either. (That seems weird to me-- that I'm more comfortable being naked around strangers than around family. But there it is!) Anyway it wasn't that woman's place to be judgmental about it.

It's pretty rude to be loud and judgmental anywhere.

Teens are notoriously modest. I think that's pretty developmentally common, even in homes where nudity is a common factor. It's how they start to learn boundaries.

[Bike Writer]

It really depends what you're used to. I can feel a bit self-conscious if it's been a long time since I've been in a common shower, but next visit I'm wandering around forgetting that I'm not wearing anything.


PS. That was an interesting comment about maybe a "random older person". Was nudity more common and accepted before than it is now? Otherwise I'd think older people to be more conservative in their ways and dress rather than less.

lph, I can't speak for the poster who commented about "random older person" but when I was in high school our swim class had communal showers and no place for private changing back into clothes from swimsuits. You just did it in infront of your locker in the locker room. I don't have kids in the school system but my thoughts are that much more privacy is offered these days. I can't really explain why when morals seem to be so much more lax today than they were in the 1960-1970's. There are probably those who would take exception to the term "lax" and identify or label current standards with the term diversity or tolerance and maybe lax is not the best word but it is the one that comes to mind.

For certain, there is a more rigid standard in the USA than abroad, when it comes to nudity.

[lph]

This has been a really fascinating thread. Thank you! I forgot to mention that we have a common shower room at work, with four shower stalls. They're built with side walls, but no curtain. So whenever I ride my bike to work I'm showering and dressing in front of some co-worker or boss I may or may not know. That makes it that much more of a habit. But I agree with the person who said that one feels more self-conscious in front of people you know than in front of strangers. We even had a tiny sauna at work before, shared by men and women. There I would always wear a towel, at least around my middle, but I met both guys wearing nothing , and guys intensely uncomfortable at my very presence there... (And every now and then some of us girls would invite a guy friend or two, bring fruit punch and serve "topless drinks" in there )

When it comes to what level of modesty is "right", well, obviously it's a personal question and depends on the surroundings. I'm happy that I don't have to fuss more with a towel than I need to for practical reasons. On the other hand I would feel very uncomfortable if I were expected to be less modest than I naturally feel like, like enforced nudity in that sauna for example.

And in the rest of society nudity isn't particularly acceptable, I mean most of us wouldn't strip down not even to underwear on a hot day at home or in the garden, no matter if we were only hanging out with female friends. So I guess accepted nudity at a common shower facility is the exception, not the rule. Sure, bare skin is natural, but we have been taught since we were tiny to keep our clothes on in public, and that sticks too. To each their own.

[laura*]

I can't really explain why when morals seem to be so much more lax today than they were in the 1960-1970's. There are probably those who would take exception to the term "lax" and identify or label current standards with the term diversity or tolerance and maybe lax is not the best word but it is the one that comes to mind.

I think this (subject of this thread) is a result of the USA's increasingly diverse population. Decades ago, the wider community matched one's family unit. The red haired Irish kid was the odd one out. Today it's the Somali kid who doesn't fit any of the old labels.

Years ago, kids likely got used to sharing a shower with siblings, cousins, and so on. The comfort with this would easily translate to school where all the kids looked like one's relatives. Not so any more.

Somewhere I read an article about a study that found that in diverse/integrated communities "everyone" hides behind their home's closed doors.

...

Near here there's a skinny dipping spot in a river. It was popularized many decades ago by (presumably) kids from the nearby Baptist community / summer camp. Yes, the very conservative Baptist community! The one where I'm a bit on edge when I cycle through wearing cycling clothes!

[GLC1968]

Ditto what the others have said. The only places that I've encountered non-curtained shower stalls or rooms was adjacent to pools that are pools only (like town swim clubs and the like). All the gyms I've visited had at least stalls if not full curtains and private changing areas.

I generally try to make a point of avoiding bending over butt naked or flashing my nudity in someone else's face. For the most part though, I don't bother to try and stay covered as I dress.

I will say that with the exception of a random older person (or perhaps a European person?), women generally don't walk around bare-naked in changing areas. They will usually hold off putting on makeup or doing their hair until they are at least wearing underwear.