showering nude?

[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.

[channlluv]

Okay, here's a women-only spa question for you, and it's something I encountered in Hawaii. When you go to a schmancy spa and there's a Jacuzzi there, do you go in naked or wearing your bathing suit?

I wasn't given instructions by the attendant, just given the robe and told to feel free to walk around naked because it's all women there and the custom, and I did go nude into the steam room and the hot sauna, but I wasn't sure what to do in the Jacuzzi, so I missed out on that. I hadn't brought a bathing suit with me, not knowing what to expect. (My first time at a real spa.)

What would you have done?

Roxy

[pll]

Personally, I am not a fan of jacuzzis, but if looking around did not help, probably in the nude (given the cue from the attendant). I love the hot sauna, though. I always take in a couple of towels, one on which to sit or lay down (if it is empty), one to cover my toes and shins when they get too hot. If there are people in the sauna covering themselves with a towel, I will do the same as the last thing I'd like to do is to make anyone uncomfortable.

[Crankin]

The modesty of women in locker rooms astounds me.
I guess I don't care.
I don't use the locker room at my new gym, but I did for about 20 years at 2 other gyms, here and in AZ. The crowd at 5:30 AM is pretty friendly and we knew a lot about each other. But, really, to go into a private changing cubicle to get dressed?
I wore a towel between the shower and my locker, but I took it off and was naked during the time it took me to get dressed. I think it's a sad statement that people are so embarrassed of their bodies. I usually dried my hair and did my make up while in my underwear.
I once took a shower and changed at a ski resort in NH when I was with a close friend. She went into the shower with her clothes on and I guess took them off in there . I just stripped and put my towel on and I was done and dressed long before her. In fact, I saw She Fly in the locker room, as I was half dressed after my shower .

[VeganBikeChick]

. I think it's a sad statement that people are so embarrassed of their bodies.

Some people can be very judgmental....and no one needs or wants to be judged.

[NbyNW]

I remember learning to swim at a YMCA that was an old brick building. I have no idea when it was built. My impression from knowing that part of town is that it could have been pre-war. The locker rooms had open showers. I remember thinking it was really cool that you could just press a button and hot water would come out for some set period of time.

We probably showered in our bathing suits and then dried off and dressed as quickly as we can. Probably more out of parent-enforced modesty than anything we might have felt or known at that age.

My Jr. High and HS also had open showers and those were probably built in the late 50s-early 60s. Showers weren't mandated, but to be honest, we rarely sweated in gym class.

[goldfinch]

Well, I avoid making eye-contact when I'm not wearing any clothing....

For the random older person. It used to be a bit different, I think. Open showers and no stalls. Plus, The girls and boys had segregated health classes in school. And they had required showers, etc. Seems like my mother said some things, and perhaps I read things about how it used to be different? Foggy on details though.

Now, along with being uptight, everyone is concerned about safety. Especially for their kids. People don't grow up like that anymore.

We had segregated health classes and big open showers that were mandatory. I hated it as the girl that got boobs early. I had the same gym teacher from 6th grade through 10th grade, when gym ceased to be mandatory. She used to bring her girlfriend to work fairly frequently. They would pass out towels as we came out of the shower. Back in the 60s we gave no thought to her sexual preference. I didn't know she was gay until long after high school and met up with her a few times. Nice woman but the girlfriend at the gym was not appropriate. I think in our small town no one had a clue.

[Aggie_Ama]

I didn't read the whole thread... What I find bizarre at my gym is the number of women who got into a stall of the bathroom to change clothing. I don't make it a point to look at anyone or make eye contact when I am changing but I do completely change in the open locker area. My body isn't the best body at the gym but I am not ashamed of it.

I do have one of those towel wraps with velcro I will walk around I shower. I usually pull on my panties pretty quick so I don't accidentally flash someone but I won't put on the rest of my clothes until my hair is dry. I find even after a lukewarm shower I don't cool down for a bit. FWIW I am 30 to give an age reference. I see all ages from 20-60+ headed to the bathroom to change.

[Irulan]

Okay, here's a women-only spa question for you, and it's something I encountered in Hawaii. When you go to a schmancy spa and there's a Jacuzzi there, do you go in naked or wearing your bathing suit?

I wasn't given instructions by the attendant, just given the robe and told to feel free to walk around naked because it's all women there and the custom, and I did go nude into the steam room and the hot sauna, but I wasn't sure what to do in the Jacuzzi, so I missed out on that. I hadn't brought a bathing suit with me, not knowing what to expect. (My first time at a real spa.)

What would you have done?

Roxy

I would probably ask. I"m not a big fan of public jacuzzis myself, even "nice" ones.

We have a hot tub at home, and we never wear suits. I mean, it's ours and it's private. We let our guests/houseguests know this. After that it's up to them.

[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.

[channlluv]

My daughter has been coming with me to the Y for a couple of years now and she was shy about changing clothes in the locker room at first, but now she strips down just like everybody else, at 13. She's got a pretty healthy body image, I guess. Of course, when we're in there, we're often there alongside teens from the swim team who are just as naked as they day they were born, too, and completely comfortable around each other. I think she's taking her cues from them.

Roxy