No, this is not as interesting as it might sound

I was just browsing a travel forum for Iceland, because we're headed there in June. Iceland is famous for its geothermally heated swimming pools. But several of the US posters mentioned that it was "no problem at all" to just shower and lather up first like the locals, in the nude.

It never struck me there was any other way of doing so. Is it uncommon in the States in gyms and swimming pools to have one large open shower room where everybody (of the same sex) showers together? Or is it usual with separate "cubicles"? Just curious.

Here you'll often find some kind of narrow side partition, but I think that's just so that they can fit the showers closer together without people feeling they're about to bump into each other.