Recently, I've read something about nude swimming. Interestingly, it was once quite common in the US for boys to swim nude in PE classes at school, and at swim team practice. Indeed, it wasn't just "common" it was required. Swim suits were banned. Sessions were, of course, single sex--although there are stories about female pool employees being present (e.g., lifeguard, swim teacher for young boys, etc.) It wasn't just schools--other places had single sex swimming sessions at which suits for males (both grown men and boys) were banned. Women and girls, on the other hand, often still wore suits, even if it was a female-only swimming session. Females had to protect their modesty at all times. I have wondered how I'd have coped if I'd been faced with a nude swimming requirement when I was a teenager. I seem to recall having been a modest child. As a teenager, I definitely was modest--the last thing I'd have done in PE is taking a public shower lasting a couple of minutes. I'd have probably died at the thought of spending 50 minutes of PE totally naked. I'm less bothered now by nudity around other men, but it would seem strange swimming in public (even single sex session) nude. Although I suppose it would help cut swim suit costs...
In my country there is a mandatory swimming course in PE for all grade 5 students. The lessons take place in a public indoors pool. The rules of the pool require nudity in the shower area and in the saunas. In here nudity is not such a big taboo. I have seen all my family members naked and they have seen me. Also, I've seen pretty much all of my closest friends naked too. The fear of nudity is something you learn at home and is bound to culture.
This may sound rude, but for me the thought of seeing people naked I don't want to see naked is much worse than the thought of other people seeing me naked.
I think the aversion to nudity, as Euler pointed out, is largely a cultural thing. In the USA today, the idea of people (even of the same sex) swimming nude together would be unthinkable. But... nudity and sex are quite the taboo here. Go to a different country and people have no problem with it. Were I raised differently and were I more comfortable in my own skin, I think I could get used to swimming nude.
I don't like the idea of this. Even if I was entirely happy with my body, doesn't it seem a bit disgusting to have people splashing around with their bits hanging out? Picture it, I'm doggy paddling along, happy as Larry and oof, there's a penis. It's funny how society's ideas of nudity have changed over time though. It's strange to think that swimming naked was once the norm and even required for American boys. Thankfully we did swimming at primary school only as a half-term topic, with swimsuits on, private changing rooms and no obligation to shower.
Oh god, I couldn't think of many worse things. I have an intolerance to nudity. I don't know why though but I really dislike it.
Here in Michigan there's a law still on the books that says all users of a public shower must be nude. I never had a gym class that required swimming or shower usage, but once when I was 12, my cousins brought me to the health club they belonged to, and I'll never forget seeing a boy my own age nude in the shower and thinking about how beautiful and perfect his body was. That's pretty high up on the list of reasons I should have known I was gay much sooner.
Gah,that sounds terrifying to me. It's interesting how they had the girls in full body suits and the guys naked, but not entirely surprising. The female body has always been treated as a thing of awe, or at least for a long time it has. In the past, it was very much believed by many that females were always modest, asexual creatures. It's only been recently that people have started realising that isn't always the case with the majority of females out there. That's why male homosexuality has always been taken more seriously, because there are still quite a few people out there that believe females don't have any sort of sexuality. Our changing rooms in my old school (both our main two PE changing rooms and the changing room to the swimming pool) had showers in, but no one ever used them. Apparently people used to use them, but not anymore. If our old class had to do this, it would be so awkward. I already had plenty of rumours going around about me (and the outing as well but that was way after we had finished doing swimming lessons) so my friends would've certainly felt awkward around me that's for sure. They were always asking me if I was checking them out (I wasn't) so doing a class naked? NOPE.
It's always been hard for me to imagine this even being a thing. It's fascinating to me when I read about other countries, parts of the country, or even time-periods in the same country where nudity is no big deal. I'm sure it would be nice to feel that way about the naked body, but unfortunately I don't. I haven't seen most people I know naked nor have they seen me. My sister and I used to see each other naked regularly when we were quite young, but after a certain age that stopped (aside from that one time when she walked in on me changing...I try to repress that memory). We never had to be nude in the shower at school and I would've hated it if we had to (we did swim in high school P.E., but we wore our bathing suits when we showered). I was very self-conscious about being "small" (in more ways than one) during high school and I would not have wanted my P.E. class, who already didn't appreciate my lack of athletic ability during class, to see me in my most "exposed" state.
