Are communal or gang showers dissapearing?

[JayPR]

If you're over 35 or 40 years old, you remember when locker rooms at school, college or at the gym, included communal showers, also known as gang showers. Basically, it was a big spacious room with a lot of shower heads, no division or curtains, where everyone used to shower together. In the U.S., even if they still exist today, it has become a rarity with the proliferation of individual stalls and more private shower arrangements.

However, based on my experience, in other countries like Germany, Italy, Japan or Argentina, communal showers are still pretty common.

What's your experience? Do you still see them where you live? Have you use them? If you are from out of U.S., let us know if there are communal showers in your country or if they are disappearing as well.

 

[622675]

The way it should be!

A set of controls
A place to set your stuff
A bit of privacy while facing the wall
A stage to show off when you turn around
A place to check out what is going on.
A place to be social

 

[622675]

I have seen pictures of this kind of shower, but have never been in one. Does it have a unique name and how is the water temperature / pressure regulated?

 

[ThickBearMeat]

The proper way to walk to the showers. Don’t wrap your clean towel around your sweaty body!

 

[ThickBearMeat]

Another practical reason to support gang showers is people tend to get their shower and be done. Stall showers with curtains encourage people to linger and take their time.

 

[chris bell]

The wrestling team at my high school has a shower that looks exactly like this.

 

[squadleader]

Some of us are old enough to remember the "march thru" tunnel showers which were used at some large high schools, colleges and at some military training bases. A trip thru these showers didn't provide sufficient time for discomfort or "extra-curricular" activities.

 

[223790]

This picture was taken in the 1930s. It’s awesome that the Y has continued the tradition of open showers to this day while other gyms have caved in to hyper modesty and body shame that is now so prevalent among men. This is why I still go to the Y!

 

[deleted15807]

Oh yeah it's all going away. The young ones are modest beyond belief but give them a cell phone camera and the dick pics and selfies don't stop.

 

[Jason]

I have seen pictures of this kind of shower, but have never been in one. Does it have a unique name and how is the water temperature / pressure regulated?

The water has two settings: on and off. In the on setting there will be water of a uniform temperature and pressure. The temperature may be anywhere between freezing and scalding, and the pressure anything from a reluctant drip to something that will knock you off your feet. At least that is (was?) the UK system.

The point of gang showers is that they are a basic way of getting clean. They are not comfortable. Some of the remaining ones do have individually adjustable shower heads, but even these modern versions often don't work very well.

Gang showers are for real men who can put up with the discomfort.

 

[Bobby Briggs]

I just visited the Bellingham YMCA (Bellingham, Washington). Great old style set up, open gang showers, Sauna, steam, most of the men are naked. I got three handjobs while I was there, a hot black guy, then a hot Hawaiian, finishing with a muscle Asian

 

[wildcat16]

I have found that guys' guards come down and that they're friendlier when naked around each other.

More than a couple coaches told me they had less trouble with fights in PE classes when they could make all the boys shower together NAKED. Its hard to pick a fight with someone you have to stand beside naked twice a day.

 

[wildcat16]

I was nervous when I first started using them over 30 years ago now. Once you conquer your fear, you realize it never was the big deal you blew it up to be in your mind. I think every guy goes through this at first. Once you get over it, it becomes as natural as breathing.

I was excited more than nervous, I wanted the chance to see how brave I was compared to the other guys. Or maybe more like see how nervous they were because I was already sure I wasn't going to be nervous.
The unknowns did cross my mind a few times...…..like how did I compare on the developmental scale to all the others ( I knew how I stacked up against my closest buds), how would my dick react...…..would it shrink, would it plump up, would it get hard...…..none of that was a problem as long as the same thing happened to others.

I bet we spent an hour discussing how long to let ourselves go from beating off and our first shower with other guys...…….nobody wants to beat off too soon before you get naked with the guys the first time and end up shriveled, but time it wrong and go to long and you might be fighting some wood seriously.

I was disappointed that not all guys ever got over it enough to shower even once with the rest of us.

It is a big deal, a big deal that everyone guy should face and conquer on their way to being a man.

 

[onrock92]

I'm 26, was a three-sport athlete in high school, went to college, workout enough and have basically never used one. The high school showers were a gang-style, shower-heads-on-the-wall type place, but my college dorms were all stalls (might've been gang showers at one point) and they had recently built a new fitness center that didn't have a ton of showers, but what it did have were stall showers.

So, I do think they're going away. Which is a shame because I think they're actually kind of important. They teach a guy how to be comfortable with other men, they level the playing field a bit, they make us realize we're not all that different. They can give a guy some confidence and make him more of a man.

I want to get out there and try some. Here's to hoping they still exist long enough for me to do so.

 

[JohnDoeXXXm]

Still the most inexpensive way to design a multi-person shower area, and waaaaay easier to keep clean on a daily basis. These group showers are still standard in varsity locker rooms in high school and college/universities, but most have been retrofitted to individual stalls in the more common locker rooms, for reasons already stated. Some large places have both, allowing the user to decide.

I know most team players (football, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse, rugby) would probably be disappointed if they had to wait for single stall showers- or they would forego showering altogether until they got home. Kills the camaraderie!

The shameful part is a lot of guys will opt to get a membership at an expensive gym to have the opportunity to build that interaction with other like-minded guys at their local YMCA, only to be denied the chance to shower in a gang by the retrofit shower police!

 

[Jason]

Will just keep trying - are you cool with showering communally?

Yes. School had communal showers, as did local swimming pool. Growing up I just accepted it as part of life. One winter term the boiler failed for my school showers (for some weeks), so we all had to shower in cold water, and British winter-cold water is COLD!

As an adult I've found communal showers unusual, but there are enough that I've never had a long break from them. For example I now use Queen Mother Pool in Victoria every few weeks, and the shower there is a gang one.

Gang showers are NOT sexual. They are a pretty basic way of getting clean, and that's it. They work well when there isn't much space (eg Victoria, in central London) and they are far easier than cubicles to keep clean. The hygiene issue is important. I don't know anywhere that keeps cubicles properly clean. There's a lot of wall to wash down, so I can see why it doesn't happen.

 

[bighosenow]

Individual stalls with curtains or doors make housekeeping more difficult for gym employees...Mildew on shower curtains builds up quickly,,corners in stalls where allege grows. Some gyms do a pretty good job but many don't. I'd rather be in a brightly lit open room where u can see how clean everything is.... And of course check out the other members.

 

[ThickBearMeat]

Totally agree! Nope, never have and never really had to shower during PE at school - so that's probably half the issue to start with. Also when I went to the gym years ago, I would always shower at home.

What about you, and if you don't mind me asking, where are you from?

Yeah, and I grew up with nudity being an every day, no big deal. I had 3 brothers and we shared a big dorm kinda room with its own bathroom. My dad always showered and got us all up and ready in our bathroom. I’d be brushing my teeth while my dad or one of my brothers was taking a raging piss next to me, someone in the shower and another toweling off. It was all matter of fact. My dad was also a boxer in the military and worked out all his life. He always took me and my brothers to the gym to swim and lift weights when we got older. The locker room never fazed me.

 

[Saint Raphael]

View attachment 1352659

The proper way to walk to the showers. Don’t wrap your clean towel around your sweaty body!

A lot of guys at my gym leave the towel in their locker altogether and walk to/from the gym without a care in the world!

 

[1004624]

I miss the large group shower rooms. People showered, made brief conversation and then got dressed. They were cleaner, better maintained and I never really noticed anything inappropriate. The cubicles are just kind of odd and the curtains unnecessary in my opinion.

I used to be shy, but now I walk to the shower with the towel over my shoulder. No reason to be uncomfortable. We're all men. I don't want to be sweaty all day.