Are communal or gang showers dissapearing?

[LGA]

I've just started at a gym and loads of work colleagues go there as well....they have 5 shower heads in a communal bit. Part of me finds it horny and the other part is still a little awkward about seeing people from work (or them seeing me).

Any tips on how to get over this?

 

[Jason]

I've just started at a gym and loads of work colleagues go there as well....they have 5 shower heads in a communal bit. Part of me finds it horny and the other part is still a little awkward about seeing people from work (or them seeing me).

Any tips on how to get over this?

Try to use the showers for the first few times when people you know are not around. Try to have the shortest possible shower. All you are doing is the minimum to get cleanish. The idea is to normalise the idea of showering starkers in public. Don't look at other men. Think about some terrible problem you have to solve.

 

[LGA]

Thanks for the advance, that's what I've done a few times now and managed to shower twice by myself. The other day this really hot guy I know got in and I kept my back to him, which wasn't too bad.

Not too worried about getting a hard on, but it's just I've never really had to shower like this before and it's odd with work people (someone is always there it seems).

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

 

[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.

 

[LGA]

Fair enough, thanks for your advice!

 

[Lynx_prt]

As far as I know, communal showers are still pretty common in Portugal, although new gym clubs are more into individual stalls (maybe to keep people from turning the locker area into an even greater cruising area... Or are the individual stalls more prone to that?)
When I was in high school the lockers had just one large area for everyone to shower together (I didn't like it, at the time...). My local public swimming pool still has a communal shower too. It's an early 2000s facility, so a few years ago it was still an option for new buildings.

 

[deleted140118]

Which one is it in AZ? Lol

I’ve only been to the downtown Phoenix one.

 

[deleted140118]

Are you talking about downtown? Have you happened to check out any others in the valley? I’m curious as to what the one in Tempe by ASU is like.

I wonder too. Yeah, I’ve only been to the one downtown Phoenix.

 

[Ludlee]

Still quite common in Brazil.

 

[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

 

[223790]

Most Ys in Canada still have them. Mine does, and from what I've seen online, other Ys do as well.


Universities are hit and miss now My old university got rid of them years after I graduated, and it has totally destroyed the locker room dynamics. It's now cold, impersonal, and eerily silent. Some universities like the U of T still have them from what I've been told.


I went to a really upscale gym in downtown Toronto a year ago that has stalls and a large communal shower. I used the communal shower as did some other young guys and older guys, but there were also older and younger guys using the stalls. I guess the older guys using the stalls were the guys that couldn't get over themselves when they were younger and complained about having to use communal showers when they were the norm. I would think being older now that they would be happy that anyone wanted to see them naked. Believe me, I wasn't bothered in the slightest by not seeing those older guys naked. Same at my current Y. For every one hot guy I see naked there are at least a hundred I could have gone a lifetime without seeing naked. All kidding aside, I think it's sad when a guy is past 20 and still can't get naked around other guys. I look for gyms that still have them because I find there is a friendlier atmosphere in those locker rooms. In my experience, gyms that offer ultra privacy also attract an ultra unfriendly and uptight crowd. Gyms that have communal showers attract a friendlier easier going crowd.

 

[JayPR]

I'm originally from Puerto Rico, and most colleges, gyms and public pools had communal showers. I think my school still have them (it's a public university.) But gyms and health clubs all have private stalls now. Even the public pool I used to go put walls in an open concept to transform the communal shower are into individual stalls in 2011. Apparently, some men complained that some "gays" were staring at them.

In the early 2000s, I went to a university in Ontario, Canada, and the sport facility had communal showers. Also, I used to go to a public pool in Oakville and had them as well. I'm not sure if that has changed.

 

[223790]

I'm originally from Puerto Rico, and most colleges, gyms and public pools had communal showers. I think my school still have them (it's a public university.) But gyms and health clubs all have private stalls now. Even the public pool I used to go put walls in an open concept to transform the communal shower are into individual stalls in 2011. Apparently, some men complained that some "gays" were staring at them.

In the early 2000s, I went to a university in Ontario, Canada, and the sport facility had communal showers. Also, I used to go to a public pool in Oakville and had them as well. I'm not sure if that has changed.

Which university in Ontario?

 

[JayPR]

Some examples

Similar to my school

 

[JayPR]

Which university in Ontario?

Brock University

 

[223790]

Brock University

OK. I'm not sure about Brock. The University of Guelph is all stalls now. It was an open shower room with Bradley towers when I was a student there in the early to mid 90s.

 

[223790]

View attachment 1326499

This was the setup at the University of Guelph when I was a student except that there were 6 Bradley towers and no showers were mounted on the wall. Those were the good old days. Lots of laughing, banter and joking around. With the new stalls only the dynamics have completely changed. It's eerily quiet now. I feel like I'm in a library when I'm there. No one talks, laughs, jokes around anymore. Quite sad. It was the U of G that got me over my modesty. They are reinforcing modesty and body shame among the younger generation of men, so I think things will only get worse.

 

[223790]

Does anyone know about Waterloo, Laurier, Western, York, and Ryerson?

 

[slipmoisi]

work out extra hard.
all you'll think of under the shower is how good the water feels.

I've just started at a gym and loads of work colleagues go there as well....they have 5 shower heads in a communal bit. Part of me finds it horny and the other part is still a little awkward about seeing people from work (or them seeing me).

Any tips on how to get over this?

 

[Bobby Briggs]

I love Bradley poles cuz they make you shower inches away from other wieners