Communal Shower 'inequality'

[Meatn2veg]

Not so much about the "inequality", so kick me out of the thread if you like, but thought I'd share my gym experience.

Used to be a member of a gym in Bromley (the Kent<->London border) and the men's showers were 100% open. No stalls, no screens, no curtains, nothing. Totally communal showers. If you wanted to shower after your work out (and, let's face it, if you're hygienic then you do!), you did so with other men. And you left your towel outside the showers, as that's where the hooks were. You wanted a shower........you walked in and out of the communal showers bollock naked. And I can tell you now, in all the years I was a member of that gym, you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of men I saw who DIDN'T hit the showers after a session.

Now, the interesting thing is, out of all those who showered, you could also count on the fingers of one hand those who walked from the lockers to the showers with a towel wrapped around their waist. 90%+ walked naked, just holding their towel in one of their hands. (The funny this is I remember one time when I was in there - getting dressed to leave, as it goes - and this bloke walked in, dripping with sweat after his work out. He went to his locker, got his towel, left all his gear on, and walked to the showers. And I was thinking "Skanky git! He's going to shower with his sweaty top, shorts etc on!"
But no, I was wrong. He literally threw his towel on the bench near the hooks, walked back to his locker, stripped off, and then headed back to the showers. So, yeah, his procedure was designed to make him walk not only bollock naked to the showers, but without even carrying a towel.)

Also worth mentioning is this gym had a sauna in the changing room. Pretty much next to the showers, as it goes. (Perfect positioning if you think about it.) And there was even a sign on the door that said "It is advised to remove all clothing prior to entering this sauna. We do however recommend sitting on a towel."

So, anyway, the point I'm making is men (gay or straight or whatever) find it far more natural to be naked amongst each other than women do. (I worked with a lady who was also a member of this gym. Her chin dropped to the floor when I described the men's changing room / showers / sauna / sign on the sauna door to her. Shock.......just a little!)

Communal showers promote male bonding. And this gym definitely knew that.

And the showers of that gym are where I made a friend I've kept in touch with. An Italian lad called Antonio. The two of us met in the communal showers there, chatting one evening, dicks for each to see for the first time, and no "Shit! There's another man in here! I need to keep my cock covered with my hands!" crap.

Oh, and by the way......Antonio is straight.

 

[NGZen]

Hereford Rowing Club (and campsite), UK

Men's showers:

Women's showers:

 

[NGZen]

YMCA of Berwyn-Cicero, IL, USA

Men's:

Women's:

 

[NGZen]

Another example from England:

Cambridge City Council Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA), updated Feb 2019

https://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/documents/s45556/EqIA Equalities and Diveristy Policy updated Feb 2019.pdf

Here's a photo of the men's showers in Cherry Hinton Village Leisure Centre mentioned above:

 

[cock30]

Hereford Rowing Club (and campsite), UK

Men's showers:

View attachment 15737401


Women's showers:
View attachment 15737411

Those Male showers would put you in very close proximity!

 

[NGZen]

Village Gym, Solihull, England

Men's (mixture of cubicles and open showers):

Women's (cubicles only):

 

[NGZen]

Brixton Recreation Centre, London: refurbishment of poolside changing rooms in 2010

Post-swim cubicle showers for women (top left), but men have a choice of either cubicle showers (bottom left) or an open shower room (bottom right)

Photo of the men's open shower room:

 

[flyrye]

Village Gym, Solihull, England

Men's (mixture of cubicles and open showers):
View attachment 15840821

Women's (cubicles only):
View attachment 15840851

What a great facility! Great design, new communal showers - I've never heard of Village Gym before, but they need to set up in London!

 

[NGZen]

What a great facility! Great design, new communal showers - I've never heard of Village Gym before, but they need to set up in London!

Here are photos of Village Gym in Maidstone, which also offers a choice of open showers or cubicles. The showers were refurbished in a similar style as the Solihull gym.

 

[flyrye]

Here are photos of Village Gym in Maidstone, which also offers a choice of open showers or cubicles. The showers were refurbished in a similar style as the Solihull gym.

View attachment 15878311 View attachment 15878301 View attachment 15878321

Mate, this is amazing!

Where'd you find these pics? This change room is just perfect!

 

[NGZen]

Mate, this is amazing!

Where'd you find these pics? This change room is just perfect!

From here: https://patondevelopments.co.uk/our-work/gym-leisure-spa-project/

However, not all Village Gyms have male communal showers. Some venues have only shower cubicles in the male changing room.

 

[SoCal2PDX]

Not so much about the "inequality", so kick me out of the thread if you like, but thought I'd share my gym experience.

Used to be a member of a gym in Bromley (the Kent<->London border) and the men's showers were 100% open. No stalls, no screens, no curtains, nothing. Totally communal showers. If you wanted to shower after your work out (and, let's face it, if you're hygienic then you do!), you did so with other men. And you left your towel outside the showers, as that's where the hooks were. You wanted a shower........you walked in and out of the communal showers bollock naked. And I can tell you now, in all the years I was a member of that gym, you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of men I saw who DIDN'T hit the showers after a session.

Now, the interesting thing is, out of all those who showered, you could also count on the fingers of one hand those who walked from the lockers to the showers with a towel wrapped around their waist. 90%+ walked naked, just holding their towel in one of their hands. (The funny this is I remember one time when I was in there - getting dressed to leave, as it goes - and this bloke walked in, dripping with sweat after his work out. He went to his locker, got his towel, left all his gear on, and walked to the showers. And I was thinking "Skanky git! He's going to shower with his sweaty top, shorts etc on!"
But no, I was wrong. He literally threw his towel on the bench near the hooks, walked back to his locker, stripped off, and then headed back to the showers. So, yeah, his procedure was designed to make him walk not only bollock naked to the showers, but without even carrying a towel.)

Also worth mentioning is this gym had a sauna in the changing room. Pretty much next to the showers, as it goes. (Perfect positioning if you think about it.) And there was even a sign on the door that said "It is advised to remove all clothing prior to entering this sauna. We do however recommend sitting on a towel."

So, anyway, the point I'm making is men (gay or straight or whatever) find it far more natural to be naked amongst each other than women do. (I worked with a lady who was also a member of this gym. Her chin dropped to the floor when I described the men's changing room / showers / sauna / sign on the sauna door to her. Shock.......just a little!)

Communal showers promote male bonding. And this gym definitely knew that.

And the showers of that gym are where I made a friend I've kept in touch with. An Italian lad called Antonio. The two of us met in the communal showers there, chatting one evening, dicks for each to see for the first time, and no "Shit! There's another man in here! I need to keep my cock covered with my hands!" crap.

Oh, and by the way......Antonio is straight.

This is pretty much my experience at the gym as well. I've been going pretty much every morning before work M-F, since around 1995. When you go at the same time every day, you tend to see the same guys all the time, naked and clothed. One thing I've noticed, contrary to what so many people have said, is that young guys get naked and shower just as much, if not more, than older guys. And this hasn't changed in 25 years. The gym I currently go to (before the covid-19 shutdown) has a lot of guys in their 20's. Not all of them use the showers, but lots of them do, and they don't seem to have much problem being naked in front of other guys. There is one guy in his mid 20's, very good looking, lean and fit, that has a gym schedule almost exactly like mine, to the point that we tend to hit the showers at the same time almost every morning. I prefer one particular shower because of the water pressure, and he always takes a shower across from me and he spends almost his whole shower facing me with his back to the wall. We basically see each other showering almost every day. This has gone on for more than a year, and he doesn't seem shy being naked in front of me at all, and I'm not shy either. It is a bit of male bonding, that has nothing to do with sex or sexuality. While if it were up to me I'd provide one or two private showers for guys that want them (although none seem to), I'd leave the rest open to encourage a healthy attitude towards nudity and allow guys the opportunity to bond like this. I def. would never install all private showers.

 

[NGZen]

All In One Fitness Club, Big Bear Arena, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, USA

Male:

Female:

 

[seabear]

There is every danger that Covid - 19 will bring social distancing barriers into gang showers, please let them be temporary and gone when the vaccine is here.

 

[223790]

I'm wondering how they are going to do this at my gym when it reopens. The wall mounted shower heads are about 4 feet apart from each other with no partitions. My guess is that they will remove some shower heads to maintain distance in the open shower room. I can't see them installing partitions now.

 

[deleted1334580]

All these nice gym showers so unused now. Damn shame.

 

[Sherwood D. Likelym]

When I started looking at this thread, I thought you meant THIS kind of shower inequality!

 

[NGZen]

Tokei Fitness Centre, London, UK

 

[Novaboy]

That's exactly what I thought too!

 

[jglam]

London South Bank University's sports centre. 11 communal showers for men and five stalls and three communal for women. The women's communal showers are very awkwardly placed so I doubt anyone uses them. The men's showers have an interesting horseshoe shape.