I don't know where you obtained those (obvious) World War 2 photos of military showers - but those are great! I patronize a Korean Spa where the mutual body scrub cubicles are open (very much like Japanese public baths) and the shower is totally communal. Erections and even some ejaculations occur during mutual body scrubs, but even if anyone notices, it's not something abaout the patrons freak out. I've posted it several times previously, but I'll reiterate here - American's are the most ammonia-crotched nimrods in the world when it comes to nudity and sex. Again, your jockstrap logo is hilarious.
How comfortable are men with being nude in communal showers and locker rooms in your country or culture?
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Another NYer here . Could you tell me the name of the Korean place and where it’s located? I’d definitely like to check it out. Thanks!
Apologies. I need to make a correction - I should have said I PREVIOUSLY patronized that spa. They recently raised the prices to $387 an HOUR, per person - and I'm now searching for a less expensive alternative. My 2nd cousin (22 years old - 20 years younger than I am) is living with me and starts NYU this summer (after getting out of the US Air Force) ; and $775 is just too damned expensive for one hour. While I love seaweed wraps following a massage; he and I can do our own mutual body scrubs and massages for free. (smile) However If I find a spa that is more reasonably priced, I will gladly send you a message. Again, may I ask where you found those historic military "showers" photos - they are great. Rick
Thanks for your reply. $387/hour! Are they actually getting customers? I’ve never paid for sex but friends tell me that even the highest prices rent boys in NY get just a little over half of that. Unfortunately, I don’t have any cousins who would qualify and PF and NYC rec ctrs I go to don’t have massage therapists.
Sorry to report that I wasn’t the one who posted those photos but I’ve seen similar ones online. I’ll try to find them for you.
Brad
I think your comment/perspective is the overarching issue of the problem with nudity in the US. You're conflating nudity/communal showers with sexual stimulation and reactions (erections and ejaculations). The two shouldn't be mixed AT ALL!
Surely every man gets erections, and often in less than ideal circumstances. I've been inside numerous communal showers and locker rooms and have never once seen a man blatantly walk around with an erection, letting alone ejaculating! I'm sure some guys have popped a boner, but they cover themselves out of respect for the other male patrons...as they rightfully should. I wouldn't freak out and cause a scene, but would very much view that as being disrespectful and inappropriate, and I'd inform management if I saw it again. It's just like guys jacking off in a public bathroom. That's not an ideal setting for most us, but if you're horny and have a spare moment, you'll take care of business in a stall; not at the urinal or out in the open for everyone to see.
I'm bisexual and wouldn't want nor should I expect to see guys walking around a locker room with erections or jacking off. Imagine how heterosexual men would feel.
Sexual preferences ultimately create biases that prevent you from looking at the bigger picture and other people's perception of the scenario. It's important to check that as often as you can.
I wasn’t at first but then I became comfortable with it when I was in the fire academy. Mostly everyone had a small peen. One hairy dude had a full blown tiny boner once covered by a thick ass bush. He was gross looking so it wasn’t something to want to stare at. There wasn’t a looker among my class that I found remotely attractive, well, maybe one that had a big ass on him. USA.
I'm not "conflating" anything. You' re entitled to your opinion, but that doesn't make it FACT. Before the pandemic we were in a restauant and a woman lifted her sweater to breast feed her infant. It was at best a "flash" of a nipple. The people at the next table went batshit-crazy - screaming about her "naked breast." Finally the restaurant manager INTERVENEVED and threw out the idiot protesters. As I said, you're entitled to your opinion, but I don't have to AGREE with it. Americans are numbskulls when it comes to nudity - and sexuality. If you don't believe me, try visiting Europe.
Younger guys are a lot more prude than older ones nowadays but I remember I was the same until my 30s. Now I’ve no problem getting naked but I did when I was younger. I think it’s just the way guys are.
I saw some comments on a cruise ship forum yesterday - and it made me think of this forum somewhat. A man asked if speedos were acceptable around the pool. Quite a few women said "ewww no" - but one or two commented that a speedo is the male equivalent of a bikini for women and no one seems to have issues with that. Others made the observation that you must be American if you don't like seeing men in speedos - and don't ever go on a European cruise.
I think there's a perception that for whatever reason, seeing a man in a speedo that clearly shows he has a penis is worse than a bikini that barely covers a women's nipples.
I'm all for open showers - so long as everyone is respectful - I don't mind seeing hard cocks and wanking but then I'm gay and enjoy all that - but there is a time and place for that sort of thing. I wish people didn't get so hung up on group nudity in appropriate settings.
I think there's a perception that for whatever reason, seeing a man in a speedo that clearly shows he has a penis is worse than a bikini that barely covers a women's nipples.
I'm all for open showers - so long as everyone is respectful - I don't mind seeing hard cocks and wanking but then I'm gay and enjoy all that - but there is a time and place for that sort of thing. I wish people didn't get so hung up on group nudity in appropriate settings.
Maybe those women were lesbians and couldn’t deal with seeing even the outline of dicks and balls. Or straight women who were angry about not getting any action in their lives and jealous that gay men were.
Korean Spas are great experiences - body scrubs, massage (non-sexual) and a detoxifying seaweed wrap at the end; but as I said, no freakin' way am I paying $774. forthe two of us. And yes, if you do come across any vintage photos, I'd appreciate you sending them onto me. thanks... Rick
Hi, just wondering what goodlife's still have open stalls? the one's i've been to have closed stalls and fishbowl sauna's and they quickly put up stalls in any new gyms that they buy out. thx
Hi, which gym is this? wouldn't mind checking it out, thx
at the opposite extreme i know the Y's still mostly have communal showers but takes a lot to get over the ick factor at those places.
I grew up with communal showers and open troughs/ no wall dividers urinals so I am quite comfy with nakedness in a public setting or peeing in front of strangers . In middle /high school we had open showers after gym class and I never found that to be a issue with anyone of my friends or myself to be naked in front of each other or later in life with being naked in saunas or in front of my male co workers at the gym or sauna
Two Ys in Manhattan converted communal showers to individual stalls. Bummer! There was never an “ick factor” at either one.
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@mikyang for someone who has a picture of their cock on their profile, you seem rather concerned with others protecting their modesty. Also this isn't the Victorian era anymore. Modesty has nothing to do with nudity.
I grew up in Britain during the 80s and 90s. My school had single sex, communal changing and showering areas. We all had to strip naked and shower. Ok there was some teasing and shyness, but overall I think it's good for boys to see that their bodies changing is normal and that their friends are going through the same thing.
It's not a sexual thing. It's about feeling comfortable with your body and feeling confident. To stand in front of your peers, at any age, naked, helps you to see past superficial preoccupations of appearance and insecurity.
I think nudity should be normalised and de-sexualised. I appreciate the issue of sexual predators, but equally we cannot allow the behaviour of a very small minority to impact us in such a huge way.
You can teach children that nudity is normal and nothing to be ashamed of, while still educating them about the dangers of predators.
Growing up with a healthy attitude towards nudity should foster a greater level of body confidence as a teenager and as an adult. It should mean that people are less likely to compare themselves physically to porn/cam stars and ultimately reduce the mental health issues connected with body image.
Forcing boys (and men) to see covering up or private changing as the norm, just adds a level of shame and secrecy to the body.
I grew up in Britain during the 80s and 90s. My school had single sex, communal changing and showering areas. We all had to strip naked and shower. Ok there was some teasing and shyness, but overall I think it's good for boys to see that their bodies changing is normal and that their friends are going through the same thing.
It's not a sexual thing. It's about feeling comfortable with your body and feeling confident. To stand in front of your peers, at any age, naked, helps you to see past superficial preoccupations of appearance and insecurity.
I think nudity should be normalised and de-sexualised. I appreciate the issue of sexual predators, but equally we cannot allow the behaviour of a very small minority to impact us in such a huge way.
You can teach children that nudity is normal and nothing to be ashamed of, while still educating them about the dangers of predators.
Growing up with a healthy attitude towards nudity should foster a greater level of body confidence as a teenager and as an adult. It should mean that people are less likely to compare themselves physically to porn/cam stars and ultimately reduce the mental health issues connected with body image.
Forcing boys (and men) to see covering up or private changing as the norm, just adds a level of shame and secrecy to the body.
Yeah most schools probably still have communal showers as mine did in the 90's, they just aren't used naked. Boarding schools are a fringe experience for a tiny minority and therefore don't affect the general picture which is that if you're in school right now in the uk, and you walk naked through the locker rooms to the showers and then shower naked, you will very likely be treated like an outcast for doing that. Maybe if you're the son of a lord, you're having a different experience but you also won't have to queue for medical treatment or choose between heating or eating so your life is pretty different all round. The only reason i brought up schools at all here is to make the point that that's most people's earliest introduction to the concept of completely nonsexual commmunal nudity, and explains what your attitude will be later on. For me, it was not seen as an option and the social cost for even trying was enormous. I remember one guy came from a school from a different area and accidentally walked out into the showers naked and he got bullied about that for years. I just remember him being so shocked and saying "but we've all got the same, what difference does it make?".
Also, how can it be possible a spa costs 400 dollars an hour? That's not plausible, surely?
I grew up in rural town in the USA, high school in the 70's meant P.E. twice a week mid-day, gym shorts, jockstrap, socks, tennis shoes, and a tee-shirt, gang showers after P.E., no one got out of the locker room smelling like sweat. Boy scout summer camp (guys only), nude pool and lake swimming, no suits allowed, outside open air showers, no walls between the toilets, troth (sp) urinals. I chuckle when I think back amount me and my buddies, huddled together on the lake floating dock, shivering naked, scrotums shriveled like walnuts, being forced to jump back in to earn our merit badges. ((Privately, I did wonder why the scout masters and oldest life guards wore bathing suits.)) There's a gang shower at my old gym, hey for us older guys, nudity in the locker room is ingrained in us. The new YMCA in town, has separate shower stall only. While I am older and wrinkly, and who wants to see that these days, why should it matter? It sure didn't matter when I was growing up. Respect your elders, and don't bend over if you drop the soap.
We Americans weren't always prudes about being naked in public. For centuries, there was little choice. Small houses with little privacy meant that boys and men saw each other naked all the time. Ivory soap ads even in the 50's showed mothers sending their boys off to the creek with a towel and Ivory soap to get clean. Being naked around each other was normal because privacy was nearly non-existent. It wasn't practical.
When some public schools installed pools about that time, the boys all swam naked, even at swim meets where the girls were in the stands. It was partially about the poor filter designed that got instantly clogged up from the felt-like swimsuits of the time, but since boys had no problems with being naked since they'd been raised with it, they just did it.
YMCA's in the 50's and the 60's were all-nude behind the front desk, with no women allowed. All boys and men were naked in all areas, the pool, weight room, showers, etc. Boys grew up knowing what men's bodies looked like and it was a normal everyday thing, no big deal. No privacy in a YMCA and it was ok.
What changed was privacy. After WWII, and the GI bill, all of a sudden, a family of four could expect a much better, and larger place to live. At first brothers may still share a bedroom, but as time went on, each boy had his own room. There was no longer any need to be naked at home and these boys grew up with a mixed-bag of privacy. Complete privacy at home, but yet having communal showers at school after sweaty gym practices. It was weird seeing friends naked, where it hadn't been that way for their dads, because it was no longer "normal" not to be naked around other guys all the time.
Eventually this discomfort with school nudity cause parents to push for different facilities, and then NO nudity occurred in young men's lives, and boys behind them came to think of all nudity as bad and uncomfortable. Very sad.
When some public schools installed pools about that time, the boys all swam naked, even at swim meets where the girls were in the stands. It was partially about the poor filter designed that got instantly clogged up from the felt-like swimsuits of the time, but since boys had no problems with being naked since they'd been raised with it, they just did it.
YMCA's in the 50's and the 60's were all-nude behind the front desk, with no women allowed. All boys and men were naked in all areas, the pool, weight room, showers, etc. Boys grew up knowing what men's bodies looked like and it was a normal everyday thing, no big deal. No privacy in a YMCA and it was ok.
What changed was privacy. After WWII, and the GI bill, all of a sudden, a family of four could expect a much better, and larger place to live. At first brothers may still share a bedroom, but as time went on, each boy had his own room. There was no longer any need to be naked at home and these boys grew up with a mixed-bag of privacy. Complete privacy at home, but yet having communal showers at school after sweaty gym practices. It was weird seeing friends naked, where it hadn't been that way for their dads, because it was no longer "normal" not to be naked around other guys all the time.
Eventually this discomfort with school nudity cause parents to push for different facilities, and then NO nudity occurred in young men's lives, and boys behind them came to think of all nudity as bad and uncomfortable. Very sad.
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