Naked at the YMCA

[B_jeepguy2]

When did the nude swimming end? I am nearly 40 and when I swam at the Y as a kid back in the 1970s we wore trunks that looked sorta like a speedo squarecut. They would not let anyone in the pool in regular gym shorts because they claimed it would clog up their filters.

We had to shower in the locker room before we were allowed to get in the pool. This was the same locker toom that the grown men used and it was great seeing all of those grown men with their bulging muscles, hairy chests...and big dicks walking around. I used to fantasize about them...and them doing gay sex acts to me, but at that age I had no idea WTF homosexuality was.

 

[Dave NoCal]

The YMCA in Decatur Georgia still had "Men's Swim" in 1967 but no longer did in 1974.

 

[B_Lightkeeper]

The original YMCA in Downtown Birmingham (20th. Street) had nude swimming back in the early 70's as well as nudity permitted in the locker room and gym. Those were the days, my friends.

 

[ConanTheBarber]

The original YMCA in Downtown Birmingham (20th. Street) had nude swimming back in the early 70's as well as nudity permitted in the locker room and gym.

The gym? Nude on the bench press and stuff like that?

 

[B_Lightkeeper]

The gym? Nude on the bench press and stuff like that?

Some did wear workout shorts and sweats.
BTW, there was a sun area on the roof where guys would tan nude...UNTIL they started building skyscrapers all around. :biggrin1:

 

[jockmaestro]

Find a pool that uses ozone rather than chlorine, the are becoming very common.

Get real. WHERE are you going to find a pool that far up in the air...?

 

[jockmaestro]

The original YMCA in Downtown Birmingham (20th. Street) had nude swimming back in the early 70's as well as nudity permitted in the locker room and gym. Those were the days, my friends.

God, I'd HOPE they'd "permit" nudity in the fucking locker room! What else were you SUPPOSED to do in the locker room, cross dress??!

 

[thkbeercan]

I worked for the suburban Chicago YMCA in 1970 and they did not offer nude swim times for men. However, I remember my dad telling me that in the Chicago public school system, those schools lucky enough to have indoor pools required the high school boys to swim in the nude during the physical education classes..this was in the 1940's. Not sure when they discontinued that.

 

[CobraLover]

I'm surprised that nude swimming was the norm back then.

 

[B_jeepguy2]

The YMCA in Decatur Georgia still had "Men's Swim" in 1967 but no longer did in 1974.

Isn't it amazing that the USA has become so puritanical since the 1960s?

 

[gymfresh]

A few guys have been around long enough to remember swimming naked at the YMCA -but who did you go swimming with ? Your friends, teachers, brothers, fathers, grandfathers? If you lived in a small place you must have seen the people out and about.....was it strange seeing them all naked.....or just what you were used to?

A while back I wrote about my experience visiting the leisure centre in Kassel, Germany with a friend of mine who lived there in town. The first floor had changing cubicles and you were expected to have a swimming costume on. There was a nice indoor/outdoor pool.

But upstairs everyone was expected to be naked. There were various pools, steam rooms and saunas, along with showers, of course. Men, women, boys, girls -- everyone was nude. I saw couples, kids next to them, standing around talking to their children's teachers. People greeted their neighbors. Boys and girls ran around together from sauna to steam. It was the most normal thing in the world.

I think many of these people could expect to see each other clothed at other times and in other settings around town. No one seemed the least bit fazed or uncomfortable.

 

[gymfresh]

I'm surprised that nude swimming was the norm back then.

Even my university, which required students to pass a Red Cross swimming certification to graduate, conducted these tests in the nude until the year I matriculated (1977). Random groups of about 50 guys, one group per week for a semester, were summoned by the administration to take the swim test. You'd arrive at the appointed time and strip down with a whole lot of guys you didn't know and await your turn in the pool. I don't think anyone questioned the university on it. You were told to swim naked, and you did. (Oddly, I don't recall that coeds were instructed to take the test nude.)

Most YMCAs phased out nude same-gender swimming around the time of passage of the Patsy Mink Act (Title IX). Colleges weren't far behind. Nowadays photos like this seem quaint, but at one time the scenes they depict were commonplace in the US.

 

[Omegaman]

GymFresh, Thank for those pictures. Now guys are taking their pant too to the shower. Can't we just be men.

 

[ColonialBoy]

Get real. WHERE are you going to find a pool that far up in the air...?

?? You must be joking.

Ozone Pools and Spas

 

[xenon-naturist]

Even my university, which required students to pass a Red Cross swimming certification to graduate, conducted these tests in the nude until the year I matriculated (1977). Random groups of about 50 guys, one group per week for a semester, were summoned by the administration to take the swim test. You'd arrive at the appointed time and strip down with a whole lot of guys you didn't know and await your turn in the pool. I don't think anyone questioned the university on it. You were told to swim naked, and you did. (Oddly, I don't recall that coeds were instructed to take the test nude.)

Most YMCAs phased out nude same-gender swimming around the time of passage of the Patsy Mink Act (Title IX). Colleges weren't far behind. Nowadays photos like this seem quaint, but at one time the scenes they depict were commonplace in the US.

great photo of the nude flip, but isn't that one time when a swimming costume might be useful !

 

[Iorek]

Amen brother.
When did society change the rules about nudity? Better question is why?
There seems to be a fear of being nude or being seen nude that has evolved in the last few years and I really have no idea how this came about. I don't think that homophobia plays into this situation since homosexuality has become more accepted by the majority of sane people in the US. I don't think that the religious right has the social clout to instlll such a change. So what has made young American men so insecure about themselves and their bodies? Maybe it is the lack of early male bonding starting with father and son and through junior high. Personally, I'm glad I had those experiences as I was growing up and it's sad and unhealthy for those men who didn't. It's okay to see or be seen naked. It's okay to see men naked and realize that there's nothing wrong or nasty or threatening going on.

It's because housewives stopped seeing news stories about Rosie the Riveter and schools and charities sending letters and care packages to soldiers. They started seeing stories that make rape and abuse seem ubiquitous, and as if that weren't horrible enough they use ambiguous terms like "was abused" to let you assume the worst. We can be confident that you WILL assume the worst because you live in a culture of fear. This stuff happens all the time right?

The problem builds on itsself because these anxious kids hung up on nudity become parents and teach their kids body shame. And since we now KNOW that nudity is always always sexual there can be no recovery. It ticks me off.

 

[DavidXL]

My Dad was a varsity swimmer at his university in the 1960s. I remember him saying that they would have practices at some pools in the nude and that it was no big deal, but that they wore suits for races. He said once there was a swim meet going on, that some guy apparently didn't realize it, and had strolled out nude into the pool area without realizing that it wasn't nude night and that there was a mixed audience. He said the guy was embarassed and that it was pretty funny.

 

[dad4you]

Nowadays photos like this seem quaint, but at one time the scenes they depict were commonplace in the US.

Interesting shot of the Coach being nude also but with just his jacket on.

 

[ColonialBoy]

Interesting shot of the Coach being nude also but with just his jacket on.

He's not nude, just short shorts.

 

[hd4me2]

It appears as if he has trunks on?