Now I've seen it all...

[jockmaestro]

About a month ago, I was at my suburban gym/health club. It's mostly older guys, but at times there are guys in their 20's. We all know how so many of the younger guys do the "towel dance," refusing to get naked. (There have been plenty of threads on THAT topic!)
This one dude, maybe 23, slightly chunky, stripped to his boxers and then struggled to pull on a pair of Black Underarmor compression shorts OVER his boxers! I saw him fighting to stuff the fabric of his boxers inside the tight comp shorts. I almost burst out laughing. The whole point of comp shorts (which, sadly, have replaced jockstraps) is to have skin tight support of your balls. This poor kid felt so insecure about getting naked in front of other men that he looked like a buffoon, cramming boxers fabric in his shorts.
I give up, man. I canNOT figure out why so many younger guys don't strip down and jock up.

 

[SpeedoMike]

an extreme case of false modesty?

 

[lesotho]

The younger adult you are the less secure about your body and sex you feel.

 

[jockmaestro]

Yes, but why ? It seems to me the older guys would be more self-conscious. They're the ones in not very good shape, yet because of the era they were raised in, they're accustomed to walking around naked in a locker room, changing into jocks, etc. It's sad.

 

[Mikey20]

I'm 20 and I recently got a summer job that is pretty dirty and gross. After work we have to hit the showers and this is really the first time I've had to use communal showers. I am guilty of doing a bit of a towel dance because being naked around people I know (in a small town) is new to me. However I feel myself becoming less uncomfortable with being naked around the people I work with as time goes on. For lots of guys nakedness is tied very close to sexuality, something that many of us do not want to share with other men. I think most guys just need a bit of time to adjust.

 

[open501s]

older guys are use to being nude around other men. they've had a 30 to 40 year lead on geting use to who they are and their bodies.

my jr high and college had the open showers. I shower more at the gym in a open showers now than I do a private shower.

I like my gym shower more than my "home shower". Better water pressure.

 

[sdbg]

Even though I'm just an average older guy, and nothing special to look at, I always love to get naked and to use a communal shower when the opportunity arises. The towel dance draws more attention to a guy than if he just drops his drawers and changes.

Even though I like loose boxers for general dress, they have no place under a pair of compression shorts. It would be equally absurd to wear underwear under a pair of cycling shorts or bibs. What was this guy thinking?

 

[Charles Finn]

yes I am now over 40 fatter and bald but i still love to be naked whenever I can
it is freedom in the truest sense of the word.

 

[boxerboy]

I think its a lot to do with how younger adults are educated as in school experiences, not education these days.

When i did gym / football / rugby at school, we all had to shower after, if we had dry hair the Gym teacher would drag us though the shower. We were use to being naked around our peers. And experienced that we are all the same, well some bigger smaller lol.

It seems these days that showers are optional in many schools. So younger adults feel shy and ashamed of there bodys as they have never been naked among there peers. I thinks its wrong that so many younger people feel so afraid of getting naked at the gym etc. As jock says i have seen the same towel dance, shorts over short and find it amusing, but really sad.

 

[deleted3782]

For lots of guys nakedness is tied very close to sexuality, something that many of us do not want to share with other men. I think most guys just need a bit of time to adjust.

I think that's it totally.

Younger guys feel their bodies are sexualized in ways that didn't occur 10 or 20 years ago...they see ads and internet sites that promote the perfect body...and of course, they become their own worst critics...so it makes total sense that they would be modest because they presume to know what people are thinking about them. Also...younger guys have brand new bodies to get used to. In their early 20s, they have had their full grown appearance for literally less than 5 years...they need time to grow into them.

I used to judge the guys who did the towel dance...now I just see it as a stage that maybe we all go through...some faster than others.

 

[DiscoBoy]

I was at a gay club the other night taking a drunken piss at the urinal in the washroom watching as men waited in line to use the cubicles when there were several available urinals. What's worse is that the washrooms were unisex and women had to wait behind these men.

What in the fuck? You're gay, drunk and it's efficient, how do you not use a urinal?!

 

[danjs584]

I'm 20 and I recently got a summer job that is pretty dirty and gross. After work we have to hit the showers and this is really the first time I've had to use communal showers. I am guilty of doing a bit of a towel dance because being naked around people I know (in a small town) is new to me. However I feel myself becoming less uncomfortable with being naked around the people I work with as time goes on. For lots of guys nakedness is tied very close to sexuality, something that many of us do not want to share with other men. I think most guys just need a bit of time to adjust.

I also agree. I'm almost 26 now and am completely comfortable with nudity. I change in front of my friends and have no problem being naked in the locker room. 10 years ago while I sort of got a rush from being naked in front of other people I still was nervous about it. Now I'm not nervous but also don't get the rush from it.

 

[bigirishman]

I think that's it totally.

Younger guys feel their bodies are sexualized in ways that didn't occur 10 or 20 years ago...they see ads and internet sites that promote the perfect body...and of course, they become their own worst critics...so it makes total sense that they would be modest because they presume to know what people are thinking about them. Also...younger guys have brand new bodies to get used to. In their early 20s, they have had their full grown appearance for literally less than 5 years...they need time to grow into them.

I used to judge the guys who did the towel dance...now I just see it as a stage that maybe we all go through...some faster than others.

totally agree here.
Many young guys 20ish will be freshly out of puberty and some still changing. Their bodies are new to them mabie self chonchous very aware fo their penis size mabie not that comfortable with it all.
I think that as one developes mentally and gets accustomed to their body this behavior tends to fade.
If you remember pre puberty when you were young on beaches etc never had any problem stripping off and changing into swip gear, drying, etc. as you are comfortable with your body.
Then suddenly it changes.
I kinda feel sorry for the guys that need to do this as they obviously are uncomfortable while doing so.
At the end of the day its a penis and all us men have them.
Fuck it
Get naked

 

[jockmaestro]

totally agree here.
Many young guys 20ish will be freshly out of puberty and some still changing. Their bodies are new to them mabie self chonchous very aware fo their penis size mabie not that comfortable with it all.
I think that as one developes mentally and gets accustomed to their body this behavior tends to fade.
If you remember pre puberty when you were young on beaches etc never had any problem stripping off and changing into swip gear, drying, etc. as you are comfortable with your body.
Then suddenly it changes.
I kinda feel sorry for the guys that need to do this as they obviously are uncomfortable while doing so.
At the end of the day its a penis and all us men have them.
Fuck it
Get naked

I do not buy this. I saw so many guys growing up who just got naked, showered, etc. It just wasn't the huge issue it appears to be. And I don't think it's about the media promoting unattainable perfection in body types. I suspect it's more about how gay men are much more in the open now, and unfortunately, younger guys feel like locker rooms may be a ground for predators.
The only real reason I can understand is if a guy has a tiny dick, but I see plenty of tiny dicks on older guys, and most of them are in terrible shape, so it seems that a younger guy who's in decent shape shouldn't be so shy.
Yeah I know it's complex: sociological, physical, psychological factors, ets. It's just sad.
And please tell me, Bigirishman, that you did not spell "self-conscious" as "self chonchous."

Any more thoughts?

 

[FRE]

It has nothing directly to do with age, but rather, with experiences while growing up.

Until approximately 1975, in school physical education classes, it was standard practice over most of he U.S. for boys to swim naked. In fact, bathing suites were not permitted. There were open gang type showers and boys were required to swim nude. At YMCAs, men and boys swam nude. Men and boys who felt uncomfortable being nude around other makes were assumed to have problems and in need of counseling. That has all changed and now many boys and younger men have had no experience with nudity. They tend to equate nudity with sex.

 

[big_tits4big_dicks]

There was one girl that used the shower at school. Good thing she was an awesome, strong personality, because girls tore her up for that. PE was awful growing up, I would not relive that for love nor money.

 

[D_Torsten Testosterone]

If I towel dance its to hide my hairy ass not my penis

 

[docilej]

With what I'm packing (or more correctly, NOT packing), I arrive at the gym with my gym shorts already on and later I change inside a bathroom stall.