[quote author=mindseye link=board=relationships;num=1075078057;start=0#5 date=01/26/04 at 16:31:36]
"It never came up in my household. During the last few years of my father's life, he required assistance showering and using the bathroom, so I saw him naked (and flaccid) often. It was embarrassing to him, I know -- not so much the nudity as the helplessness ..."
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mindseye, I had the same "family responsibilities" of care-giving to my late grandfather who had assisted in raising me years earlier in that household. As a young boy, I had tried to enter conversations with him several times about "male sexuality" and he flat out refused and "clammed up" so to speak. Ironic that my grandfather wound up in a situation later on in life which required me to get my answer about his size afterall---years later. (As a boy, I had asked him how big a grown man was, and he told me all men are the same size!) Finally seeing my grandfather (flaccid) enabled me to get the idea what side of the family my size came from, no doubt. (Surprisingly to me, it wasn't my father's side, either). Like mindseye's father, my grandfather was no doubt appreciative too, of my being able to assist him with baths and dressing, but he was VERY unhappy with my seeing his body.
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It was interesting that last night on CBS TV's "Still Standing" comedy series, there was a storyline about the lead family's teenage son's embarrassment he had in the gym showers. In attempting to relieve his concerns, the parents mistakenly thought he was "small for his age but would catch up later on....not to worry." Turned out however, the son was WAY ADVANCED over his peers and the parents (and all the neighbors!) soon found out about his good fortune of being hung! The son was mortified, of course.
'Good to see America is beginning to be able to relax (a least a little) and begin recognizing the OTHER topics of interest in sexual matters. Last night's TV comedy (despite the humor) at least had the father and son "talking" about a rather uncomfortable subject and not avoiding it altogether.