Shaving balls in locker room

[cwboy22]

I shave but at home. Never seen that at our Y. But lots of manscaped dudes

 

[tgirlsrgreat]

nope; if I had a steam room at home I'd do it every day. but the gym's is the next best thing.
i dont find it inappropriate since no one is in there at the time i do my shaving. {if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound??} how can it offend anyone if there is no one around?

ah hah, the old no one is around gambit! that was not discussed, i just assumed, public gym, public shower, there would be other publics present! in which case, i still say no, do it at home.

now, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, do the other trees laugh at it???

 

[maxcok]

nope; if I had a steam room at home I'd do it every day. but the gym's is the next best thing.
i dont find it inappropriate since no one is in there at the time i do my shaving. {if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound??} how can it offend anyone if there is no one around?

Okay, I'll ask you again.

What do you do with the hair? Leave it for everyone else to sit on?

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

wow, connecting shaving your face with shaving your balls, fascinating!

Well to be fair there's no logical difference, the difference arises in how the face and the testicles are viewed socially. The face, in western societies anyway, is not a taboo area of the body, testicles often are. While public nudity might be acceptable in certain defined situations, in this case the changing rooms and showers at a gym, performing certain acts with one's genitals, going by some of the reactions in this thread alone, are clearly not viewed by everyone as being within the parameters of socially acceptable behaviour as defined by the licence to be publicly nude in a shower or locker room at the gym.

Quite why such clear distinctions are made is rather unclear actually.

It's OK to be nude in this situation. It's OK to perform a variety of different acts of ablution, including shaving one's face, perhaps even other parts of the body than the genitals too, and clearly cleaning one's genitals as part of the general cleansing of the body is perfectly permissible also.

Why the strictures of taboo should suddenly interpose themselves at the point where all these activities converge, i.e. shaving one's genitals, is from a purely logical point of view inexplicable.

The explanation comes in the form of an essentially illogical fixation on the taboo nature of human genitals. Anything other than simply cleansing one's genitals is clearly to some people not socially acceptable. But held to a strict logical standard this makes no sense, it only makes sense if one is prepared to give credence to certain kinds of taboo.

Mind you, I'm not in the least saying that I either endorse or condemn the practice of shaving one's genitals in the shower at the gym.

 

[bendigoboi]

I was at the Imperial Dy Spa in San Fran arlier in the year - along with most men in there, I was enjoying the experience of relaxing naked.

(This is a great and under-rated facility - if you get to SF, make sure this is on your itinerary for a relaxing couple of hours!)

http://imperialdayspa.com/

There was one guy, however, who wore his shorts around to steam room, sauna, spa, etc, but I noticed while his friend that he had come in with was naked and having a massage, he sat at the Korean-style squat showers, with the front of his shorts pulled down, and earnestly shaving either his pubes or sac.

He looked awkward as he used the flexible shower head to wash into the front of his shorts, then pulled them up again before he stood and moved away from the area, and went back to enjoying the rest of the facilities in his clothes.

Seemed strange to me that he would be happy to shave his pubes in "public", but be too shy to be naked with a few other men (in a non-sexual environment).

 

[mattsrod7]

communal shower-no....bad idea. Someone could walk in while you're shaving, and view it as a sexual perversion, or indecent exposure....something that could end up with you doing jail time and being labeled a sex offender

haha thats what i was going to say. it's something you jsut don't do at a public shower. Do you not take showers at home? If you shower everyday at home its not going to be a dirty problem with hair in the drain cause what your shaving off is so small

 

[Rob_81]

ghjman: In my personal opinion and experiences, I'm straight and I say it's okay to do it there. I keep my sack shaved, too, and it's okay at my gym. No one really cares, but it's also Florida here, and it's a free for all in most of the state LOL.

 

[surferboy]

ghjman: In my personal opinion and experiences, I'm straight and I say it's okay to do it there. I keep my sack shaved, too, and it's okay at my gym. No one really cares, but it's also Florida here, and it's a free for all in most of the state LOL.

it has nothing to do with sexuality. it's the fact that it's a communal shower and i may not want to be standing in your nasty ass pubes.

then again, i don't shower in gym showers because i feel everyone is disgusting. but that's just my opinion

 

[chadstallion]

Okay, I'll ask you again.

i have very little hair to begin with.
clean the razor on the inside of my towel.
take a spare towel also.

 

[chadstallion]

it has nothing to do with sexuality. it's the fact that it's a communal shower and i may not want to be standing in your nasty ass pubes.

then again, i don't shower in gym showers because i feel everyone is disgusting. but that's just my opinion

you should never be standing in anything.
that's why one wears flip-flops..and the other place is the beach.
other than those two, no need to show the world ugly feet.

 

[Rob_81]

you should never be standing in anything.
that's why one wears flip-flops..and the other place is the beach.
other than those two, no need to show the world ugly feet.

Yeah, I don't even go barefoot, I wear Vibram Five Fingers in the showers!

 

[B_Marius567]

sorry I do not know how to shave my balls.

 

[B_Noctem]

it's the fact that it's a communal shower and i may not want to be standing in your nasty ass pubes.

Nasty ass pubes? LOL!!
You are aware that pubes grow on your pubis, not on your ass, right? And you know the difference between shaving your pubes and shaving your balls? Because this thread is about shaving balls, not shaving pubic hair.

 

[catman]

completly agree- ALWAYS wear flip flops @ the gym!!!
all it takes is one nasty case of athletes foot/feet.

I have seen many many guys shave (face) in the sauna, as we have individual shower stalls with curtains have never seen anyone shaving balls or otherwise...

 

[maxcok]

Well to be fair there's no logical difference, the difference arises in how the face and the testicles are viewed socially. The face, in western societies anyway, is not a taboo area of the body, testicles often are. While public nudity might be acceptable in certain defined situations, in this case the changing rooms and showers at a gym, performing certain acts with one's genitals, going by some of the reactions in this thread alone, are clearly not viewed by everyone as being within the parameters of socially acceptable behaviour as defined by the licence to be publicly nude in a shower or locker room at the gym.

Quite why such clear distinctions are made is rather unclear actually.

What's clear to me is that a lot of folks don't have any clear sense of what is appropriate social behavior in general and don't give a shit about anyone else's sensibilities, especially if they don't know them. While I completely agree with your logic, any halfway conscious considerate person will not presume, but will come down on the side of what is broadly socially acceptable, whether it makes logical sense or not, in this situation or any other. Sadly, that is becoming less and less a concern for people in our increasingly inconsiderate self-absorbed society.

It's OK to be nude in this situation. It's OK to perform a variety of different acts of ablution, including shaving one's face, perhaps even other parts of the body than the genitals too, and clearly cleaning one's genitals as part of the general cleansing of the body is perfectly permissible also.

Why the strictures of taboo should suddenly interpose themselves at the point where all these activities converge, i.e. shaving one's genitals, is from a purely logical point of view inexplicable.

The explanation comes in the form of an essentially illogical fixation on the taboo nature of human genitals. Anything other than simply cleansing one's genitals is clearly to some people not socially acceptable. But held to a strict logical standard this makes no sense, it only makes sense if one is prepared to give credence to certain kinds of taboo.

We have all sorts of taboos in society that are generally accepted but make no logical sense. Why is it acceptable for men to be barechested but not women? Don't tell me it's because breasts are sexual. They're only objectified and perceived that way because they're covered up all the time. Victorian men would pop a boner at the sight of a woman's calf or upper arm. How many men do that anymore?

It may also come down to a matter of intent, or perceived intent. Certainly some would do this not simply for grooming, but as an intentional exhibitionist display. Whether that's their intent or not, others might perceive it as such. It might also be perceived that shaving one's genitals is focusing undue time and attention on them as sexual organs and preparing them for a sexual display vs. just washing them in the natural course of a shower. Probably some guy "washing" or "applying moisturizer" to his dick for five or ten minutes would catch people's attention too. :wink:

Mind you, I'm not in the least saying that I either endorse or condemn the practice of shaving one's genitals in the shower at the gym.

I think it's fine, if it's the kind of environment where that is unquestionably considered acceptable (although I imagine those venues and situations are relatively rare) or if you are alone, or in the company of people you are absolutely sure won't be offended, and if there's no chance of a stranger popping by. In fact, depending on who's doing the shaving and how they're going about it, it could be hot. Then again, it could be really creepy. If there is any question though, I think it's entirely self-centered to impose your sense of propriety (or lack thereof) on other people, people who have every right to be comfortable in a shared public space as you do.

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

What's clear to me is that a lot of folks don't have any clear sense of what is appropriate social behavior in general and don't give a shit about anyone else's sensibilities, especially if they don't know them. While I completely agree with your logic, any halfway conscious considerate person will not presume, but will come down on the side of what is broadly socially acceptable, whether it makes logical sense or not, in this situation or any other. Sadly, that is becoming less and less a concern for people in our increasingly inconsiderate self-absorbed society.

Well as a politeness, and in deference to the taboos of others you may be correct that the right thing to do is to not shave one's balls in public changing room showers.

But one could argue the opposite, that presuming that others should respect one's personal taboos by not performing certain activities in your presence is rude and that presuming that one set of taboos should predominate in deference when others may not share these taboos is offensive.

We have all sorts of taboos in society that are generally accepted but make no logical sense. Why is it acceptable for men to be barechested but not women? Don't tell me it's because breasts are sexual. They're only objectified and perceived that way because they're covered up all the time. Victorian men would pop a boner at the sight of a woman's calf or upper arm. How many men do that anymore?

And yet there are situations in which women are allowed to go bare-chested, such as at the beach. But again this is an example of the illogic of taboo. Why the maritime periphery or the shores of lakes and rivers or the poolside should become a venue in which the rules regarding female barebreastedness should suddenly dissolve is a prime example of blatant illogic. And for these purposes a fairly useful comparison, since while sunbathing topless is deemed acceptable doubtless some other activities involving breasts (I can't think of any, but for the purposes of comparison lets presume they exist) would fall foul of the laws of taboo and be frowned upon.

It may also come down to a matter of intent, or perceived intent. Certainly some would do this not simply for grooming, but as an intentional exhibitionist display. Whether that's their intent or not, others might perceive it as such. It might also be perceived that shaving one's genitals is focusing undue time and attention on them as sexual organs and preparing them for a sexual display vs. just washing them in the natural course of a shower. Probably some guy "washing" or "applying moisturizer" to his dick for five or ten minutes would catch people's attention too. :wink:

But that's the point, these presumptions all arise out of the connotations attributed to these actions by taboos regarding the genitals. If I shaved an arm and spent a long time moisturising it in a public shower, people might think it was odd, perhaps extremely so, but they wouldn't be making all kinds of sexual or semi-sexual associations with this activity.

You might say that the testicles are involved in sexual activity and therefore making taboo sexual associations with them is fairly logical therefore, but in fact the actual act of sex isn't performed directly with the testicles (in the vast majority of cases, I have seen someone literally balls deep in someone else once or twice :biggrin1 and the hands or eyes, indeed a variety of other body parts, are as much involved in the act of sex as testicles are.

The hands in fact are as much sexual organs as the testicles are if not more so considering how direct their involvement is in a huge variety of sexual activities. And yet taboo does not apply to them, and it might be considered a good idea to spend long amounts of time cleaning and grooming them as a sensible hygienic precaution.

Your point about exhibitionism is interesting in that it could be used to describe almost any activity which a person could perform while nude in a public shower or locker-room. Is standing at a sink shaving one's face while naked in this environment interpretable as exhibitionist?

I mean ultimately if the taboo was exhibitionism the licence for public nudity in a public shower and locker-room would be the point of conflict, not the specific act of shaving one's balls in a public shower.

The possibility that shaving one's balls publicly is in some cases a sexual act, and that some will perceive it that way, and will therefore have there sense of the taboo offended only returns us to the point about the genitals being regarded as the site on the body most associated (in some cultures at least) with taboos surrounding sex.

I think it's fine, if it's the kind of environment where that is unquestionably considered acceptable (although I imagine those venues and situations are relatively rare) or if you are alone, or in the company of people you are absolutely sure won't be offended, and if there's no chance of a stranger popping by. In fact, depending on who's doing the shaving and how they're going about it, it could be hot. Then again, it could be really creepy. If there is any question though, I think it's entirely self-centered to impose your sense of propriety (or lack thereof) on other people, people who have every right to be comfortable in a shared public space as you do.

Well of course that's true, but that argument could as I say, be reversed completely and make perfect sense also. Isn't it rather self-centered to expect others to respect one's sense of propriety regarding the genitals by not shaving them in a public shower where the performance of a large variety of other acts of ablution and grooming are perfectly acceptable?

And on the subject of taboos not being respected, I don't suppose most people in frequent contact with people of East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean etc) ethnic background remind themselves that to look an older person from this ethnic background directly in the eye for too long is considered deeply inappropriate, and that handing someone something or indeed accepting something into one's hands with one's left hand is very rude in many of these cultures, nor for that matter would we expect ourselves to be constantly cognisant of the fact that we shouldn't sit with our feet pointed at people from this background who practice Buddhism since in traditional Buddhist taboo the feet are considered the nadir of the body while its zenith is the head, making the feet a taboo area of the body.

Some of us might be aware of these rules of conduct, and some might observe them, but very few people not from that background would find themselves annoyed at others also not from that background, forgetting, ignoring or simply being unaware of these rules.

 

[Pecker Check]

All these nice polite questions about why shave them here, why shave them there ... why shave them at all?

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

All these nice polite questions about why shave them here, why shave them there ... why shave them at all?

Hmmm, I wonder if there are any threads which deal with exactly that question? :boggled: Could it really be possible that there are dozens and dozens of threads like that? :biggrin1::wink:

 

[B_thickjohnny]

I've seen this twice. Once in the US a few years ago a guy was shaving his face in the steam room and tapping the razor on the wall. The beard scraps were running down the wall. It was disgusting to say the least.

Then once in Prague I was at a pool and there was a swim meet getting ready to start. The young guys were in the showers and one was shaving EVERYTHING right there in front of God and everybody. That was hot! He had a great semi while he shave the boys etc then went on to his pits, chest, arms and legs. The shower swept it all immediately to the drain on which he stood. No mess! Lord, what a great show that was!

 

[tgirlsrgreat]

I've seen this twice. Once in the US a few years ago a guy was shaving his face in the steam room and tapping the razor on the wall. The beard scraps were running down the wall. It was disgusting to say the least.

Then once in Prague I was at a pool and there was a swim meet getting ready to start. The young guys were in the showers and one was shaving EVERYTHING right there in front of God and everybody. That was hot! He had a great semi while he shave the boys etc then went on to his pits, chest, arms and legs. The shower swept it all immediately to the drain on which he stood. No mess! Lord, what a great show that was!

yeah, but swim team shaving is a whole different thing. a lot more fun if you have the place and are of a legal age to invite the girls team over and have a shaving party! you do mine and i'll do yours. i would also recommend it a little in advance of the meet, since everyone will probably need time to recover and rehydrate!