UK Nudity vs US Nudity?

dingdong

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After reading alot of posts on here, it seems like nudity in the locker rooms in the US is far more common than in the UK. Or at the very least, less of a fuss is made about it in the US :confused:

Is this the case? Being from the UK myself, no-one showered in high school after playing sport, let alone being naked! :tongue: Obviously, this was in school so the attitude was very different, but even in gyms over here, I know not many people shower totally nude in gyms compared to the US (eventhough I've never been to a gym in my life! :rolleyes:).

Has anyone from the US noticed any differences regarding gym behavior/public restroom behaviour during visits to the the UK, or vice versa? :confused: Thoughts please :smile:
 

D_Andreas Sukov

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its coz we're prudes :wink: lol
i think its because of the institutions in the UK (damn the man) and the fact that in the US its almost regulatory to shower after gym at schools (a wild guess) and here it is not. also gym is taken far more seriously in the US at schools and not so here with the various government cuts, and they wonder why the kids are fatties? and anyway so this familiarity with nudity in the gym etc makes it more prevelent in the US and not the UK. generally to see the reaction of some guys my age when i get naked at gyms and stuff, i never knew so many people were interested in the amount of ceiling tiles in a a changing room
 

mitchymo

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I'm from UK....when i was at school the physical ed. was split in two parts....one was called simply 'P.E.' and the other was called 'Games'. There was only one difference between the two and that was that in Games there were was the whole year (grade) that took part so while P.E. wasnt too bad when we were told to hit the showers at the end of Games the pupils ounumbered the showerheads 10-1 so it was very crowded and you felt really awkward if you were left stood in the middle of the shower cubicle with no water running onto you to wash with and there is absolutely nothing to look at....and if your self-conscious it is 10 times worse.

I am glad that the teachers never insisted showers were taken, i avoided them on most occasions....i was far too self-conscious not so much about being seen naked as i am average but it was more the worry that i might have gotten excited and outed myself whilst in the closet.

I wouldnt feel comfortable with communal showers even now.....it is just too personal in my opinion and makes the experience of sharing one with a significant other a whole lot more fun
 

str82fcuk

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Well I can only compare England and Canada but I guess that's close enough. I was in London last year and went to a well-known gym that has many locations (sorry forgot the name) and I was totally astonished at how hung up everybody was in the locker room, like wrapping towels around themselves while changing their speedos or underwear and acting all coy and silent while changing. But the biggest shock was that clothing was required in the sauna! Okay it was a mixed sauna but even so. When I was in Germany last time, nudity was required even in a mixed sauna! Here in Canada there are hardly any mixed saunas (another kind of prudishness I guess) but the gym saunas are normally freestyle -- some guys like to wrap themselves in a towel but I've only once seen guys wearing shorts in the sauna but they were foreigners and when they left everyone commented on how wierd it was. (this was in a very straight gym sauna by the way) I guess it might be a bit more repressed in other parts of canada or the states though (Montreal here).
 

overninept5

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I am from the states and live here in the UK. Interesting you bring this up. It was the first thing I noticed when I joined the gym here in London. It was so quiet. No one was talking. I am used to hearing loud (Yes, I know, we are Americans!) talking back and forth. Especially on monday mornings after a football game, etc. Laughter, joking, talking. Plus there is usually music blaring in the back ground also. But not here.
Some guys taking showers with their underwear on. I know some do it for religious reasons, but I am guessing not all of them are doing it for that reason.
I can stand there naked talking to some guy for ages and no one blinks. (well some do double takes for a different reason when they see me) I do it here also, but I am the only one usually. Cultures. What you're used to.
Bryan
 

perthjames

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As I travelled around Europe last year, the most "nude" place I came across was the Czech Republic. I went for a swim at one of the main pools in Prague and was a bit shocked to see everyone having a shower before and after the pool. Unlike Australia, the showers were always full and everyone was completely nude. And everyone seemed to wear speedos. No one seemed embarassed or otherwise.
 

Incocknito

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We used to shower if we were filthy but we would all shower with our shorts on. I don't think anyone ever said that that was how we would shower but that's what happened.

I can't decide whether that's a good or a bad thing. Maybe if we had showered naked/normally then maybe we would be less "coy" and reservist in the lockerrooms of this world.

On the other hand, I wasn't in the lockerroom to have sex with anyone, I was just there to change my clothes. So I don't see why anyone should have seen my sexual bits anyway.

Plus I think we (or at least I) were taught from an early age that being naked around other people is rude and showing off and that "other people don't want to see your bits"

Which is true isn't it? Why would you want anyone to see your tackle outside of the bedroom?
 

D_Chaumbrelayne_Copprehead

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Ya know, these cultural differences are really interesting!

Here in the US, I think we're seeing a culture split between younger and older guys on this issue.

Instead of us older guys lambasting younger guys for not being comfortable getting nekkid in the locker room, maybe we ought to be more aware of the different environment that younger guys grew up in.
 

Load Lichfield

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I must've gone to weird schools, cos we showered naked after sports. We washed ourselves for obvious reasons! How could you not?? I have also played indoor and outdoor football throughout my adult life since leaving school, and have played at various sports centres etc; each time, showering afterwards.. Alright, we get dressed straight after, and we don't tend to sit (or stand) naked chatting away, but we still have banter whilst getting ready. We don't purposely hide ourselves away though - that's a bit odd!

I wasn't aware the rest of the UK was like this?? No wonder there's so much sexual fetish activity in this country.. We're so repressed!
 

thadjock

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growing up with a military dad i never thought anything about being naked in front of my brothers or other guys from very early on. it wasn't sexual, it just seemed stupid to be so worried about covering up when they all had the same equipment. so when i got to school and showered in communal facilities after phys ed and organized sports i was completely at ease, but i know other guys were less so.

I think it has to do with parents transferring their own hyper modest attitudes to their kids, kids adopt whatever the parents phobias are.
 
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deleted356736

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Australia is very much like the UK where there is little shower room nudityl. I went to a secondary school with a swimming pool, and we obviously showered after swimming. But that was an exception, and apart from three years at that school I have never showered in a male group setting.

At the school (age 13-15) it was interesting 'cause I was an early developer, and there was a noticeable difference between me and the the other boys. It was a school of bullies, but my obvious development seemed to help me avoid that.
 

ColonialBoy

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After reading alot of posts on here, it seems like nudity in the locker rooms in the US is far more common than in the UK. Or at the very least, less of a fuss is made about it in the US :confused:

Is this the case? Being from the UK myself, no-one showered in high school after playing sport, let alone being naked! :tongue: Obviously, this was in school so the attitude was very different, but even in gyms over here, I know not many people shower totally nude in gyms compared to the US (eventhough I've never been to a gym in my life! :rolleyes:).
The same is true in Australia. There were no facilities to shower after sport, but my old school now has a big gym/pool complex so I'm not sure what happens now.

Pools are more common here and you see plenty of nudity when guys shower after swimming. But in gyms its uncommon here.
 

bigbull29

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I lived in Australia for two years. Naked men are everywhere at the beach and the swiming pool (almost naked). Here, in the US, the locker room is the only place where you're going to see a naked man.

North American men don't like speedos or being virtually naked in public.

Although it may be difficult to have a proper nude male locker room experience outside of rugby/football in the UK, I found that they still show more male nudity in the media and on tv than we do in North America. Men still seemed less uptight about male nudity in general.
 

drowning deep

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Hey there..

Here is NZ it's whatever you feel like. At the gym I go to, most people walk around with a towel around them but once in the sauna/steam/shower they are naked. Some guys do wear short/briefs and I think it is due to homophobia as they kinda have eagle eye alert on full for who is looking at them.

I'm not surprised it's more common in the US, they always tend to do things a little differently to the rest of us don't they?.
 

bendigoboi

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When I went to high School, showering after PE class was compulsory - I even remeber once when a coupel of guys didn't shower, we spent the whole next class ahving shoers, getting dry, showering again, etc, just to teach us a lesson (on reflection, obviously our teacher was a mean bastard!).

I'm quite comfortable nude in shower/ change rooms - when I played football, the guys would shower (group shower) after games and even ater training, before going to the pub.

I think that there is a lot less showering in suburban gyms, where people often work-out on their way home at the end of the day - they simply drive home in their smelly clothes, shower at home, and then put on comfortable clothes, instead of re-dressing into work clothes.
 

Viking_UK

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In school after PE, we hardly ever showered. After swimming it was usually with Speedos on. When I went to uni, the showers were communal and most guys stripped off. I felt a little self-conscious the first few times, but haven't bothered about it since. I've played competitive sports for years around Europe, and I think some of the European attitude to nudity has rubbed off on me cos now, I'm not too shy about who sees me naked and will stand and chat in the locker room with friends or go to the beach.
 

D_Mallaber Manynuts

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This thread is weird because where I live in the UK we had open naked showers after school sports and the lockers rooms at my local swimming pool and gym are full of naked men getting changed and showering. I've worked placed with their own sports facilities and yes, men get changed and shower and are naked in front of one another. Some people and parts of the UK are more prudish than others, it would seem. Yet my American cousin never once got naked in his school locker room and has a phobia about it to this day.
 

londonredhead

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This thread is weird because where I live in the UK we had open naked showers after school sports and the lockers rooms at my local swimming pool and gym are full of naked men getting changed and showering. I've worked placed with their own sports facilities and yes, men get changed and shower and are naked in front of one another. Some people and parts of the UK are more prudish than others, it would seem. Yet my American cousin never once got naked in his school locker room and has a phobia about it to this day.

With you. In my London gym nudity is common place - people shower naked (why wouldn't you?) - no-one hides under a towel to put on their underwear etc. I swim at several pools, all with open showers - no issue there. Guys just showering naked together.

I think the US in more prudish - I love naked beaches but really hard to find in the US.

Try going to Scandanvia - it is even more free ... great naked swim hall in Helsinki if you find yourself there!