Ask any guy who grew up in the 1950's and belonged to his local YMCA and he'll let you in on a well-known "secret." Guys used to swim naked there! Moreover, there were often "solariums" or outdoor sunning porches where nude sunbathing was common. Old and young, grandpas, dads and their sons, those in shape or who needed to get in shape, had one great equalizer: you swam and sunned in what God gave ya.
Sometime, perhaps during the 1960's or so, things began to change. No doubt it had some to do with going co-ed. Then it became more difficult to avoid an awkward, unplanned, "meeting of the genders" if a female opened the wrong door or showed up during the men's swim hour.
But the change also probably had much to do with the ways society was morphing too. The sexual revolution made some circumstances take on a sexual dimension where there hadn't been one before. Decades later, many adults had come to be very uneasy about being nude in the presence of minors, even in the locker room and showers, due to growing awareness of the problems of abuse.
Consequently, nudity is disappearing in many changing areas and the group shower room has been replaced with individual cubicles. It's a bit sad, actually. The same camaraderie created by the "corporate nudity" characteristic of a Finnish sauna is unknown to many Y patrons today.
There will no doubt come a time when someone will write a blog entry that starts "Ask any guy who grew up in the 1970's and they'll tell you a well-known 'secret.' Guys used to take group showers naked and change in open rooms there..."
I always tell people that my mother would give me 50 cents, pat me on the head, and send me off to practice nude recreation with my 10 year old friends. We would go to the YMCA, where bathing trunks were prohibited, and go skinny-dipping. It was perfectly normal, nobody thought anything about it.
ReplyDeleteIt was in the 1970s when women started to be admitted to the Y that the nude swims ceased to be. Some women filed complaints that they were not able to swim at certain hours due to the fact that those times were reserved for nude men. Issues relating to the Y's affiliation with the YMCA, as well as some financial considerations, eventually forced an end to the naked swims. Somebody forgot to mention that while trying to prevent any discrimination against women, the situation turned into discrimination against men.
Here's a link to a newspaper story from 1978: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19780801&id=coIuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=faEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=922,141624
Don't forget that those were young CHRISTIAN men, wholesome and morally straight! I'm not sure when the YMCA began to allow non-Christians into their swims, but that might have something to do with it too!
ReplyDelete.
It should also be remembered that it was not until the late 60's and 70's that world discovered that gay men existed. One has to wonder if that played any part in the increased reluctance of men to be nude together.
.
When we see old movies the men are often very chummy and touchy in ways which could easily be construed as 'gay' behavior nowadays but which was just guys being guys in a more innocent era. Life was a lot simpler when everyone was straight! ;-) (obligatory emoticon denoting sarcasm).
.
As sexuality became more of a public topic and the varieties of possible sexual orientation became evident, could this have cause an increase in some men's reluctance to be naked around other men?
"allnudist", your statement here is reprehensible, essentially blaming the changes at the YMCA on the Jews and the gays. You illustrate exactly what's plaguing the "old guard" in nudism by displaying not only a lack of tolerance, but a prejudicial bent which is thankfully being rejected by today's younger generation. The only thing that surprises me is that you didn't throw some blame on the African Americans, too, or the Latin community.
DeleteGreat observations Chet and Allnudist. Life did seem simpler once.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure what people mean when they long for "simpler" times. In the history of our country, we have endured slavery and a civil war, polio, world wars, Native American genocide, and so on. It seems nostalgic to think back to the 1960s when men and boys were required to swim nude at the YMCA, but we also had racism, civil rights struggles, Vietnam, assassinations, protests, The Cold War, Nixon, Communism, and so much more. The real reason for the ending of nude swimming at the YMCA was the women's equal rights movement, it's just a fact. I'm not blaming women for standing up for their rights, but rather I applaud it, and if the loss of those nude swims is part of the price, then I gladly pay it.
Delete