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Showers at the gym.


Jay__

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Jay,

I have noticed a lot of younger guys don't even use the lockeroom. They just workout and leave. The younger guys who do undress and shower do seem more modest than my age (33) or older.

 

Today I saw a guy who I will guess is mid 40s who was changing into workout clothes. He left his briefs on and then put on a jock and then gym shorts. I haven't seen that before. Usually a jock is worn next to the skin. He must have been shy about getting naked.

 

Mike

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This "trend" going on currently---FEARING being seen nude (or, as it would seem) reminds me of both a paranoia and a phobia now emerging in our society. Why, in some ways, it's like we're now starting to go "backward" in our thinking regarding sex and nudity. Today's media and/or culture promoting "bigger is better" MUST be playing a role in all this stuff. Men are becoming more and more self-conscious of being seen without their clothing in locker rooms. And now--the idea, the laughable concept! of showering with underwear still on is...(whoa! UNthinkable?) This kind of fear increasingly prevailing in locker room or gym shower is (now) getting out of control. From my reading, it's the younger men behaving this way more than those from my generation. This isn't good. These younger guys need some lessons in facing these situations without embarrassment. In many instances, the FATHERS should be speaking up and offering some much needed guidance to their sons so as to put them onto a proper pathway to healthy thinking about themselves:."Men don't have to have a big penis to 'be a real man'". (If only I had had a dad or some other a few other male influence in my life early-on to drill that notion into my head!)

 

Just last evening, there was a local news broadcast regarding regional colleges opening new apartments and student residences (school officials are choosing to no longer to call them "dorms" the reporter noted!). It seems

PRIVACY prevails in these new facilities...with students no longer having to share baths or showers...SINGLE rooms with no room mates, etc.. Boy! things have changed within my 50 plus years. Some of these innovations are great, don't get me wrong. Privacy is important. But for many of us, these stages of our young lives when we DID have opportunities to mix and mingle (even see one another semi-dressed or more) were really, in retrospect, some very beneficial life experiences. Or---they could be and could have been IF proper attitude about human anatomy prevailed.

 

I can understand the reluctance of guys dreading their penis sizes becoming known. I certainly had my own anxieties being a "late bloomer" during adolescence. I HATED gym showers and avoided them at all costs.

 

However....I see too now, in retrospect, that fostering a healthier attitude about our variances (NORMAL differences!) in human male anatomy and being allowed a more relaxed, almost a non-chalant attitude about seeing each other naked...well, taking this stance seems much better than merely running for cover. And now, currently, to the point it's getting more common to take a bath with ones clothes on! In my time, if only one fella did that, he would have been laughed to scorn! Now, it's being implied showering in underwear, not removing underwear before putting on jockstraps!)...all this behavior is being regarded as... "acceptable" ? Sorry. To me, this only signals something's going terribly awry in today's thinking. Doesn't anyone else here see what I'm talking about?

 

Just think about the sheer ABSURDITY of where human behavior is currently heading now over MORE penis consciousness! shocked.gif Incredible yet, understandable.

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Could not agree more with you Bender. Like you I was a late developer and avoided the showers at school, but have not been embarassed about being seen nude for the last 18 years. I do not know what current trends here in Australia are as I have not been in a normal locker room situation for some time..only go to nude swim sessions (male and female) so there are no such problems obvious there. Seems to be some type of unhealthy attitude to the human body coming in here. After all the unadorned body of either sex is the most beautiful creation there is on earth. Saw a documentary recently called "Outlawing Indecency" which looked at the moral majority attitude to sexuality and nudity and the ideas presented were frightening and obpressive if allowed to reach what they would like to have happen.

 

Terry

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I wonder if it is prudishness or if it is a fear of showing a not-so-perfect body, and I am not referring only to genital size. We are bombarded with images of men and women who have great bodies, but who constitute perhaps a fraction of the total population. My guess is that unconsciously or consciously we are comparing ourselves against them. When I was growing up back in the 50s and 60s there were was not so much flesh shown in the movies and on television. When there was some flesh shown, I remember that the guys did not look like Greek statutes, but more or less like ordinary men. They did not have the toned, sculpted bodies that many stars have today.

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I wonder if it is prudishness or if it is a fear of showing a not-so-perfect body, and I am not referring only to genital size. We are bombarded with images of men and women who have great bodies, but who constitute perhaps a fraction of the total population. My guess is that unconsciously or consciously we are comparing ourselves against them. When I was growing up back in the 50s and 60s there were was not so much flesh shown in the movies and on television. When there was some flesh shown, I remember that the guys did not look like Greek statutes, but more or less like ordinary men. They did not have the toned, sculpted bodies that many stars have today.

 

I don't know about the others I could care less about being naked because of my fat body it is all penis size. If I had average or bigger flacid size I would have absolutely no problems being naked in front of others.

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When I was young (15 years old), I was in a boarding school in the UK for two years, and we all had to shower naked along a wall where a row of shower heads hung. Usually, the water was hot and steamy, so the steam helped provide some privacy, but during mid-summer, that's not the case. I was initially embarrassed to shower naked, especially with my size, but we all just did it anyway, and with time, it became second-nature. Guess it just takes some getting used to. It was also fun being able to chat casually with friends while taking a shower!

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I agree that the pendulum swing of morality has swung so far to the right that it will be generations to unscrew the heads of today's young people.It's either absolutely no supervision, running wild in the streets or some twisted religious fanaticism. But let me also make 2 points. 1.Young guys are probably not completely disrobing in gym shower/public places because they are afraid of being hit on/leered at by "fags". Take it or leave it, i'm gay too but it doesn't change the facts. 2. At the same time as our country is devolving back into the dark ages and trying to legislate the Bush/Rove/Falwell morality, we are constantly bombarded by the images and messages of pimps, hoes, bling bling, big dogg, tits & ass, more, more ,more, and right now ,damn it. I think kids are MORE intimidated about their bodies/appearances/clothes whether adequate or not than ever in our history. If your ideal vision of success is being a pimp with a harem of hoes you can't be seen packin a smallie, or skinny, or fat, or poor, ....stupid, and talentless,...yes.

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Military service is mandatory for all youths in Switzerland. There you have to shower naked with your military buddies every day.

 

I believe that's a reason why you will see practically all the men at the gyms going to the shower after the work-out and of course shower naked.

 

I have seen men getting hard in gym showers on several occasions. It even happens to me now and then. That's never a big deal and I can't recall that anyone ever would have been offended by it.

 

As for the US taking a right swing politically. So has Switzerland. Never in the history of our country did we have a more right government than since a couple of years. But that doesn't mean people will start to hate or despise gays again.

 

Jason Bond

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I think that it's homophobia. I've heard many men mention this new modesty in dressing rooms.

I have been in a men's restroom where there will be urinals un-occupied, but men will go into the stalls and close the door and yes they are pissing. I restroom in a theatre that attend to has four urinals. Recently, modesty panels were installed between them. An installation of this kind has to be fairly expensive and wouldmn't have been installed unless there was a demand for them.

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It's not homophobia its modesty. Stop equating modesty with homophobia. If i am peeing and don't want a girl to see me pee am i heterophobic?No, so why am i homophobic because i don't want a man to?

 

I agree with that, I dont mind anyone seeing me nude but I dont want to be looked at if I am having a piss or shit. Some things are private blush.gif

 

Robin

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I thought this was about showers at the gym. Not urinals or pissing or shitting. Most people (I like to think) do not want to be seen or see anyone else do their bathroom business. I know there are fetishes for that stuff but that's not what we're discussing here I thought. Public showering has been as commonplace as driving a car since the military, public schools, YMCA, camping, etc. and society as we know it has been functioning. There HAS been a shift in morality and modesty. There IS a fear of being a victim of or of being perceived as gay. I not sure I agree that young people are more tolerant to gay people now. In fact I see quite the opposite every day. Even the so called "tolerant" people think gay people are fine as long as they are "in their place" like blacks in the old days (I know I'm gonna hear it about that one, so no offense intended) like funny on TV in Will & Grace or Queer Eye.., or to watch in parades, but not married in the church for gosh sakes, or nakedin the gym, that's a little too real for folks these days. Even the chance that somebody MIGHT be is reason enough to keep your clothes on.

And the pressure for young people to be cool, and pretty, and hip, and rich, and hung, and straight, and have great bodies, way supercedes being smart, or talented, or tolerant, or generous, or caring, or forgiving, or openminded. One last thing, I think most straight guys at the gym KNOW that the chance of there being gay guys showering next to them is pretty high and they can either deal with it or shower at home. And I see plenty of straight guys checking other people out as much as gay guys. it's a natural curiosity. Kids are still finding themselves. Hell, I'M still finding myself. We all just need cut each other some slack.

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OK, OK, enough already! Obviously this subject of being naked in a locker room is my bete-noir on this site and I am going to post a lot on the subject, so get used to it. Sorry if this turns out to be a long post but this really does get to me. OK here we go:

 

Firstly, it is PERFECTLY NORMAL to be naked in a locker room, let’s get that out of the way to start with.

I for one, never cover up to walk to and from the showers, whether the locker is close to them or at the other end of the room. This is not showing off!! This is me being naked that’s all, nothing more!

 

I can’t get my head around the fact that in these, supposedly, enlightened days there are still guys who have issues with being naked in a men only locker room. OK, so let’s try to look at some of the reasons according to what I have read on this site (in no particular order)

 

1 Homophobia

So what you are basically saying there is "I don’t want some faggot looking at my cock” News for you. Being gay is not catching, and do you honestly think that you are so good looking that I am going to leap on you? Maybe, just maybe you are good-looking (in my eyes), but more than likely you’re not, so you can get down off that pedestal right now sunshine!

 

2 Size Issues

The only "ammunition" these people have against you is the fact that you let things get to you, not them YOU. As we all know, bullies (verbal or physical) are cowards who feed off the insecurities of others (and there own), if you don’t give them fuel they will very quickly get bored.

 

3 Body Image

I don’t have a “perfect body” far from it and anyway how the hell do you know what my vision of a perfect body is anyway!!!! You, yes you reading this right now, may posses my idea of the perfect body. Ever thought of it that way?

 

 

I am talking here from a European point of view so I can’t say what an American locker room is like, but if you are worried that people are going to look at you, I will tell you what people look at.

 

The worst ones of all are those guys who work-out, get real sweaty and then DON’T shower. That is just plan nasty, smelly and wrong!

 

Then we have the guys who shower in their underwear! You look pathetic and draw far more attention to yourselves than your cock (big or small) ever would.

 

Guys having great difficulty keeping there balance while trying to change under a towel. PLEASE! Come on guys, that practice should be as dead as a dodo.

 

A lot of the worry seems to be that people thinking “other guys are going to look at me”. Where does this damn high opinion of yourselves come from that you think I am going to waste my time and effort looking at you!

 

I can imagine some of the replies to this post (being presumptuous enough think people will reply) “Ah, its OK for you to say these things because you have a bigger flaccid cock than me” Maybe I do, but do you seriously imagine that my life revolves around that? “I don’t shower in public because my friends will talk about me” Sticks and stones…… remember that one?

 

I personally do get looked at in the showers, not because of my cock size (well maybe I don’t know) but because of the fact that usually, apart from my head, eyebrows and eye lashes I shave my entire body (Why? Because I like it) I have even had guys ask me about it “how often do you do it”, “doesn’t it irritate you when it grows back” etc etc. Do I care that they are looking? No way. Do I mind them asking me about it? Of course not! Do I answer their questions? Yes I do.

 

Our differences and variety are what make men special. We are all unique. Accept that NOW guys and you will begin to wonder what all the fuss has been about.

 

I think there will be a continuation to this posting but right now I am so angry I cant even think straight.

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You can be upset all you want but it does not change the fact that I would never ever be naked in a locker room. It is not homophobia at all it is not my horrible body. Nope it is all penis size. If I as 4+ flacid sure I would have no problems what so ever being naked in a locker room. To be perfectly honest if I was 5+ flacid I would sure as hell strut my shit when ever I got a chance. You may be fine with your body and that is cool as hell but some of us are not and any rant or words will not change that fact.

 

The response won't be you have a bigger flacid size than me it will be you are bigger flacid than many here hard.

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