I hadn't planned on posting again this week but I need your guys' input on a very serious debate Spike and I have going on right now.
Do you get naked in the communal shower?
I ask this because at the aquatic center where I spend at least 3-4 hours of my life aqua slogging every week they only have communal showers in the locker rooms. Spike thinks I'm weird because I do not get naked when I rinse off in said communal showers after my slogging. (I leave my suit on.) I think he is weird. What say you?I've talked about my aversion to naked people before, my old gym in Lansing being the capital of naked here in the mid-Michigan area with their only redeeming quality being, at least they had shower stalls where I could get naked in peace without being visually accosted by all the other naked people in range. It's not that I'm insecure with my body or anything, it's just that if I wanted all that nakedness in my life I'd join a nudist colony. Or become an extra on a porn set. You see, I'm just not "in" to letting it all hang out like that and would rather avoid those that are. (Ok there was that one time at Fantasy Fest in my early 20's but that was a long time ago...) Am I really so weird for feeling this way? Should I be frolicking around the locker rooms sporting only the freckles the angels* graced me with?
*My grandma always told me that my freckles were angel kisses. Gotta love the lies you're told as a child. It's skin cancer just waiting to happen grandma!!!
69 comments:
Ha-great post! I most certainly DO NOT get naked in the communal showers. Luckily, my gym has stalls with doors AND curtains, so all is right with the world. At least in the showers. It drives me bat-shit crazy that people get naked in the hot tub and sauna, too. So NOT what I want to see, thankyouverymuch.
Spike is not weird. I say...maybe its the fact that I'm in the military but I've never been to a gym that doesn't have communal showers. However, at one assignment I heard that the females had individual stalls. So maybe its a guy thing.
It seems like the older that men get, the more apt they are to getting naked in locker rooms. Gotta love going to the locker room at the gym to take a leak and have an old dude with nuts swinging just start talking to you. Extra points if they talk to you while propping one of their legs up on the bench! Yuck!
Nope. I do not. Most definitely not. There's always some woman staring at me. Never a younger woman. Somehow it's always a middle-aged one that's staring at my bum/boobs or body part I won't mention in this comment section. And yes, I know, I'm Dutch: I'm supposed to be flashing my hardware. ;)
You are not weird for not wanting to but that being said I have no issue with being naked in a communal shower. I'm there to get clean not check out the 'scenery'.
The only problem I run into is when I am in there for a little longer than others because I'm eating almond butter right out of the jar. Freaks the other guys out.
Given the choice I will take a stall. But I am not vehemently opposed to the communal shower. Just please don't talk to me. Especially about body parts. Yours or mine. EVER.
Cover up people..... I don't want to see that!!
According to the great philosopher, Seinfeld, there is "good" naked and "bad" naked. Because the YMCA that I go to is ancient, so are all of their patrons......except for me.
Let's just say that there is TONS of bad naked and I shower before and after the pool @ home so that I do not have to witness the horror of the "bad" naked strewn all over the place.
.....I'm scarred for life....
I suggest checking out the Towelstrong movement :) http://enjoytheridetri.blogspot.com/2011/01/towelstrong.html
I've got no problem stripping down in the shower as long as there is no linger or wandering eyes. Get in, get clean, get out.
Might be a guy thing though. I see lots of women leave the pool in their bathing suits (with shorts on over top).
I hate locker rooms. The title of your post made me laugh though after I read about that naked duathlon in the most recent Runner's World this morning. My favorite line was, "sports bras were invented for a reason." :)
I tend to be quite conservative myself and DO NOT like to be naked around other people, even in a shower :) You're not weird
I don't have a problem with being naked myself, but in communal showers? no gracias. The way I think about it is that I don't want to see any of THEM naked, so they probably don't want to see ME naked. I'm staying clothed for them, really.
NO! Communal shower = bathing suit for sure. I only get naked when there are at least semi-separate stalls. Ew.
Naked is ok- just as long as you aren't sharing the soap...
There are two types of people who are afraid of the gym naked. The first type is of such a temperament that they only shower at home. I get it, you don't see turtles without shells (but sometimes you find shells without turtles). The second--and this group is by far the most baffling--is the group that will 'shower' with their suit still on. Really?!?! Shower with your suit still on!
That said. Perhaps it is my public education talking, but we always had to shower after gym class. Whereas, from a very close source I am informed that some females would not in fact shower after gym class and would therefore either: 1) not get sweaty at all (wonder why we have a slight obesity problem with our kids); and 2) throw on a bottle of Britney Spears Fantasy and just let the nasty ferment all day long.
I definitely wear my suit when showering in public ....no nakedness here!
Great post.
I shower at the gym sometimes as there are times when I have no other choice. Despite having similar feelings as you, I do get naked. Here's my rationale: if you're showering in such a scenario, you just have to get naked; either you shower and go all the way or you walk out with your stink - there are no gray lines.
Now, I will say this. My rationale applies only to men. I know women have different types of etiquette about certain things that pertain to public bathrooms and such, so I won't project my beliefs onto the other gender.
Perhaps, I should come down on you on another point. You know that women walking around naked at the gym showers fuels men's fantasies, so if you want to be a destroyer of such fantasies, continue with your non-nakedness.
Communal showers don't bother me. I get in, shower, and get out. I use a towel to and from the shower because I am sure people don't want to see all my action just like I don't want to see theirs.
I wonder if this is a bit of a gender divider. I think guys are much more likely to strip down in the communal shower and women are generally a little more conservative about putting it all out there.
As a woman, I like a good shower stall:)
If you’re swimming (or aqua-slogging) in the pool I say rinsing off in the shower with your suit on is acceptable.
If you’re running on the treadmill, lifting weights or swimming in some non-chlorinated water; you’ve got to drop ‘em and scrub away! My gym has stalls (thank goodness) and everyday at lunch after my run I have to shower…if it were a community shower I’d have to bear it (pun intended) and drop em’
At my local pool, you have to go through the communal showers to get from the locker room to the pool deck so the chance of seeing naked ladies in the communal shower is 100% both when heading out to the pool and coming back to the locker room. And when in Rome...
The locker room itself is one big open area with no actual lockers, so even without showering there is a whole lot of naked. The only time is freaks me out is when moms bring their little boys into the women's locker room before and after swim lessons.
Am I going to be the only female to admit to showering naked? I hope not! I'm not super confident with my body or anything but getting clean is my priority and post-swim the only way to get clean (for me) is to get my suit off. And while I agree that some bodies are less easy to look at...even the wrinkly, pudgy, and scarred ones were at the gym to get healthier so perhaps everyone can be a little forgiving of themselves and others traipsing around in their birthday suits...?
as a germophobe, i do not even like to go barefoot in a communal or even public shower facilities. gross. much less be naked in one! i am with you. keep your suit on! :)
ha, love this post. I do a little 1/2 and 1/2. I start in the communal shower with my suit on so I can rinse out the chlorine and then I take it off to shower. Sounds like I might be one of the loner females who does this Either way, I do not think it's weird that you leave your suit on. Personal preference - and if Spike wants to let it all hang out after slogging, God bless him! :)
I wouldn't get naked. I'm very shy when it comes to my body!
I would walk naked down the street if it was legal so I'm probably not the right person to comment on this post. I would def go naked in a communal shower and I wouldn't even think twice about it or feel uncomfortable. I would want others to do whatever they are comfortable with so if that means wearing a bathing suit then that's what they shld do. I don't know why I feel so "free" my sister is polar opposite. I dunno. I have no problem with being naked or other people's nakedness! By the way, this is Bethany commenting, NOT ryan! You'd never hear these words out of him!!
thankfully my gyms have had private stalls. i'm completely fine w/ nakedness but i don't need to see anyone washing their crotch.
At the gym? No big whoop. Outdoors after a mud run? I don't think so. This discussion does lead to other venues... the sauna? Towel time!
I have never had a problem showering with others...even with eyes glaring I just figure it's part of the whole "gym" experience.
I've often wondered if the the chicks that DON'T take off their suits are really just trying to hide the fact that they're not a natural born Blonde, Brunette, or Redhead.
Just Sayin......
My current gym has two enormous totally private bathrooms with a shower stall and changing bench, so there's no chance I will ever see anyone naked (or be seen). My gym bathrooms are better than my bathroom at home!
My old gym...no communal showers, but the locker room area was a fleshfest. I just kept my eyes averted and did my best to keep a towel strategically placed at all times.
I see both sides. We had to take showers after gym class in HS (all boys HS even!) I have never had a problem with bearing all to clean up, although I certainly can understand why others do!
On the other hand showering with your suit on serves 2 purposes. 1) feeling of safety and security from wandering eyes AND 2) it helps to rinse out the chlorine from your pool activities; chlorine that can break down the fibers of your suit over time!
I've gone both ways and honestly it depends on the quality of the shower facility (stalls or not, curtains, etc.) and the clientele using the facilities.
I personally wait until I get home to shower (our pool is down the street from my house - during the summer!). I don't want to show off too much skin than I already have.
What a great post.
Kudos to you for taking on a topic like this. I take any and every opportunity to get naked regardless of where I am. In situations like a gym communal shower however, I have found solace in invoicing the folks who look for too long. A peep is free…but more than that…you gotta’ pay.
my college swim team was known around the athletic conference for being the only team that didn't get naked in communal showers. hilarious, i know.
that being said, i'm way fine with buffing it up in public showers. no shame here.
While I prefer to take a stall or a private shower, I don't have a problem with getting naked in a communal shower. From the comments it seems like I'm in the minority, though.
Dont' think I could do it. I'd definatley leave my suit on.
I'm not big on locker room nudity - but my husband says that it's like a nudest colony in most male locker rooms!
It was a bit scarring for my kids the first time they accompanied him into his gym locker room!
is that picture from Burning Man? haha
I am totally with you - before going to the gym to work out or swim, I change at my office so that I don't have to use the locker room. I refuse to take a shower in the locker room, I'm just not a fan of that kind of thing. I definitely would wear my suit in the shower if I did have to take one, especially if it was communal! haha
nope i totally agree with you, luckily my gym has shower stalls, but for an ultimate frisbee tournament in hawaii we were camping and only had communal showers.
I tried to wash off in a swimsuit, but by day 2 was totally grimy and caked in dirt so i gave up and just stripped down to take the fastest shower of my life
Don't know that I could do it! I never have, and gotta admit that I was really surprised when my husband said that he does. Nobody needs to see the stretch marks and other terrible things that mother nature has done to my body. Like someone before me said, "I'm really doing it for everyone else's sake". Ha!
Seems like, no surprise, for the most part the issue is divided boys and girls.
I don't belong to a gym so I don't deal with this issue. But I'm pretty sure I'd be one of the girls in my suit! But then again, when I swim, my only option is to rinse off in the shower by the pool. So I'm not doing it to really get clean, I'm just doing it to rinse off. And my suit needs rinsing!
Once again you posted a great issue to get people talking!
Oh, man, a great topic! For years I was anti naked, mostly because I felt weird about my body, but then I moved to Spain where people go to the beach naked and talk to you desnuda for like 45 minutes in the gym locker room. And you know what? It's liberating and it's healthy and it's good to see real people's naked bodies: fat people, skinny people, grandmothers, you name it. Because after a while it just becomes normal. Now when I go home I have to really keep my Euro ways under wraps at the gym!
i am personally just not down with looking at other women. i know we all have the same parts, blah blah blah, but i don't want it thrusted into my face thanks!
i would def not communal shower naked. i am shy/conservative enough to not even walk thru the gym locker room without at least bra/panties on. i do not know how these other women just walk around nude!!!
(first of all, if you post about nekkid-ness, I come out of hiding.)
I think you don't want to shower with all those saggy ladies because they might just get jealous pangs from your awesome abs.
And dying of jealous pangs is not very pleasant, so I hear.
You definitely won't catch me naked in any kind of communal shower setting. And I would prefer the other ladies keeping their bits covered too. I think maybe it's a man thing?
I think this is a generational thing. Old women are all OVER the nakedness at my YMCA.
Younger women, not so much. I usually change quick and can shower in the individual shower stall if needed.
Now across the hall, the Hubz says the guys shower is ONLY communal! How weird?!
So apparently there is a gender difference there too.
I don't like it, but if forced to use an open air shower area, I will . . . quickly . . . I live in the south, and you've got to shower and dry off properly otherwise you'll be doing more embarrassing things, like standing in line at the drugstore with jock itch medicine!
Your posts are the best!
I wear my suit in the shower until just before I get out- then I take it off so I can rinse it.
I am not embarrassed, I just don't want to see people prancing around with their stuff hanging out!
And it's usually the old ladies wandering around naked!!
Well, given the choice I would choose a stall, but if there are only communal showers, then yes - I'll get naked - it's a shower! I do not however walk around the locker room naked, or stand there and rub my entire body down with lotion while there are lots of people - that's just kind of creepy :)
You're not weird. There's a lot of exhibitionists at my gym. Everybody is different, I guess. I haven't used a communal shower since high school. Luckily, my gym has separate stalls.
It's the horrors of middle school all over again! I didn't want to get naked with a bunch of girls then and I wouldn't want to do it now. Ick. It's not even really about the naked part as it is about the bathing. I don't want to stand in the dirty run off water from other bodies. ick. ick. ick.
Definitely not weird. I am not prancing around naked anywhere. I don't even think my own Mom has seen me naked since I was 16..and that was only bc I got in a car accident, I dislocated my shoulder and couldn't do anything on my own. It was embarassing even then.
I absolutely would not be prancing around some gym shower w/ a bunch of other nakey ladies. no way jose.
Getting clean is a priority! You can't get totally clean with your suit on...
That being said, there IS a way to be naked in the shower/locker room while maintaining a modicum of modesty.
Either a) wrap your towel around yourself, then slide your suit off from under it (putting your underwear back on in a similar manner when you're done showering).
or b) making sure you keep your towel CLOSE at hand, get undressed and IMMEDIATELY wrap the towel around you.
Walk to the shower, put your towel on the hook CLOSEST to the showerhead that you choose. Keep your eyes forward, wash, rinse and get out. Don't linger.
One thing I can't stand is the old men who walk around with their towels in-hand, standing around naked, talking to each other (or god forbid trying to strike-up conversation with you) while playing with/scratching their junk. And the older they get, the less shame they seem to have about it whether in the locker next to you, the sauna or whirlpool. Grrr...
O Dear! I would have a hard time in a communal shower.. You are NOT werid.
I think males look at it differently.
I would so leave my suit on and my hubs would harass me later about it.
There's an article in the latest Runner's World that takes this conversation a bit further... There's a duathlon in Pennsylvania called the "Bare Hare." Everyone participates naked. It's quite interesting. I swore I would never strip down for a communal shower. But running a race naked?? I'm now open to the possibility.... You should read it.
PS - it's written by a female.
Wow, wow, wow! Such a debate and predicament! I am of the camp that don't prefer public showering but am not adverse to those that do. But if i ever find myself in a situation where I HAVE TO shower in public, i would go au natural...no sense in wearing a bathing suit to shower!
My two cents =)
I don't mind taking the swimsuit off but most of the time I don't. It really depends on who is in the shower and if they have stalls/curtains etc. But if I go to the sauna I am always naked - that said I having been in the sauna since I left Germany. I have no idea what the sauna rules are here in America.
That's a tough call, I'd like to think I don't have any issue with my body and sharing a communal shower, buuuuuuuuuuuuut I don't know if I want to see everyone's tramp stamp while I'm conditioning my hair.
I have nothing nobody has not seen. Shower naked, yes. In and out. What't the big deal?
Ha Ha - super post. Are you kidding me, not even when I'm at my goal weight, which is rare these days. Seriously, I don't want to flaunt it (and I'm not fat), and I think many who do, MOST definitely should NOT. Come on, even if you have a super body, I don't really want to see it naked. and seriously, how rare is "the great body" anyway?
It's a NO for me, but I'm a Southern Belle so that figures, right?
I'm totally fine with the nudity in the communal showers. I just keep my head down, do my business and get out...what really icks me out are when people then walk around the locker room completely naked without any sense of modesty...at least put a towel around the waist, you know? The worst was when I was sitting in sauna (naked but with a towel on) and this guy comes in, buck naked, and starts doing stretches and calisthenics. Really dude? REALLY? I almost threw up a little in my mouth that day...
BHAHAHAH! I used to shower in my swimsuit and avoid all the naked ladies!!!
These stories are hilarious!
PS: only running the half this weekend...and slowly:)
I have no problem getting naked in the locker room, communal showers are no biggie. I mean, I'm not there to check out the other women, I assume they aren't there to check me out either. If they are, who cares?
Oh my gosh, I thought communal showers were only horrid things of High School locker rooms?! Those still exist?! Ack!
I just couldn't do it--I'm too modest!
OMG, fantastic post, very timely too as I am preparing for my hot yoga class tomorrow(right after work_ and I have decided to wear my spandex shorts and bra under my workclothes to avoid the nudity. When people strip around me I have no idea where to look!
Nope, not for me!! That picture is hilarious. I'll get in a single stall naked at the gym but definitely not a communal shower. I may show short glimpses of my post 3 children body but believe me they are SHORT...Towel falls on accident and that is it. :)
You realize now that anyone searching for redhead porn is going to get kicked to your site in the Google results. ;-)
Hahahha. And, I dunno. I think that if I had to take a really fast shower b/c I was smelly, I'd go nekkid.
Gender difference ... the men's locker room at my YMCA is communal showers, while the women's is individual shower stalls with curtains. My wife said there is still many women who walk around naked, but a least there is more privacy in the shower.
Since I grew-up swimming at the Y, no big deal for me. The only embarrassing time was when I was showering and the husband of a lady I work with and her two sons entered the showers also. The four of us standing there buck naked.
No problem with nudity in the showers and locker room. I strip naked and walk naked to the shower before swimming. No swimsuit until I have showered with soap. After swim the suit comes off and I shower in the nude. My towel is for drying me, not covering me up. It is much easier to put on underwear from nude without a towel. When I was on a swim team we all went nude in the locker and shower room.
Post a Comment