unisex swiming at school

[Sven35]

Hello all,

I have read that on 1960-1970 where were public schools in USA there boys had to swim nude but girls in swimsuits. The same I have heard about YMCA. Does anyone know more about it?

Sven

[Sven35]

Hello all,

I have read that on 1960-1970 where were public schools in USA there boys had to swim nude but girls in swimsuits. The same I have heard about YMCA. Does anyone know more about it?

Sven

[NakedGary]

Sven35

Not all schools, but on the west coast I would say that was common from 1940's until almost 1980. That also held true for some organizations like the Elks Lodges were totally nude in the wet areas, and clothing optional in the exercise and gym areas.


You can find information by using the forum search engine page @:

Link to forums search page/engine. (http://clothesfreeforums.com/eve/ubb.x/search)and typing YMCA, School nude swiming, etc.

Link to Nude YMCA Posts (http://clothesfreeforums.com/eve/forums?a=search&reqWords=YMCA&exactPhrase=&optWords=&notWords=&f=all&subjectOnly=N&afterDate=&beforeDate=&authorName=&exactAuthor=Y&sortType=1&ptyp_poll=Y&ptyp_album=Y&ptyp_msg=Y&ptyp_count=3&x_display_post_details=1&groupType=1&search=Search)

Link to School nudity swiming Posts (http://clothesfreeforums.com/eve/forums?a=search&reqWords=School%2BNudity&exactPhrase=&optWords=&notWords=&f=all&subjectOnly=N&afterDate=&beforeDate=&authorName=&exactAuthor=Y&sortType=1&ptyp_poll=Y&ptyp_album=Y&ptyp_msg=Y&ptyp_count=3&x_display_post_details=1&groupType=1&search=Search)

[Rabid_Clam]

Have never heard of this but think also that both girls and boys need to be nude, not just one. That poses a wrong ideal of nudity.

[luvnaturism]

Segregated swimming with boys nude and girls in suits during their respective use of the pool was common throughout much of the country where schools and YMCAs had indoor pools.

Looking back now and criticizing it as a wrong ideal of nudity is entirely beside the point. It wasn't done to establish or maintain some sort of ideal. It reflects a time in our history when there was a common understanding that boys, when swimming alone, had no need of clothing. That same common understanding agreed that girls needed special treatment; even then they dressed and showered in individual cubicals.

With respect to Gary's comment that it was common from the 1940s, I actually think it was pretty much the standard for men and boys swimming in privacy from much earlier than that--the chief difference being that swimming pools in schools weren't that common prior to the 1940s.

My father, born in 1906 and as prudish as anyone, had lots of stories about skinnydipping in farm creeks when he was growing up. Reflecting their own growing-up experiences, neither of my parents ever expressed a thought or concern when I was required to swim nude in school even though nude exposure in our home was something that never happened.

[David77]

I absolute refuse to believe anyone who reports that it was socially acceptable in the USA for boys to swim nude at the same time, and in the same pool, as girls wearing swim suits (or girls who were nude).

However, males, including myself, swam nude in pools, such as the YMCA pools, but no females were allowed to watch nor swim with nude male swimmers.

[justnude]

This has been discussed and posted elsewhere but, for the record....In the early 1970's all male freshmen at the University of MD were required to take swimming as part of their PE class. This was done nude so there might be upwards of 200 young men nude in the Cole Field House pool at any given time.

[luvnaturism]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by David77:
I absolute refuse to believe anyone who reports that it was socially acceptable in the USA for boys to swim nude at the same time, and in the same pool, as girls wearing swim suits (or girls who were nude). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm not sure what prompted this stern comment, but David is correct. There never has been a time when both sexes would be together in a school or Y pool when one sex was nude. Just wouldn't happen.

[Caipora]

For a long time, the American Public Health Association published pamphlets, printed by the Government Printing Office, on swimming pool sanitation. They recommended nude swimming for men and boys, and that pool management supply and sterilize swimming suits for women. It was the Official Recommendation.

That's how we did it in my junior high school in the 1970s.

Boys and girls were separate, obviously. I have read an account I consider reliable by a fellow whose swimming classes, at a YWCA near Boston, had women teachers in suits, and nude boys.

One explanation I've read is that concern about contagious diseases such as polio had an intensity though the 1950s that's hard to understand today. Besides boys having no need for modesty. Also, the "Nude Shower Required Before Swimming" signs that lingered long after suits became required indicate part of the sanitation problem which is fecal coliform bacteria: suits cover where washing is most needed.

Incidentally, the national YMCA council was urging local Ys to recruit more women members in the mid-1950s, when nude swimming was still the norm. My junior high managed it two decades later with equal numbers of boys and girls. It's just a matter of scheduling. Nude swimming for men didn't end when women became more common at the YMCA, the dates just don't match up. The reasons it ended must be something else.

- Caipora

[luvnaturism]

Calpora has added some information that I've never seen before, but it certainly makes sense. Thanks for an enlightening post.

[NakedGary]

This same subject has been posted before in the forums more than once. By using the search page you can find past posts and images on male nudity in swiming at the Y and Schools along with suited girls was not that uncommon many years ago.

Link to post forum posts on the subject of male swiming nudity and gals suited present, participating, or coaching nude mens teams. (http://clothesfreeforums.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7400016152/m/2480002853?r=7370056254#7370056254)

[David77]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">.. swiming at the Y and Schools along with suited girls was not that uncommon many years ago. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I do not believe it!

I have been swimming in pools all my life and I am over age 80 and never saw nor heard of such a "custom" (common or uncommon) in the USA.

It seems some places in Europe had such, and photographed.

The males in the photographs Gary has shown in the link above, seem to all have their forskin in tact. This would not be the case for Americans, as most (majority) of we males in the USA are circumcised.