So…I don’t know exactly how she found out, but my wife stumbled on the fact that at Lane Tech back in the day, students in swim classes would have to swim in the nude.
Uhhh…why??? And was this limited to just Lane Tech, or did they do that at other schools too?
It used to be commonplace before physical education became co-ed.
Quite so, and likely the real reason white men in Mississippi feared integrating the schools. 
I’m told it was the rule in Chicago Public Schools until the early 70s or so.
As for why, it probably had to do with the logistical problems of seeing that all students had suits and that they were kept dry, vermin-, and mildew-free from day to day. Nylon hadn’t been invented, nor did students carry backpacks, when pools were first installed in Chicago high schools.
Why swim in the nude? A better question is, why would anyone wear clothing to swim?..TRM (die hard nudist, especially at the beach) (not Chicago beaches, alas)
Dunno what waters you swim in, but aren’t you in the least bit concerned about <ahem> catching a fish with your worm?
I swim in the water of Atlantic beaches all the time and I’m not too worried about sharks, but swimming nude with the bits dangling would terrify me. However remote the possibility may be, I don’t want any barracudas or the like even seeing my junk and getting any ideas! :eek: (At that point, a shark attack would have a certain appeal.)
Aside from the probably irrational fears, the netting on swim trunks can keep out things like sand, seaweed (which can cause irritation), and jellyfish, etc. re-:eek:
Growing up, 50s-60s, the YMCAs in CT at least were always nude swimming. You had to have a doctor’s note to wear trunks or even a swimming cap.
My dad says his high school swimming was done in the nude, back in the 50’s. My school didn’t have a pool, but I’m sure we would have worn swimsuits in the 80’s.
flaccid length doesn’t or shouldn’t matter.
Because all the gym instructors were sex fiends?
Or was it an attempt to emulate the Greek ideal of the pure athlete?
The little pond we swim in used to be a well-kept secret and on one single hot and humid night a summer we’d close the bars down and then take a late-night swim au naturale. Our little ritual.
Actually lost a pair of friends doing that. Guess they weren’t quite as adventuresome and had second thoughts about it the next morning. Visiting the bars first was part of the equation but not a good idea ultimately.
Those days are over with for a number of reasons:
The place is closed down now at dark. Co-opted by the city.
Our natural bathing suits are “mildewy” now and may cause offense to kids raised on the perfect bodies of rock stars.
After midnight it’s possible that we could fall asleep midstroke and drown.
Sand.
Snort
Obscure as it may seem, there have actually beenprevious threads on this topic.
In one it was pointed out that for a large group of students swimming in the nude was actually more hygienic than swimming bathing suits (that had been rarely washed and kept in lockers). There are pics of nude swimming classes from the 1950s and before online, very easy google away.
Yes, and only boys swam nude. Girls wore swimsuits (& bathing caps). Under no circumstances* would there be any girls or women (even female teachers) present while the boys were swimming. YMCAs, men’s athletic clubs, college pools were usually “nude only”, again with no women present. Colleges often has seperate athletic facilites for men & women (with the mens being better & the women sometimes forced to use a local YWCA). Even after places like the YMCA there were often scheduled “Men’s Hours” where suits were optional.
*The only time my father ever remembers a woman being present was when one boy slipped on the diving board & hit his head. The school nurse was sent for while the boys were still there. The coach just had them stand in the shallow area of the pool.
Interesting that the gender whose sexual parts are the most visible, and to my thought more vulnerable to injury, would be the group that swam nude. What would that be all about?
Social conditioning that results in females being more modest & demanding more privacy than males. Same reason why the girls’ lockerroom at my HS (which didn’t have a pool) had individual stalls while the boys’ lockerroom just had one big group shower. Not that anybody actually used either set of showers after class. Or while fat men are free to go topless when prepubescent girls aren’t.
As for the vulnerablity to injury; it’s a swim class, not a contact sport. Unless you’re wearing a jock & cup under it a swimsuit doesn’t provide any actual protection (well, maybe from sunburn).
I entered Loyola Academy in 1962. Nude was the order of the day.
Maybe the priests liked it (I know, that was bad).
Seriously, the only problem with nude swimming, at least for me, was chafed genitalia. The water wasn’t deep enough.
I remember my dad telling a story of going to a health club attached to a hotel in the 1960’s while on a business trip. He wanted a quick swim, so he stripped down and headed off to the pool naked, as he’d done in school and in other clubs that he’d gone to. However, before he dove in he was (luckily) stopped by an attendant who told him that one side of the pool was a glass window that let the patrons of the hotel bar see in … .
Quite so. White penises would typically run 4"-8". Black penises, otoh, would have been (give or take 2") around half a foot! A whole half a foot!
Swim classes at our local YMCA back in the 50s were also nude
From the floor.
Punchline of an old joke
I can’t believe he would go naked in the first place… glass window or not.
I don’t know if that was commonplace but that certainly seems odd to me. At least now they wear speedos.