# Men who do the "underwear towel dance" at the gym: why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2011, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072 "2011-04-12T10:24:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Inthewater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Inthewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inthewater)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/121 "2011-04-20T15:31:27Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I don’t think the purpose of segregating nude men from nude women is to prevent men from getting looked at. > > Basically if you have a penis, you get naked with the other penises. **It doesn’t matter what your sexual interests are**. What IS the purpose, then? Also, does this imply that any man being looked at by a woman would be perfectly acceptable, but not the other way around? Just to go further with this, who makes that decision? You? I’m guessing there are people that it may very gorram well matter to. Who’s to say that their opinion in this case is not a valid one? Interesting to see these thoughts, thanks for the discussion. I am sure there is no solution, but if it were just some guy or gal floating around the opposite locker room, it WOULD be thought of as wrong, in American culture anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/122 "2011-04-20T20:52:46Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Never seen this behavior. I go to the YMCA gym, not as often as I should perhaps. Been going for over 10 years. Could it be a regional thing? Oh I know you ! You’re the guy at the end of the bench, legs akimbo, completely relaxed, genitalia just brushing against the floor, reading David Pogue’s latest book. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/123 "2011-04-20T22:37:00Z")
> [@Inthewater](#): > > I think you are misunderstanding (and maybe attempting to make this a “poor men” argument from me? ). > > It’s not a matter of which sex is being seen by an opposite sex or persuation so much as the fact that they ARE. I’m not sure what this means. > [@](#): > > If I walked into the women’s locker room, it would be seen as a crime. Not because of what they would see, but because of what they assume I am there to see. Is that even a crime? It might get your membership revoked or something, but is that a crime? Disturbing the peace or something? > [@](#): > > As I said, it doesn’t bother me, just something I have though of before and was curious to get an honest answer from a proclaimed gay man. I answered your question. A men’s locker room is for men. Or, the ones with penises, generally speaking. Bathrooms & locker rooms aren’t designed for “people who like vaginas change in here, and people who like penises change over there.” Where are kids supposed to change clothes, before they’ve even figured out which they prefer? ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/124 "2011-04-21T01:39:27Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Where are kids supposed to change clothes, before they’ve even figured out which they prefer? In the gym I frequent, kids aged four or over are not allowed in the opposite-sex locker rooms. (I should mention that my gym has a separate “play area” where kids can spend their time while mom/dad is working out. I’ve never been in there, but I assume that there are bathrooms off of that play area.) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/125 "2011-04-21T02:59:49Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > In the gym I frequent, kids aged four or over are not allowed in the opposite-sex locker rooms… At a water park when I was in high school I once saw a man bring his daughter (6, 7?) into the mens changing room, then freak out and start telling people to cover up and saying something about “perverts exposing themselves” before storming out. Another time I was staying at a small mom & pop campground with my parents. The mens showers were communal. I was in the gift shop/camp store off the reception area when some woman stormed in with her (fully clothed) 11/12 year old son, and tore into the desk clerk with a rant about how there were “naked men” in there with her son, and how she never would’ve let her son go inside if she knew, etc. The boy’s hair was wet so I assumed he did take a shower, but the whole time she was standing there yelling he looked like wanted to crawl into a hole and die. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/126 "2011-04-21T03:55:34Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I answered your question. A men’s locker room is for men. Or, the ones with penises, generally speaking. Bathrooms & locker rooms aren’t designed for “people who like vaginas change in here, and people who like penises change over there.” If locker rooms are to be changed to “people who like penises” change together and “people who like vaginas” change together, I am so going to get my penis hating card right now. Where do I apply and what do I have to do to pass the test? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/127 "2011-04-21T23:13:25Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > In the gym I frequent, kids aged four or over are not allowed in the opposite-sex locker rooms. > > (I should mention that my gym has a separate “play area” where kids can spend their time while mom/dad is working out. I’ve never been in there, but I assume that there are bathrooms off of that play area.) My gym lets girls aged 7 and under in the men’s changing room, I think I’ve seen them once. Not to harp on about it, but I was struck but the ages of children in the men’s changing area in the Swedish swimming baths and sauna that I went to. A dad had his two kids with them, a boy and a girl, and I would have guessed they were probably about 9 or 10. No-one was bothered about it. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > At a water park when I was in high school I once saw a man bring his daughter (6, 7?) into the mens changing room, then freak out and start telling people to cover up and saying something about “perverts exposing themselves” before storming out. Another time I was staying at a small mom & pop campground with my parents. The mens showers were communal. I was in the gift shop/camp store off the reception area when some woman stormed in with her (fully clothed) 11/12 year old son, and tore into the desk clerk with a rant about how there were “naked men” in there with her son, and how she never would’ve let her son go inside if she knew, etc. The boy’s hair was wet so I assumed he did take a shower, but the whole time she was standing there yelling he looked like wanted to crawl into a hole and die. That woman was a tool. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/128 "2011-04-22T01:13:16Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > This is the most accurate statement ever made. When I was in Finland I used the pool at our hotel and I got changed in the locker room. It was different, to say the least. The locker rooms for both men and women were completely open and actually connected, so while they had signs indicating that women changed to the left and men changed to the right no one actually followed them, so there were nude people of every age and gender wandering about. It was a bit too much for me so I changed in a stall they had set up for that purpose (probably for the handful of prude Americans that they get every year) but it was surreal to see how nudity just did not matter to anyone there at all. I was talking with my sister-in-law one time about her visiting Iceland for the first time and her experience as an American being exposed to the Scandinavian public pools: until she got used to the idea that other women are getting naked, wandering around, washing themselves, then hopping into the pool with a bathing suit on, it was a little awkward. The only major difference between your experience and mine is that Icelanders are stricter with the gender separation of changing rooms. > [@UncleRojelio](#): > > This. One of the biggest disservices we have imposed on the American Youth is the ending of required showers after PE class. We are now raising an entire generation of uptight little prudes. > [@Trom](#): > > When did gang showers go away? I graduated high school in 2002 and we definitely still had them. It depends on the school. The middle school I went to had and still has gang showers, which nobody used. When I played volleyball in high school, we had shower booths, which I used on many an occasion. I would have used the gang showers if 1) there was enough time to do so, and 2) it weren’t completely socially verboten by the rest of the middle school girls. Seriously, I came in my first day of gym in middle school and was surprised that I was the ONLY PERSON WHO BROUGHT A TOWEL. > [@sevenwood](#): > > In the gym I frequent, kids aged four or over are not allowed in the opposite-sex locker rooms. > > (I should mention that my gym has a separate “play area” where kids can spend their time while mom/dad is working out. I’ve never been in there, but I assume that there are bathrooms off of that play area.) I’ve never experienced that in the States, but Icelandic pools follow the “if your child is in school, they can use their own gender’s changing rooms”. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/130 "2012-07-10T19:53:06Z")
This thread is relevant. I mean, I’m not a man, but I’ve started going to the Y for swimming laps in the mornings. I am, frankly, amazed at the amount of women who just walk around naked. I really will never get them, and I suppose they will never get me. When you walk into the locker room, you have to swing a right to get to the lockers. Immediately to your right are curtained changing rooms. You actually have to take a few steps to your left to get to the lockers. It is super convenient. I always change in the changing room. I would NEVER walk around naked unless someone stole my towel, I guess, and I would be humiliated in that case. I will walk back from the shower with just a towel wrapped around me, but it’s a pretty big towel, down to the middle of my thighs. I know it’s the way I was brought up, in a conservative household. But why does anyone care? I don’t understand the naked-walkers but I don’t expect them to change inside the changing rooms. I will continue to change in the changing room forever. Some of us are just more modest than others. I especially don’t get the ones who insist on changing RIGHT IN FRONT OF the only mirror in that section of the locker room. Really? Some of the rest of us might want to use it, too. So. No nudity for me. I don’t care how accepted it is. I probably wouldn’t do it in foreign climes either. I don’t intend to change that. Oh, I do get naked in the shower, and I ALWAYS wear my flip-flops. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/131 "2012-07-10T20:20:23Z")
Reported. That is one of the oddest spam posts I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/132 "2012-07-10T20:32:19Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I seriously doubt it. Are you an American woman? Would you be comfortable changing in a coed locker room? Plenty of American women wouldn’t be comfortable doing so, and not because they’d get aroused. Meh, I have spent enough time stuck in doctors offices and hospitals I just don’t give a shit any longer. I am 50, fat and your basic handicapped hausfrau. If you want to point and laugh, I will be smug knowing that all pretty flesh will too soon pass. _Everybody_ gets old. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/133 "2012-07-10T20:35:20Z")
I can’t even remember the last time I was told to take my clothes off and wait for the doctor. Do they still do that some places? I’m almost always fully clothed unless they want to x-ray something. Maybe it’s just me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/134 "2012-07-10T20:37:25Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I can’t even remember the last time I was told to take my clothes off and wait for the doctor. Do they still do that some places? I’m almost always fully clothed unless they want to x-ray something. > > Maybe it’s just me. ☹ No, me too. Even the gyn gives me a robe (and mine gives me warm comfy sock/slippers! they are awesome!) I think they have finally gotten the idea that it’s uncomfortable to sit around naked! ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/135 "2012-07-10T21:45:32Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > My theory is that this all dates back to high school. When my generation went to high school the gym shower was one big tiled room with a shower head jutting out from the wall every couple of feet. When your session in the gym ended, everyone headed for the showers at the same time. You either quickly got over any shyness you had about exposing yourself to other guys or you faced eternal torment. > > It’s been a looooong time since I’ve been in a high school locker room, but I understand that this style of gang shower no longer exists. It’s been about the same time since I was in high school, but that’s exactly what the girl’s showers were like, too, and showers were required. Also, boys swam nude in PE (same-sex classes back then, obviously), so I imagine they got over that shyness right away, or they learned to hide their discomfort. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/136 "2012-07-11T02:11:26Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > It’s been about the same time since I was in high school, but that’s exactly what the girl’s showers were like, too, and showers were required. Also, boys swam nude in PE (same-sex classes back then, obviously), so I imagine they got over that shyness right away, or they learned to hide their discomfort. I’ve always wondered about that. Don’t the penis and balls like, wave all over the place? Get between your legs? Honestly it’s because of balls alone that I am so glad I am a woman. I can’t imagine how men deal with them between their legs all the time. Oh and I went to high school in the early 90s and there was no nude co-showering and certainly no nude swimming. Granted, our school didn’t have a pool. I don’t think we ever showered after gym class, but I can’t really remember. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/137 "2012-07-11T04:34:38Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’ve always wondered about that. Don’t the penis and balls like, wave all over the place? Get between your legs? > > Honestly it’s because of balls alone that I am so glad I am a woman. I can’t imagine how men deal with them between their legs all the time. I have wondered that, too. A good swimsuit would get them out of the way. Your second comment reminds me of something Elaine said in a Seinfeld episode. I think it was the shrinkage one, and I agreed with her as I do you. Anyway, if it’s not cameras or thinking people are looking at you (and is that something that most dads teach their sons? Keep your eyes to yourself in the bathroom and locker room? Or am I missing some important point of male etiquette here?), is it cultural? It sounds like men don’t do that in Europe. What about Japan? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/138 "2012-07-11T05:12:34Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I have wondered that, too. A good swimsuit would get them out of the way… Unless you’re wearing one of those super expensive, high-tech Olympic swimsuits that are slicker then human skin you’re still more “aquadynamic” naked, even without shaving all your body hair off. It’s also alot more comfortable and hygenic (since it’s easier to just make everybody take a proper shower before going into the pool that it is to make everybody take a proper shower _and_ verify that their suits are clean). Let’s face it boys have a habit of just leaving their gym clothes in their lockers for extended periods of time. That was the case at my school (I admit I did leave clothes in my locker for a week or two, but I also skipped PE alot :o). We didn’t have a pool, but if we did alot of guys probally would’ve done the same with their swimsuits. I knew a boy to transfered from another school with a pool. He hated swim class because they all had to wear school issued speedos they had to turn back in after each class. I guess that’s one way to ensure the suits are clean (probally pretty expensive too). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/139 "2012-07-11T06:10:02Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’ve always wondered about that. Don’t the penis and balls like, wave all over the place? Get between your legs? > [@Pai325](#): > > I have wondered that, too. A good swimsuit would get them out of the way. I don’t swim nude, but cold water makes a penis shrink to minimum size and contracts the scrotum so it’s darned near flush to the skin and certainly not “waving all over the place”. And since they’re between our legs our whole lives, we’re pretty much used to coping. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/140 "2012-07-11T06:12:20Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’ve always wondered about that. Don’t the penis and balls like, wave all over the place? Get between your legs? > > Honestly it’s because of balls alone that I am so glad I am a woman. I can’t imagine how men deal with them between their legs all the time. If you’ve got to have a couple of sensitive glands dangling in a sack, that’s probably the best place for them. Imagine if they were attached under your chin… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072/141 "2012-07-11T07:22:50Z")
I’m amazed at how self-conscious some of you guys are. When I was in school, not only did we have mandatory showers after gym class, but we also had nude swimming class . . . just the boys; the girls wore suits, and swam in a different pool. Except for one really unfortunate kid, we all got used to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-who-do-the-underwear-towel-dance-at-the-gym-why/578072.md?page=8)