# Nude swimming lessons at the Y?! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 31, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279 "2009-05-31T19:54:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/21 "2009-06-01T08:17:09Z")
Nude swimming was the norm for men and boys for thousands of years. The men’s swimsuit wasn’t invented until the 19th century, but even then was used only when swimming in mixed company. It has only been since the 1960s that swimsuit wearing has predominated in even all-male settings. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/22 "2009-06-01T08:30:04Z")
Yeah I’ve heard of it into the 70s. We didn’t have a pool at our school but others did this. But then again we had to take showers at school (that’s another thread) I think it was somewhat more common to swim naked in outdoor areas, like lakes, so this was seen as an extention. You always here jokes on TV shows from the 50s and 60s where guys swim with no suits. So it was there. I think part of it is also guys will dare each other. I recall when I was the night manager at a hotel, we had a pool outside and I got there at 10:30pm and I pick up the phone and a near hysterical woman is yelling “AH, there’s naked men in the pool.” I’m like “great way to start my shift.” So I go down to the pool and there are 4 BOYS about 10 years old and I they’re in the water and I’m like “Are you naked in there.” They’re half smiling and say “No,” I reply, “then why are you’re swimsuits on the chairs.” I smiled at them and told them to put their trunks on if they want to swim at the pool. Now you just know one of the boys dared the others to swim naked. So you know guys even young ones will do this. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2009, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/23 "2009-06-01T11:03:33Z")
For the record: our swimming teacher was not nude, just the kids. Except once, when he had trouble explaining how to do something, so he just stripped and dove in. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/24 "2009-06-01T14:10:26Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > A nude gym class sounds painful — too much flippy floppy, you know? Only swimming lessons were in the nude. It’s not schools used to have boys playing basketball or wrestling naked (now _that’s_ homoerotic). ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/25 "2009-06-01T14:12:39Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Schools used to do it too. It simply wasn’t though necessary for males to wear bathing suits when no females were present. Women & girls were supposed to be modest, men & boys weren’t supposed to give a damn if someone saw them naked. There were hygienic reasons as well; swimsuits used to be made of wool and pool filters couldn’t handle that. No dealing with wet suits left in lockers or people wearing dirty suits in the pool. Pre-pool showering used to be enforced more as well. According to my father nobody (boys, teachers, or parents) thought it was a big deal. My dad said they did the nekkid swimming at Lane Tech high school back in the 40s. That’s just how it was done. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/26 "2009-06-01T14:18:22Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Why? Because it’ll devolve into an aquatic fuckfest? Because it’ll turn them into fags? > > You say you don’t want to come off as prudish, but then you say such silly, silly things like this. Well, is it prudish to think it’s weird for women to also be nude for swimming? if so, what’s the difference, now that we’re culturally enlightened enough to know that the whole women are more modest thing is bunk? ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/27 "2009-06-01T14:46:14Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Well, is it prudish to think it’s weird for women to also be nude for swimming? if so, what’s the difference, now that we’re culturally enlightened enough to know that the whole women are more modest thing is bunk? If the ladies want to swim naked, more power to them, I say. To the poster who asked me to “dial back the crazy”: I’m sorry, but I just don’t think that nude swimming classes, or naked people in general, are that wacky or potentially harmful … no matter how many _ominous italics and ellipses_ you use. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/28 "2009-06-01T14:50:21Z")
Howabout if you got an erection? (You know everyone here is wondering about that, but afraid to ask) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/29 "2009-06-01T14:54:41Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Howabout if you got an erection? (You know everyone here is wondering about that, but afraid to ask) I think the unheated pool would at least reduce that problem. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/30 "2009-06-01T14:55:06Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > If the ladies want to swim naked, more power to them, I say. Okay. I guess I don’t think swimming nude is awful. Just…odd, I s’pose. > [@joebuck20](#): > > Howabout if you got an erection? (You know everyone here is wondering about that, but afraid to ask) Or…SHRINKAGE?! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/31 "2009-06-01T14:58:44Z")
I went to an English State School (all boys) from 1964-1972. We wore swimming trunks (and would have been astonished and embarrassed if it were otherwise). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/32 "2009-06-01T15:55:59Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Or…SHRINKAGE?! Men didn’t look at other men’s penises. To do so would get you called a faggot. You were supposed to look elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/33 "2009-06-01T16:28:32Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Only swimming lessons were in the nude. It’s not schools used to have boys playing basketball or wrestling naked (now _that’s_ homoerotic). See post #13 above. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/34 "2009-06-01T16:38:48Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Howabout if you got an erection? (You know everyone here is wondering about that, but afraid to ask) In sailing, it’s called a Keel. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/35 "2009-06-01T16:55:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > We had the same thing at MIT. Very common. And absurd. At MIT my friend, who was on the fencing team and far more athletic than I am, had big problems with the swimming test. This goes way back also. My mother-in-law, who went to college in the mid '30s, never did learn how to swim. To let her pass the test they eventually let her do the laps holding on to a stick, to let the coach drag her across the pool. In a rare “post is my cite” I swam nude at the Y in 1958 or 1959. I certainly don’t remember the instructor being nude. The last day the parents were supposed to show up to watch us - I got conveniently sick. I don’t know if we’d have been allowed to wear swimming suits then. ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/36 "2009-06-01T17:41:41Z")
My parents went to the same high school that I did, (not at the same time as I did, you wags!) Both of them tell of nude male swimming in the mid 50’s. I never thought to ask about the teacher. My Mom said the girls dance studio windows were painted black because they overlooked the pool and in the mid 70’s they still were. Both black and overlooking the pool. So it lends a certain reasonableness, since why else would you paint out perfectly good windows? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/37 "2009-06-01T18:43:28Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > To the poster who asked me to “dial back the crazy”: I’m sorry, but I just don’t think that nude swimming classes, or naked people in general, are that wacky or potentially harmful … no matter how many _ominous italics and ellipses_ you use. Do you really not understand why someone born in the last 40 years would think nude high school swimming is weird? And why it doesn’t have anything to do with homophobia or prudishness? ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/38 "2009-06-01T18:56:26Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Do you really not understand why someone born in the last 40 years would think nude high school swimming is weird? And why it doesn’t have anything to do with homophobia or prudishness? Read for comprehension, JB: No, I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/39 "2009-06-01T19:05:28Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Read for comprehension, JB: No, I don’t. Then calling you out of touch is an understatement. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/40 "2009-06-01T19:08:26Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Read for comprehension, JB: No, I don’t. But nothing else is done naked. Why swimming? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279.md?page=3)