# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/81 "2009-06-20T16:28:57Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Cornell University? Ivy League Cornell in NY? > > What in god’s name was the logic in wasting people’s time, at a school of that academic caliber, with a mandatory swimming test? I can kind of sort of understand _offering_ PE (though I think that’s crazy too), but requiring you to swim? “Well, I’ve finished all the requirements of my architecture degree - all the design classes, the mechanics and engineering requirements - but I can’t get my degree yet because I don’t know how to swim.” Is that really how it worked? It still works that way. Swim test during orientation and two semesters of PE – but PE is defined very broadly and there is a bewildering array of options. All sorts of outdoor activities, sports, massage training (yes!) and hiking classes. I never heard of anyone failing the swim test – it was all of three laps. Cornell '04 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/82 "2009-06-20T17:22:25Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > It still works that way. Swim test during orientation and two semesters of PE – but PE is defined very broadly and there is a bewildering array of options. All sorts of outdoor activities, sports, massage training (yes!) and hiking classes. > > I never heard of anyone failing the swim test – it was all of three laps. > > Cornell '04 That just seems so odd to me. Was there any reason given as to why you had to know how to swim? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/83 "2009-06-20T17:44:52Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > That just seems so odd to me. Was there any reason given as to why you had to know how to swim? It’s a very old-school thing: my impression (and Wiki bears this out, [somewhat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelliana#Swim_test)) is that it started around the turn of the century at women’s colleges, where part of the whole reform movement in women’s education was the idea that women needed to be physically fit–and swimming as a focus has several advantages: 1) it was a modern sort of exercise (basketball was also popular for women), it was hygienic (no sweating), and it had a practical application (not drowning). ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/84 "2009-06-20T17:50:56Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > That just seems so odd to me. Was there any reason given as to why you had to know how to swim? Seems like a grand idea to me. Maybe we could cut down on the accidental drownings that take place annually if other schools followed suit (no pun intended) ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/85 "2009-06-20T19:30:49Z")
We were told, and it seemed plenty sensible to me, that the ‘Cornell ethos’ (which was about a broad educational philosophy) included the swim test and some ‘physical education’ because education was about mind _and_ body. Also Cornell is situated in an area with a lot of beautiful outdoor settings, the enjoyment of which would be drastically lessened if you were unable to swim or uncomfortable around water. ---
**Author:** ![Bradvsfw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58f4c7/32.png) [@Bradvsfw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bradvsfw)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/86 "2012-08-02T01:13:09Z")
The history of men and boys swimming naked goes back over 300 years. In the 1800s and 1900s (Victorian and Edwardian eras), it was indeed very common for boys up until puberty (and sometimes even beyond) to swim and “sea-bathe” with girls their age, all the while stark naked (although girls were always clothed). A huge archive inclusive of actual history book passages, news articles, old photographs and vintage film archives that evidence can be found here: > **[Historic Archives - Nude Male Swimming](https://sites.google.com/site/historicarchives4maleswimming/home)** > > As the world's societies transform into the 21st century, all too often our understanding of our history is based upon our current culture and attitudes as opposed to actual historic documentation and knowledge obtained through extensive research. ... ---
**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:** [August 2, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/87 "2012-08-02T05:01:18Z")
I’m a little curious, what exactly were you googling Bradvsfw that led to you revive 2 different zombie threads, on the same exact topic, in 2 different forums? And you had a link prepared (nice site BTW). ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/88 "2012-08-02T05:35:15Z")
I never swam nude but I know that growing up in the 50’s, as a Catholic, I was not permitted to join th Y because that is what they did there. I always thought it was strange, but never thought about the filter issue. But our county pool did not seem to have any such issue and there were thousands there on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/89 "2012-08-02T06:01:38Z")
> [@sunacres](#): > > Those of us over 50 really did grow up when nudity was not the problem that it is today, and it is clear that young people \*have \*become more prudish, cultural context notwithstanding. I don’t understand how anybody could think this. I’m willing to concede that there is SLIGHTLY more modesty in swimming than there used to be, but in every other facet of life there is much less modesty than there used to be. I’m considerably younger (33) than a lot of you on this board, yet even in my lifetime I have noticed shorts getting shorter and shorter. It’s quite common now for teenage girls to wear shorts that are SO short that they have practically no inseam at all–for all practical purposes, they’re not much more than underwear with pockets. If you think that people who are willing to go half or two-thirds naked in public are “prudish,” then you have a very warped view of what’s appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/90 "2012-08-02T07:30:40Z")
I swam nude at the Y for swimming lessons as a little boy in Ohio in the early 1960’s And then went co-ed skinny-dipping at a late night pool party in the 1970’s 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/91 "2012-08-02T10:21:29Z")
Same here, naked swiming lessons around 1969 or 1970 the instructor however had swim trunks. I remember being very embarrassed. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/92 "2012-08-02T16:56:40Z")
Well, skin is the Devil’s slipcover. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/93 "2012-08-02T17:47:40Z")
Colleges have _swim tests_, as opposed to just offering swimming as a P.E. option, because it _prevents people from drowning_. My father had an overprotective mother who never let him swim. Consequently he got to college (Stanford, in his case) without knowing how. He vividly remembers having to learn to swim in order to pass a mandatory swim test, and is self-conscious about his swimming abilities as a result. But at least he is in less danger if he falls out of a boat, or otherwise accidentally ends up in the water. I do think it’s a great idea, and should be mandatory at as many schools as possible. My college had a mandatory swim test, but I was exempt since I had a Red Cross swim card. Note: Ask Dad if swim class was done in the nude when he was in college. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/94 "2012-08-02T20:14:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > We had the same thing at MIT. I passed, no problem, but a friend failed, despite the fact that he was a far better athlete than me. He was tall, and thin, and on the fencing team, and sank like a stone. As for the Y, I personally swam nude there during lessons in the late 1950s. The last day of classes they invited parents - I managed to get sick that day. I never learned there, I learned at day camp with a suit on. My mother-in-law went to a woman’s college in eastern PA in the 1930s. They made her take a test also, and she always failed. They finally stuck a broomstick into the back of her suit and dragged her from one end of the pool to the other so she could graduate. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/95 "2012-08-02T20:57:14Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I don’t understand how anybody could think this. I’m willing to concede that there is SLIGHTLY more modesty in swimming than there used to be, but in every other facet of life there is much less modesty than there used to be. I’m considerably younger (33) than a lot of you on this board, yet even in my lifetime I have noticed shorts getting shorter and shorter. It’s quite common now for teenage girls to wear shorts that are SO short that they have practically no inseam at all–for all practical purposes, they’re not much more than underwear with pockets. > > If you think that people who are willing to go half or two-thirds naked in public are “prudish,” then you have a very warped view of what’s appropriate. I think it’s the younger generation of males that are more - something, not sure if prudish is the right word, maybe shy or worried about catching teh gay or something. You just don’t see young men showing a lot of skin, not like young women. I went to college in 1967 and had to take a nude swim class (because I couldn’t pass the test). When we arrived for class we would usually find the teacher doing laps in the nude. Then he would get out, go suit up, and come back and teach the class. I guess the difference was when he was teaching he wasn’t in the pool. Even though I am gay, by the way, I never got the slightest thrill or titillation from looking at the other guys. I think just because the milieu was too public and non-sexual. I did, however, get a weird feeling from the teacher once (or maybe it was my evil mind reading into it). He was teaching some kind of frog kick, or something, and each of us had to lay on a table while he held our feet to make sure we were pushing them in the right direction. I was last, and I could swear that as we stopped and he let go, he gave me some kind of look that didn’t seem to fit the situation. I can’t describe it better than that, I was very naive and a virgin at the time, so who knows. As to the prudishness of young men these days, I remember when I was in high school (mid 60’s) many or most of the boys wore their jeans so tight you could tell what religion they were. Now, of course, baggy is in and has been for some time. I don’t think those kinds of tight pants will ever come back (darn it); tight pants are perceived as being only for women. Then there’s the towel dance in the gym locker room. We had to shower in my high school gym class, and anyone who did the towel dance would have been laughed out of school. Now it’s far more common than casual nudity in all of the gyms I have been in since I started going back to gyms. Them’s my thoughts on the matter. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/96 "2012-08-02T22:37:43Z")
We also had to all shower together after gym class. Part of growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phedre_no_Delaunay)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/97 "2012-08-03T00:30:53Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > It’s quite common now for teenage girls to wear shorts that are SO short that they have practically no inseam at all–for all practical purposes, they’re not much more than underwear with pockets. > > If you think that people who are willing to go half or two-thirds naked in public are “prudish,” then you have a very warped view of what’s appropriate. This isn’t new. We wore those back in the 70s too. They weren’t short enough unless you could see the curve of the buttocks out the bottom of the leg holes. The thing is, GUYS shorts were just about that short too. So yeah, a lot more “prudish” these days. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/98 "2012-08-03T00:55:44Z")
I think it is related to the growing awareness of male homosexuality, it makes younger guys absurdly paranoid about stuff like lockerooms and shorts. Shit I heard several guys say they don’t watch hetero porn, they only watch lesbian porn(designed for hetero males) because like omg a PENIS omg barf.:rolleyes: OMG walk around in shorts that show my ankles? Are you crazy some homo could get aroused looking at my body!:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279/99 "2012-08-03T14:45:09Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > As to the prudishness of young men these days, I remember when I was in high school (mid 60’s) many or most of the boys wore their jeans so tight you could tell what religion they were. Now, of course, baggy is in and has been for some time. I don’t think those kinds of tight pants will ever come back (darn it); tight pants are perceived as being only for women. [Skinny jeans](https://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1745&bih=868&tbm=isch&q=skinny+jeans+men&revid=551328621&sa=X&ei=eeMbUMujLIWy2QXA34HwAg&ved=0CGIQgxY) are pretty popular among a certain crowd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-swimming-lessons-at-the-y/498279.md?page=4)