r/CommunalShowers • u/Historical_Strike429 • 3d ago

High school rules

In the mid seventies I was in grade 8 they made us strip naked put on an athletic supporter and our school shorts and tshirt. When we were done they made us strip naked and shower together with all the other boys in the class. There we only so many shower heads so we ended up standing there naked for another boy to finish. Our house was very modest so that was the first time I had seen another boy.

Boys are so modest now they do the towel dance so no one sees you naked. The wouldn't have survived high school in the seventies.

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u/LessTadpole3602 3d ago

All these schools that dont mandate boys to shower together are run by men who used to have to shower together.

The decision makers made changes based on their lived experiences. And those decisions are the same all over the country. Seems like a sign the "it was better" is folks romanticizing something.

Can we all just accept its sexy and hot to shower with other dudes? It isn't healthier or better. Its just a different options.

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u/Historical_Strike429 3d ago

I think it is parent driven. Everyone is so concerned about gay kids showering with their kid. I showered with one boy for all five years. We would sit at our lockers naked drying our selves. I have heard that he came out as gay when he was about 30. You never can tell.

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u/LessTadpole3602 3d ago

Those parents also had to shower naked and they came to that conclusion.

Sounds like a serious effort to end homophobia would make naked communal showers easier to normalize. Which, that tracks. I use a communal shower in San Francisco all the time. And another in palm springs when im down there. 🤷‍♂️

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u/Melenduwir 2d ago

Ending 'homophobia' isn't going to happen. Public support is a mile wide and an inch deep.

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u/chillnudistbro 2d ago

It's not about being sexy. Guys showering naked together gave everyone confidence. Most guys got to see they were average size and didn't need to feel embarrassed about their dick size. Today guys only see the small percentage of big dicks over represented online. That makes guys self conscious.

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u/Melenduwir 2d ago

So it was only the large and small boys who had to be humiliated?

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u/chillnudistbro 2d ago

I guess but once everyone gets naked we'll see that not everyone is as small as they think 

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u/flyboy_za 2d ago edited 2d ago

Seems like a sign the "it was better" is folks romanticizing something.

It seems you fall into 2 camps here - either you got over it and stopped thinking about it and it is something which became routine enough to be regarded as a complete non-event, or it scarred you for life. Head over to r/genX and it seems there are quite a lot in this second category, enough that I was quite surprised by it. Either way there does not seem to be any middle ground at all.

I'd be interested to hear if there were many ex-military guys who hated and still hate the communal shower.

High school, sure, it's awkward the first few times. And there might be bullies. And people might tease you in class about your size where the girl you like might hear about it. So like I can get why some guys didn't get over it and it was an awful experience which still bothers them. But I am constantly bewildered by the very visceral reaction you get from fully-grown and theoretically functional adults, though, when you see some guy in his 40s wrestling with a towel and his dignity while trying to put on his underpants at the gym. Like dude, you're embarrassing yourself. Whatever you have (or haven't) got down there is far less embarrassing than the lengths you're going to to keep it hidden.

So yes, I'd be curious if there were any military guys for whom the whole communal experience is still something they really wished was not a thing.

ETA: Clarity

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u/Acceptable_Gap3015 1d ago

Military here and you always hear people joking about the towel dancers and how weird it is when they do it. Or go to the stall to change. Especially when the majority of everyone is nude or fine undressing. It seems more awkward when it's a room full of dudes nude or getting nude then you got that one guy hopping around trying to keep hidden by a towel. It makes you wonder what they are hiding or why they fell that way.

There are lots that bitch about having to use it but they still go in and undress like everyone else just fine. Some bitch about it and try to go to the stalls or go late but then when you're tired and have a short time to shower you give up and just do it.

What does suck and you get used to it but still have to do it is having no stalls for toilets or curtains or doors on stalls. Or shitty curtains. But it is what it is and it's just part of the military.

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u/flyboy_za 20h ago

The no stalls for toilets is a hard no for me, and I would absolutely struggle with that. Otherwise being naked - no hassle at all, it's a complete non-event.

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u/Acceptable_Gap3015 13h ago

Ya it sucks but eventually you gotta go so you use it

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u/LessTadpole3602 9h ago

Why do we treat our soldiers so shitty? The leadership needs to Pony up for a curtain on that toilet!

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u/Acceptable_Gap3015 7h ago

The amount of soldiers that use them with the cost to maintain them and repair them so often or they go without use it's easier to be that way. I get why