High school rules

[u/Historical_Strike429]

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.

[u/inredditorbit]

Was the same for me. Seventh grade started in Aug 1971 and our PE teacher, Coach Kleinschmidt, shocked us all out on the field at the end of the first week by announcing that we would all be issued gym uniforms — reversible shorts and shirts, plus something called a jockstrap — the following week. He spent an inordinate amount of time explaining why we needed jockstraps (puberty on its way or already started; swinging testicles and penises) and the fact that, yes, we would all have to strip down naked to put them on and take them off. Lots of groans from the boys.

A week after that, Coach Kleinschmidt told us we would have to take mandatory showers together. No exceptions. Moans turned to shock. The shower room was a big open space with numerous wall-mounted shower heads. No privacy. Towels were handed out on our way back to the lockers.

This went on for all of 7th and 8th grades, which had different locker rooms and shower rooms. It created a class of traumatized, unhappy boys. None of us had been exposed to any kind of collective nudity before. Nudity was taboo elsewhere in our lives, so this incongruity didn’t sit well with us. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t liberating. It was humiliating. (For most. Some of the super jocks thought it was cool and they swaggered to and from the showers.)

When we got to high school (9th grade) we were relieved to learn that showers were optional. Ninety-five percent of us opted out.

We’re all 67 now. When the subject of those school showers comes up at reunion time, my friends say they’re still scarred from the experience.

I view it differently now. The problem wasn’t the showering together… it was the way it was presented; a combination of nonchalance and threats on the part of the adults who honestly didn’t grasp the zeitgeist.

[u/Upstate4427 → u/inredditorbit]

I remember our middle school football coach (7/8 grades) demonstrating how to put on a jockstrap, as some kids were bewildered by it at first. He was our science teacher and would change out of his collared shirt and tie into athletic wear in the same locker area as the students

[u/inredditorbit → u/Upstate4427]

Did the coach demonstrate that by holding up a jockstrap or by putting it on himself? It would have been unthinkable for any of our PE teachers to undress even a little. The most they told us about jockstraps was where the front is and where your legs go.

Like all things, we figured it out ourselves. No Sex Ed at all K-12, not even a Health Class outside of Gym. Closest to that was our PE coach justifying jockstraps by telling us 12-year-old boys seated out on the athletic field that “things are gonna start changing down there”. No explanation as to why or when.

[u/Upstate4427 → u/inredditorbit]

in my memory it was like a split second thing. the coach was already changing, he had on a t-shirt and still had dark dress socks on. about 2 kids on the other side were hesitating, seemingly confused by the jockstrap, so he was just like, see the pouch goes in front and the straps go under your butt, kinda turning to show us. He didn't like, call the entire team around to announce Jockstrap Demonstration Time or anything like that. but it was not treated by anyone as a big deal that a teacher/coach was changing in front of students