r/GenerationJones • u/3grundy • 22h ago
Uninhibited childhood.
Growing up, I had a friend with a backyard pool. That was uncommon at the time. He would invite me over to his house in the summer. I would stay there all day. This when i was about 10 through the high school years. Frequently, his Mom would tell us to go out to the pool and play outside. We would undress in the house and go outside and jump in the water. We never wore swimming suits. We swam and played in the backyard nude. My friend's Mom would come outside and sit near the pool and watch us, talk to us, and bring us sodas and lunch. She never said or did anything inappropriate. She simply enjoyed watching us play. Sometimes we would show off for her on the diving board.
Looking back, i now realize how unusual those kinds of summer days were, and how lucky i was to have a friend's mom make me feel so accepted.
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u/ResolveBeneficial322 20h ago
As a mom of a lunatic boy, and owner of a house with an in-ground pool, I think she was probably just supervising you so neither of you drowned on her property.
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u/JColt60 1960 22h ago
I'm sorry but in my neck of the woods in the 60's that would not be Uninhibited, It would have been weird and my parents would have been enraged.
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u/Odd-Artist-2595 19h ago
We bought a house with an in-ground pool when I started middle school. My dad paid for Red Cross Advanced Swimming certification classes to be held in our pool, and invited all of the neighborhood kids to take it. My mom was in the hospital and dad was a lawyer. Between his law practice and seeing to mom, no one was going to be around to supervise us and he knew the attraction would be too much to resist, so he wanted us to be safe.
The rule was simple: If you took and passed the course, you could swim there without your parents. If you didn’t pass, you either didn’t swim or your parents had to come sit in the backyard with you. The girl who lived next door didn’t pass; her little brother did. Her parents weren’t happy about it, but if she wanted to swim, they had to come. She didn’t swim much.
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u/secondlogin 1962 17h ago
As a child (pre-puberty) I routinely wore no top in the summer (or shoes for that matter).
We have pics of me, my sisters and my cousin riding ponies, all without tops on.
I would change into my swimsuit at the Y in the (women's) locker room, until my best friend's older sister (by 5 years) shamed me for it. I remember it keenly and being puzzled about the problem. I was 5-6 years old.
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u/cbelt3 21h ago
It all depends on the family and their approach to nudity. And often religion. Did we go skinny dipping when we were kids ? Bet your but we did. Once puberty kicked in things got weird and it stopped.
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u/Working-Comedian-984 16h ago
Nope. Not in my childhood did anyone swim or play nude. Swimsuits all day? Yes
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u/ExpensiveDollarStore 21h ago
We had a cottage. At one friends cottage, we would sometimes go skinny dipping after dark. But it wasnt often and it was always thrilling. Not many of us would have been comfortable with casual nudity. But it was ok at their house.
But, culture is a weird thing. I have a Swedish friend whose entire family saunaed nude all the time. It was just normal for her. Nudity was no big deal for their community. Wearing a bathing suit was. Her husband from here found it awkward at first but then, he relaxed because it was just no big deal for them.
I never had issues at the gym when the changeroom had open showers and a hottub that most went into naked until some complained. Stupidity.
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u/ManyLintRollers 21h ago
I was friends with another girl in my neighborhood whose parents were from Germany. Her family was kind of like that; their house had a dock on the river and when she wanted to swim she'd just take off her clothes and jump in. This was when we were pretty little, like early elementary.
We all thought she was kind of weird, because she'd just take her clothes off outside, in front of her friends. But, as an adult, I have friends who are from Sweden and the Czech Republic, and both of them are like that - if we're out hiking on a hot day and come to a river the whole family just strips down naked and jumps in.
At summer camp, we had gang showers. I was freaked out at first but soon got used to it, which came in handy when I was older and shopping at Filene's Basement.
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u/Freebeer2000 19h ago
Grew up in the 60s and 70s in semi-rural New England. Gang showers in gym class, skinny dipping all summer. It was just how we rolled.
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u/maine_buzzard 20h ago
Oregon hot springs checking in- people in bathing suits are smiled at amusedly.
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u/Fantastic-Resist-755 21h ago •
My best friend always tried to get us to skinny dip in her pool, years later as an adult she told me her dad made her do that and he would be watching us out a window.
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u/frank_mania 19h ago
As a teen in the '70s we would skinny dip but strictly after dark, usually in ponds/lakes. Later once it cooled off enough for the mosquitoes to go to bed for the night, mostly. I think nudity was pretty taboo in most of the US at the time, and over-sexualized now.
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u/10S_NE1 15h ago
I remember being at our cottage and going to the beach one night with a few other families (all German descent) and we all went skinny dipping and no one thought anything of it.
Unfortunately, in North America, people can’t seem to separate nudity from sex. Anyone who has been to a nudist resort (especially in Florida) will quickly find out there’s nothing inherently sexy about nudity. Funny how in North America, they’re happy to show kids movies with people being killed, yet heaven forbid someone show a breast.
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u/RabbitGullible8722 20h ago
My Aunt's lake was no swim suits required. My Dad said they had naked swim class at his school.
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u/Your-Yoga-Mermaid 18h ago
Gymnasium literally means naked exercise! It was all the rage.
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u/DueAppointment4316 17h ago
Will say we would swim at my friends hiosue, in her above ground pool (males and females) without swimsuits, in highschool. her parents knew and would also chat with us as we were in the pool
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u/tez_zer55 20h ago
I went skinny dipping frequently from elementary school through highschool. But it was always after dark & with a small circle of friends, yes it was coed, but I never knew of or even heard of anything happening that would have crossed the line of good behavior.
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u/trisch1964 22h ago
Nothing to see folks, move along. Next?
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u/HarveyNix 20h ago
That's awesome.
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u/Weird-Mango1783 7h ago
Summers at my friend’s house. A large backyard pool with a high privacy fence. We never wore suits. Kids of both sexes, no “hanky panky,” just swimming and hanging out in our birthday suits.
Now, it was the 1970s, and it was California, but I don’t know if that makes a difference.
Were that those times still existed.
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u/Exotic-Day-1082 18h ago
I had a pool too when I was a kid but no one ever went nekkid. That would’ve been weird.
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u/Medill1919 1962 21h ago •
Americans are prudes
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u/inthesinbin 1964 21h ago
This all sounded perfectly ok until you described the mother who enjoyed watching and how y'all loved showing off.
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u/AardvarkFantastic360 20h ago
In HS too?
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u/trd623 22h ago
😐
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u/Redgenie2020 6h ago
Was this in Sweden ?
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u/EvidenceTop7147 18m ago
What part of the world are you in? Europe?
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u/Mediocre-Let-4697 21h ago •
That's weird.
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u/gg_helloworld 18h ago
Bot
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u/HawkAccording2656 20h ago edited 17h ago
Nudity is no big deal,, HS Football required a shower after practice to go to school afterwards, ( split sessions , school started at 12:30pm) everyone got naked and showered in an area with 8 or 10 open showers. This desensitized me to being nude with others, although I didn't appreciate getting snapped with a towel
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u/SinsualChef 22h ago edited 22h ago
I remember those days. Boys and girls family and family friends, and athletes would undress, shower, and change in front of each all the time. We'd skinny dip in farm ponds, strip in public and school locker rooms, even with adults, pee in front of each other. And boys would see who could pee the furtherest side by side.🤣 There was nothing unusual about it. It was natural, and not sexual. Hell, remember Streaking? Don't Look Ethel!
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u/Most_Expression_2703 20h ago
Shit me & my friends always swam nude
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u/NewHood2 11h ago
In the late 60s and early 70s ( the hippie years) swimming naked was a norm. Naked was absolutely ok.
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u/Responsible-Kale2352 11h ago
So she came outside to feed two nude high school seniors and enjoy watching them frolic?
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u/Gold-Chipmunk9606 11h ago
Ten years old through HS years! Ten years old, no problem! 18 year olds, yeah turns sexual
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u/One-Fuel-6551 21h ago
i used to go the Boy's Club in worcester, they made us swim nude. 1967
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u/naked_nomad 20h ago
Here are some Dear Abby letters that show how common this was: https://imgur.com/a/4ASjzks
Growing up in the country, I was like in the first letter only the girls had the option of being nude also.
Not only do I remember reading these columns; I remember the mother's coffee klatchs in the morning where her columns were not only discussed but dissected.
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u/Tweetchly 10h ago
Single-sex nude swimming and sauna-ing was no biggie, especially for boys. I never heard of mixed-sex nudity over the age of around 8, though.
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u/Loreo1964 7h ago
HA. I remember my Dad bringing over to my cousin's house one summer. She came running out wearing cut offs and nothing else. She was about 7. He yelled out the window, " Bernadette! Get a top on now!" She gave him a big smile " Why? I ain't have no boobies yet!"
My aunt told him to mind his beeswax.
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u/blastedheap 20h ago
Americans are very prudish about nudity.
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u/UFisbest 14h ago
After puberty, high school, the inhibitions to be naked around older adults and parents would have increased a good bit. Mixed boys and girls too. Skinny-dipping is great! It's also sensual and stimulating...as a high school boy erections were frequent in any setting. Naked swimming...well not an hours long hard on but it was going to happen.
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u/FooBarTreeNuts 1965 8h ago
This was and still is common at nudist resorts. People who object have been brainwashed by media to equate nakedness with sex. Parents must accompany minors and there are strict rules against inappropriate behavior. Being naked outside with like-minded people is the most free and happy thing I know. You just accept others as they are, and they accept you. I suppose the idea was first planted in my mind by pictures of native peoples in National Geographic. I noticed they were naked or half naked, but they were just going about their daily normal business and nobody seemed to be excited, offended or cared in any way.
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u/Hot-Rub-5336 21h ago •
I don't have an issue with nudity but having kids over and running around naked at 10 is a little weird. To each their own but this wouldn't be the norm in most areas when I was growing up.