has the locker room dynamic changed

I work out at the local Ymca. Virtually no guys under thirty shower and almost nobody wears a jockstrap while working out. Were guys of this age group always uptight when came to showering amongt other males outside of gym class? Were jockstrap more common to work out in back then outside of gym class? What were your obsevervation about the health clubs and Ymca's during the 70 & 80's. Was there more of a mixture in nudity in amongst the different age groups vs now where it seem only guy 45 and older are the only ones confortable enough to strip down?

Dave

I believe the same kind of demographic behavior is present at my health club. It's not the YMCA, but it has a men's steam and dry sauna along with shower stalls with curtains. Hardly any guys under 25 every uses the facilities in fact they don't even change in the dressing room, they come already dressed. Although I am not in the 45 and older group, I've commented before that there must be something at play since I didn't see that as I grew up in my late teens and twenties within in my own generation.

I think this changed dynamic must be only in America - no sign in the UK.

You are definitely right, Dave. I have been to many many gyms over the years, and the behavior of most of the younger men now is incomprehensible to me. Even the young gay ones seem to be uncomfortable about nudity. The younger men step into the showers with their shorts or towels on, dry themselves in the shower with the curtain closed, and dress before they emerge. Something is very odd. They seem to be so very afraid to be seen naked. Do they think that undressing in front of other men makes them gay? To me, being afraid to undress seems gayer.

when i go to the gym with my friends (str8 and gay), we all shower and its not that big of a deal... for some reason, i'm more comfortable being naked in there with them, than being in there alone with strangers... but as someone who's been out of high school for about 4 years, my age grew up showering in the communal type environment, whether its at the gym, pool or in PE...

At my "Y" in the 1970's I used the young men's locker room which was restricted to the 18 - 30 age group. Everyone was issued a towel and small bar of soap upon entry to the locker room. As I recall in my five years there only ONE guy did not use the showers; everyone else took a shower after working out and they were the totally open kind. Today at my gym I would say that half of the under 25's arrive in their workout gear and don't shower there; of the rest, some shower there occasionally while others do all the time. The showers have "urinal" type dividers but are open at the front, so I would classify them as communal. I have seen all ages in there from early teens to guys in their 80's. Of course, being from Canada we don't seem to be afflicted with the hysteria that appears to be rampant in the States. Then too, our showers are simply a place to get clean and are not used for pick ups or hanky panky.

and none of you guys have pics on here. Why is that?

I think it's a USA shower phobia thing. And I'm puzzled. My generation (the early 1960's through mid 1970's) had separate pools for men and women at university. Don't know about the women, but the men always swam nude. The only guys who would wear trunks were the swim team guys who wore the first Speedos, or speedo-like swim trunks, to stream lie their attack in the water. The silly savages also shaved their legs. Can you imagine?

I currently don't shower at my gym because it's less than two blocks from my home. I'm also a bit wary of plantar warts (nasty things) which, despite wearing flip flops or other shower foot wear, are still WAY infectious and waiting for any opportunity to take hold. Not fun getting rid of them.

Other than that, it's easy (and common) as "tapas" (for my DIR gym in Barçelona) or "empanadas" (for my Megatron gym in Buenos Aires) for straight and gay men to check out who is in the communal showers. No big woop.

Me thinks the nouveau public modesty of which you young men speak must come from a new wave of national body image problems. I doubt there are any other people more concerned about their body image than porteños in Buenos Aires, but rather than hide their light under a bush they like to parade their bodies around -- dressed or undressed -- for all to see. Same pretty much goes for Barçelona and La Costa. Brazilians (I vacation a lot in southern Brazil) have no concept that a woman going topless on the beach is considered immodest in the cold northern climes. But everyone is aware of how ridiculous college-age spring breakers from the north (USA/Canada) are by the way the behave when they travel down here. That's not to say a Latin male doesn't take any and every opportunity to whistle and lewdly comment on the bronze and babe-licious scenery as it walks by. They just don't get drunk and puke in their shoes as a mating ritual. (Sorry, going off topic again.)

Again, showering off sea water and sand at the communal shower heads along the beaches is a nude affair. The cultures are into rubber-necking, but not so much at being nude in public places. They tend to mostly stop and stare at deadly bus, train, and car accidents.

At the gym where I go the older guys - those in my age group (50+) - walk to and from the showers with the towel in their hand or on theri sholders. The 20 through 30 group wears the towels around their waist. The 40 - 50 age group either wears their towels or carries them to the shower. As for the teens, very few shower. I have come to the conclusion that the guys in my age group are the most comfortable being naked in a locker room and don't give a damn what other guys look at or think.

You teach me how to set up may own pay-to-peek web site and I'll post all the photos of my dick in all of its glorious states and locations as much and as often as possible. If anyone's going to make a dime off of seeing my dick, that person is going to be me. Just take a look at Monstercocks.com and see how many have been appropriated from some of the better profiles on this site. Hey, I'm open to learning new things. I'm a businessman first and a voyeur second or third or fourth. Not sure which after businessman.

Hell, I'd love to churn some coin posting videos and photos of me and the squeeze going at it like minks. But only if I personally benefit financially. I keep mulling it over. Got any suggestions? PM me.

It's an odd thing I agree.

I'm told that they don't even put showers in new schools being constructed these days. The kids don't use 'em.

I'm in my late 40s, and when I was a kid, my two brothers and I shared a bedroom. We saw each other naked all the time, and it was just no big deal. These days families are smaller and kids are likely to have their own rooms, and I guess they are not used to being naked around others.

A kid across the street from me went off to college and only lasted 30 days there for whatever reason. One thing he did tell me was that he was dismayed the bathroom toilets had no doors on the stalls, and the shower area had four shower heads on a pole! Egad! He said he'd wait until 2 a.m. or so before he would take a shower. This from a guy who played basketball all four years in high school.

Also, another observation is that girls swimsuits get tinier every year and the guys' suits tend to cover up more of their bodies every year.

Even in the U.S., there are geographical variations. Currently, I live in a small city in California. It's a farming area and high school sports are fairly popular. A lot of the younger guys don't even change at the gym. However, a fair number do change, use the steam room or sauna in a towel, and then shower in the communal showers. Interestingly, some then wrap themselves in a towel before slipping on their underwear. Go figure. Some of the young guys will carry their towel to the showers, but not generally. I used to live in two adjacent cities in Florida. In one, practically everyone showered at the gym. On the other, the showers were, literally dry.
I think there are a number of factors at play including involvement in athletics, whether PE is required, whether showers are required in PE, people have larger houses now and it seems less comon for brothers to share a room, the degree to which the local culture is conservative, and the number of boys growing up without fathers with whom they engage in activities such as swimming, which I did with mine.
Dave

I wanted to add a similar note regarding the communal showers and doorless toilet stalls. I experienced this while going to Navy boot camp and no one seemed to mind even on our first day together, we were all strangers but there was no hesitation. But as I have commented earlier, I think there is something to say about how the younger guys are being brought up.

Good note about the guys covering up more with over-sized, loose clothing, yet have half their ass showing. Weird.

Well one thing you have to remember is that younger people in general might have body issues, and haven't been thru some of the experiences that someone with another 5-10years has. I myself have been going to the gym for almost two years now (consistently) and have no problem changing or showering. However when I started going it took me awhile to get used to it.

I originally joined a gym in '99 that had a communal shower and that was my first time showering with other men and that also took some getting used to, but I did it. There were these few guys that lingered in the shower/locker room just to gawk and that got really annoying.

My first experience in a communal shower should have been middle school PE 6-8, but I never showered... now looking back I wish I had joined in and gotten over it. Then in high school there was no time alloted for showering unless it was on swim days which very few people participated in.

So the way I see it is unless you had some experience prior to the gym you shouldn't be expected to be comfortable right off the bat. Maybe over time they'll relax...maybe they won't.