u/Dense_Tune7389

Many of us may be familiar with the 1929 novel "Passing" by Nella Larsen which focuses the lives of light skinned black women during the 1920s that would often do things to "pass" as white in order to be accepted into "whites only" societies such as wearing skin lightening make up, using hair straightener or wigs to make their hair appear different, etc.

Well there is another little known "passing" that most are unfamiliar with. Once upon a time in the US, male circumcision was not the standard, in fact it really didn't become the norm until around the mid 1900s. Way back in the day when many of these upscale "whites only" athletic clubs, lodges, and other high end fraternal organizations were around many of these high societies were unwelcoming of Jews. Additionally, at many of these clubs and lodges it was commonplace for men to shower together after playing golf or tennis and of course they would swim in the pool nude, sauna, hot tub, and steam room nude.

Even though many these venues were restricted clubs where Jews were not welcomed many successful wealthy Jewish businessmen still aspired to network with these fraternal organizations. Thus, they often had their own means of "passing" like changing their names, wearing crosses and also the process of reversing circumcision. Of course, this wasn't just in the US this was also in Canada and throughout Europe as well. Jewish men didn't want their circumcised penises to be seen in the locker room by their colleagues so often times they would go through this painful process of foreskin restoration as a means of hiding their Jewish identity.

I have been searching online and there is very little to be found on this subject, very little on the procedure itself, no reliable videos, I can't even find the exact term for this procedure but I remember hearing what it was years ago. If anyone in the medical field has more info on this topic please share.

Back in the 90s I had gone to France for a school trip and I remember the hotel we stayed in was in a way almost like a college dorm. The rooms looked pretty much like regular hotel rooms in the US except they didn't have a bathroom. There was only one bathroom on each side of the hallway, one side was the men's bathroom and one side was the women's bathroom. In the men's bathroom they had a few toilet stalls, communal lavatory and a communal shower area. I just wonder are many of the hotels in Europe still set up this way?

I wouldn't be old enough to remember any of this but one of the things I've heard and read about in this sub was that one of the big causes of the decline in communal showers was the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I'm having a difficult time believing that HIV/AIDS would have had much of an impact, if any at all on the usage of communal showers.

HIV/AIDS was very first discovered in June of 1981 and it is to my understanding that communal showers were already beginning to show signs of decline before that. Also, it is to my understanding that HIV/AIDS actually took a few years before it had become widely known about, in fact, I had even heard from some from that generation that they had never even heard of it until Rock Hudson died of AIDS in October 1985.

So my question for those of you on here who may be old enough to remember is when was the first time you remember hearing about HIV/AIDS? And did it seem like it had any kind of impact on locker room culture at the time?

I went to a pretty large university that had a good size rec center and our locker rooms had all the works (sauna, steam room, hot tub, showers, towels, etc.) however, I certainly didn't have anything like that in high school other than the Bradley pole showers. I have heard that some upscale private high schools (I would assume in places like Beverly Hills) have this but I have never actually witnessed. Did anyone on here go to a high school like this? If so, did the students use it?

I was at LA Fitness not too long ago and I noticed there was a woman in the pool wearing a thong swimsuit. This was my first time seeing this and I'm not complaining but I'm just wondering. . .if a man was wearing a thong swimsuit would they allow this?

A few years ago I had heard that in the climate of woke culture some of the gay bathhouses were contemplating on going "Straight Friendly" meaning they would still be for men only but rather than being labeled as a gay bathhouse they would just be labeled as a Men's bathhouse. Of course, it would still have the nude open wet areas like the showers, pool, hot tub, dry sauna and steam room but this means they would try to be more welcoming of straight men, like in addition to having gay porn they would also play straight porn or maybe even some hot lesbian porn which many straight men tend to like, they would also play music that's more appealing to straight guys like Metallica and Jay Z as opposed to just Lady Gaga and Beyonce and in the lounge area they may have the TV set to ESPN as opposed to just having it set to "The Golden Girls". The thing I can't help but wonder is would straight guys even be interested in going to a place like this or would this just be a bad mix that would end up scaring the typical gay patrons off?

When I was in High School in the 90s showering was not mandatory for us after gym class although a few did, however, from what I understand pretty much all of the athletes did, especially the football players. I would even hear guys talking about it like "so and so has a tiny dick" "so and so has a huge dick" "so and so is not circumcised" etc. Well something that comes to mind is that there were several of the athletes that had younger/older brothers or maybe even cousins on the same team as them. In fact, one guy I was friends with on the football team had a brother in the grade below us and like everyone else they would all shower together after practice/games, etc. And it wasn't just them either, several others on the baseball team, basketball team, etc. I can't help but wonder. . .wouldn't it feel weird showering with your brother?

I will begin by saying that I absolutely hate those pride events as they are probably the most counterproductive factor to gay rights. . .but that's another conversation for another time.

Men's locker rooms were once a place of (mostly straight) male camaraderie, guys would parade around naked or in their jockstraps, joke about each other dicks, towel snap each other's ass and just chit chat about the game. YMCAs were once a place for men only where they would socialize, sat in the steam room, sauna, and hot tub nude, showered nude, swam nude and even according to many reports would even sometimes exercise in the nude.

When pride events began in the early 70s they started out as march for gay rights but then quickly evolved into something completely different then what they started out as. The parades had undue emphasis on sexual fetishes, guys would parade around wearing nothing but jerseys, tennis shoes and a jock strap. And of course they'd parade down the street practically naked or in some cases completely naked dancing the choreography to the "YMCA" song by the Village People. In essence, they sexualized and fetishized the once (mostly innocent) locker room culture of normal male camaraderie. Even more sadly, most of the guys parading around naked were/are not even the slightest bit attractive, I think most want to vomit when they see their over-the-hill fat ass naked hairy bodies.

In a nutshell, those flamboyant "gay rights advocates" (attention seekers) did nothing but homosexualize locker room culture to the point that straight men were scared off by it and no longer wanted to partake. Thank you so much pioneers! You all ruined it for us, I hope you all are so happy!

I've been to many different types of gyms and from what I've noticed is that gyms that provide towels definitely seem to incentivize people to shower after their work out. Whether private showers with curtains or open communal showers it appears to me either way that gyms that have clean towels available in the locker room the guys seem much more enthusiastic about showering off after their work out. It just seems so much easier than having to haul around a wet used towel in your gym bag plus it's certainly much nicer to take a shower after your workout rather than getting back in your car all sweaty and stinky.

The Supreme court just ruled in favor of allowing states to ban biological males from participating in female sports. I agree with this ruling but the other way around needs to be banned as well.

The supreme court ruled this citing unfair physical advantage. It is also argued that biological males should not be going into the female locker room/showers.

Biological males are prohibited from taking sports enhancement drugs in participating in sports and usually they are tested for this. Female-to-male transgenders are taking male hormone therapy/testosterone which is essentially the same thing as taking steroids, so how can trans men/boys be exempt from this, this could potentially give them an unfair advantage. Additionally just like boys shouldn't be going into the girls locker room, biological girls don't need to be going into the boys locker room/showers either. Plus not to mention, girls on the boys team would more than likely end up expecting to get special treatment (chivalry) or they would likely end up getting it anyway which essentially breaks down the ideology of a team in which everyone is supposed to be equal.

It has been suggested that suggested that if transgenders want to play sports then they'll just have to play against other transgenders, if there's not enough of them then there's just not enough of them. They have wheelchair basketball, maybe someone needs to start some transgender sports team so they can participate.

I agree that we need to protect the dignity of girls/women's sports but the dignity of boys/men's sports needs to be protected as well!!

So I was in high school in the late 90s at the height of the homohysteria when boxers were the thing. Almost all guys wore boxers as briefs were somehow deemed as "gay" and no one wanted to be seen in briefs (boxer briefs hadn't quite been mainstreamed just yet). I had weight training and we were not required to shower after but plenty of guys did and most did not do the towel dance but a few did. This seemed to be a common them I noticed. . .as guys were so terrified to be seen in briefs, on several occasions I noticed guys that were doing the towel dance who were putting on their boxers but secretly they had tighty whities hidden underneath their boxers that they didn't want anyone to know about, after all, that would've been gay and they wanted to prove how manly they were in their manly boxers. I could clearly see though when I'd be secretly watching as they were slipping on their boxers doing their towel dance, occasionally without a towel, their tighty whities stashed away in their boxers that they wanted to be their dirty little secret, almost like men's swimming trunks with the liner inside. I remember this one time in particular, my friend and I were going into the locker room from the weight room, the locker room appeared to be empty, I walk towards the bathroom and then I see our school's star football athlete who was a big muscle bound juicehead, he's standing at his locker nekkid as he looked like he had just dried off from the shower and I swear I don't think I had ever seen anyone move so fast in my entire life. . .he was in such a rush to put on his tiny navy blue bikini briefs and then slip his boxers on over them. Me being the nice guy that I am, I respected his privacy and never told anyone about his little secret. Has anyone else ever observed this phenomenon?

There's been several times in which I have ran into straight guys I may have known at the gym that would've known that I'm gay and it almost seems as if they made it a point to get naked or shower in front of me almost to prove that they are not homophobic or they want to prove their open mindedness. I remember one time in particular this guy that used to say all kinda shit to me in high school and several years after graduation I had seen him at the gym and he just kinda didn't really acknowledge me but then I saw him in the locker room and he had just come from the showers in a towel as I was getting changed, I wasn't too far from him but he didn't really acknowledge me but then he took off his towel right in front of me and was walking around the locker room naked pretending as if I wasn't there. Almost like it was his way of saying "I've grown up now, I'm cool with you being gay." Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?

I graduated High School in 1998 and I had never communal showered in school although I kinda wanted to but felt weird showering with guys I had seen since middle school and many I didn't get along with. I was kinda looking forward to starting college at a fairly large university where no one knew me and I would finally get a chance to shower with other guys in the dorm every day.

And wouldn't you know to my luck they had just remodeled the bathrooms in the boys' dorm to have private showers. An RA I knew there had said they had just put up petitions with curtains that summer. If I had only been one year older I would've got to have the experience of dorm showers.

Luckily we had a pretty big rec center with open Bradley pole showers in the men's locker room, so that was pretty cool.

A few months ago I had submitted a post on here about lawsuits involving locker room nudity. The reasoning that it seems to be a common theme on here that many gyms are now banning nudity out of fear of being sued. . .which if anyone had read my last post, I think is completely ludicrous !!

I work in the legal field and I have access to sites like LexisNexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law, I have researched and I have not found any cases anywhere in the US where anyone has sued a gym simply because they walked into a locker room and saw someone naked. Even if it was a child who saw someone nude.

There have been a few lawsuits involving nudity and none of which were because someone saw someone nude in the locker room. The lawsuits were because someone was secretly filmed without their consent or a few cases where women sued for allowing trans women (biological men) into the women's locker room. There has never been any case of someone suing a gym because they were walking through the locker room and they happened to catch a glimpse of some guy's butt as he was drying off. If someone is using the locker room as intended then there are no grounds for a lawsuit.

It is pretty well known (and most courts realize) that locker rooms are designed for people to be naked in. . .this is why there is an expectation of privacy and surveillance cameras are not allowed in locker rooms. If someone were to "try" to sue a gym because they saw someone naked in the locker room it would go nowhere. Being naked in the locker room is NOT a crime!! It is not even a tort of any kind. In all my years of showering at the gym I have showered next to police, got in the hot tub with lawyers, hell I even sat naked in the sauna with a judge one time!!

It is also important to remember that attorneys have an ethical duty under rules like the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct to explain the risks, benefits, and likely outcomes of a case so clients can make informed decisions. Plus not to mention anyone would have to shell out $200 for a consultation fee just to speak to an attorney for 15 minutes only to have the attorney turn around and say "I'm sorry but I don't think a case like this would go anywhere."

My whole point being. . .if any gyms are banning nudity out of fear of being sued then they need to take a serious reality check!!

So a few weeks I was at the gym and across the way from me in the shower was a pretty good looking guy, presumably straight, and I noticed he was doing a very thorough job of washing his ass. Then, as we're in the locker room getting dressed he was at his locker having just dried off and put down his towel he starts putting deodorant on his underarms and then the strangest thing. . .he starts rubbing deodorant in his butt!! This was the first and only time I have ever witnessed this but I can't help but wonder. . .is this really a thing?

There is still another issue that has also been a major contributor to the decline of communal showers that has somehow been overlooked on here and that is the introduction of indoor air conditioning.

Air conditioning was first invented in 1902 but it actually took several decades for it to become mainstream, back then it was a different system, it was very expensive and it would've only been a luxury to the very wealthy. In the 1950s window air conditioners were first introduced but they weren't the same as they are today, they were very limited and still quite pricy and not many people had them. Cars didn't even start offering A/C until the 1940s and even then it was only in a few luxury vehicles, most cars didn't start having it until the 1970s. Across the board central air conditioning didn't become the norm in homes until around the late 70s early 80s. Even most commercial and government buildings didn't have it. Even in the early 80s many schools across the US still didn't have A/C, especially schools up north, hence. . .schools being closed during the summer. Even to this day, A/C is still not the norm in Europe with most homes not even having it.

Back in the days before A/C was available, after gym class having to run laps and do push ups in a non air conditioned stuffy gym, most likely boys would've been dripping with sweat, thus, a nice cold refreshing shower would've been ideal. Back in say the 1950s and before, during the hot summer months, kids would have to think of ways to beat the heat, so it was pretty common for young boys to go take a nice cool skinny dip in the nearby creek or pond. Back in the day at men's college dorms, military barracks or even on naval ships, where there were no women present, it would still get pretty muggy during the warmer months and it would've been rare that most guys would've kept all their clothes on, most likely would've paraded around in their undies or in some cases would've just paraded around in their birthday suit. Most YMCAs and gyms likely wouldn't have had A/C until probably the late 70s, that being said, no one would want to leave the gym without a nice cold shower, in fact, during those hot summers, the local Y would've been a great place to go swim a few nude laps in the pool to cool off your body. Even still today in remote villages in Africa, India, Thailand, etc. it's still not uncommon for boys to go for a nice cool skinny dip in the nearby river.

All this being said, the introduction of A/C, sadly gave people more reason to keep all their clothes on but the pre A/C generation seems to have somehow been forgotten about.

For those of you who may not have seen, the new NetFlix Series "Off Campus" starts up with a pretty good communal shower scene!

I do have to say it seems like in the past few years, Netflix and some of these other streaming television services having been doing a pretty good job of doing their part to normalize communal showers, including other shows like Elite, Olympo, Heated Rivalry, Sex/Life, Monsters, Boots, etc.

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Many years ago I was hanging out with a friend and he had taken me over to one of his friend's apartment. It was this really upscale apartment complex that had it's own fitness center and even small locker rooms. So there was about six guys including myself and it was late at night, well past midnight. Well the guys decided they wanted to smoke some weed. Since the fitness center was empty they wanted to go into the locker room and smoke out in the sauna. The reasoning being that with it being an enclosed place they could fill the room up with smoke for an "additional high". The good thing was the locker room we could lock from the inside and of course they did not turn on the sauna. So we go in lock the door and unexpectedly the guys all start stripping down to their undies. The reasoning being because they didn't want their clothes to reek with the smell of weed, almost like this was a ritual they were all used to and it just came natural to them, so I joined in, we go in to the sauna start lighting them up and we're in there just smoking weed, bullshitting about whatever and filling the sauna up with smoke. As we walk out I assumed we were just gonna get dressed and go back to the apartment, but they all started walking around the corner, then to my surprise, there's a communal shower there, they all start taking off their undies and then started getting into the shower to wash off the smell of weed. I was not expecting this at all and I was high as a kite but still did not want to look like an oddball, so I just joined in. Afterwards, we just stood under the dryers and dried off. This was my first and only experience like this, just curious, has anyone else ever had this experience?