u/Dense_Tune7389

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?

Perhaps this is just a coincidence but I find it very interesting that Countries like Japan, Korea, and Scandinavian countries like Iceland and Sweden that are very friendly towards communal showers, nude saunas even nude swimming also happen to be among the countries with the highest life expectancies in the world. Now obviously I realize that there are other factors associated with this like accessibility to healthcare, diet, exercise, lifestyle, etc. but is it possible that these health spas could also be a contributing factor?

There have been numerous studies on why women have a higher life expectancy than men and most psychologists attribute much of this to work related stress even though interestingly, historically some countries, particularly South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh, men have had a higher life expectancy than women. If stress is a contributing factor to a shorter life wouldn't it make sense to try add elements in life to reduce stress?

I've read articles from older men who lived back in the days of nude swimming at the YMCA and many describe this as being very liberating, relaxing, mind freeing and stress relieving. Being in nude saunas, steam rooms, communal showers and hot tubs just seems to create this sense of euphoria that tends to put your mind at ease and even tends to lower your blood pressure. On the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" the old man, Frank, would always talk about swimming nude at the lodge with the guys and how nice and relaxing it was. Would it be worth it to do the research to see if maybe just maybe these type of activities can contribute to a longer life? I would certainly think so.

Humans, and males in particular, have swam nude for thousands of years, why should today be so different? Even former president, Theodore Roosevelt, used to swim nude with his tennis club on a regular basis. Wouldn't it only make sense to continue a practice that only seems to be beneficial to our health?

Most of us on here have read about all the reasons for the decline of communal showers, things ranging from larger homes, smaller families, Title IX, growing awareness of homosexuality, pedophiles, the trans community, cell cams, etc. Well, one major contributor that seems to have been overlooked somehow is the introduction of deodorant/antiperspirants.

Deodorants were technically first introduced in 1888 but they were pretty rare at first, they really didn't start becoming more popular until the 1920's and even then it still wasn't like it is today, it was a waxy cream you would rub on and it still wasn't mainstream as it was kind of expensive and it wasn't really being sold in the pharmacies and grocery stores just yet, it was being sold at more upscale department stores like Bloomingdale's and Macy's and for the most part it was mainly only being marketed towards women.

Roll on deodorants were first introduced in 1952 and even then they weren't super quick to take off, even by 1957 only 50% of the men in the US were using deodorant and that's adult men mostly the more financially privileged and not teenage boys. Additionally, these deodorants were all unscented, the first scented deodorant for men didn't come around until 1959. It wasn't until the 1960s that aerosol deodorants came around and it wasn't until around the mid 1960s that deodorant had become the norm for teenage boys.

All of this being said, it's pretty understandable why high school boys in the 1950s would've wanted to, or in most cases have been required to shower after gym class. Essentially, deodorant enabled boys to stop showering after gym class. Now, I am not implying that deodorant is a bad thing, but anyone can clearly see the impact that the introduction of deodorant would've had on communal showers.