Bearofdistinction

Beautiful - Worthy of publication

I use a thatch rake or a garden trovel -- Honey Im home -- TIme to plant the seeds

https://www.vocativ.com/culture/fun/fairly-recently-ymca-actually-required-swimmers-nude/index.html Until Fairly Recently, The YMCA Actually Required Swimmers To Be Nude <img alt='FUN' style='margin:0 auto;max-width:100%;width:100%;position:absolute;z-index:10;' src='https://media.vocativ.com/photos/2015/01/YMCA-Nude-Swimming-PosterBW2423731783.jpg' /> By Eric Markowitz Apr 29, 2014 at 3:21 PM ET Last week, I was eating lunch with a friend and her dad in Manhattan on 23rd Street, directly across from what used to be the McBurney YMCA, when my friend’s dad had a sudden recollection. Apparently, in 1968, as part of a freshman requirement for the city college he attended, all male students took a swim class at the YMCA. For reasons somewhat unclear to him at the time (and, we joked, probably repressed until now) the Y had a particular rule: If you’re going to swim, you must swim nude. PublicAccessVideos[/paste:font] Beam explains that the first recreational indoor pool in America opened in the Brooklyn YMCA in New York in 1885. Because swimsuits back then were made of wool, and their fibers would clog the pool’s relatively unsophisticated filtration systems, nude swimming was enforced to make sure the pool didn’t break. By the 1920s, there were other, more comfortable swimming alternatives that didn’t shed fibers. However, nude swimming continued. The rationale this time around was that nude swimming was more hygienic. I asked Beam how so. “There was the visual inspection,” he says, noting that part of the aquatic director’s job duty was to inspect the men before they jumped into the pool. The inspectors weren’t just checking for venereal diseases. The idea was to look for any open wounds or other indications that the swimmer might have some infectious disease. Beam’s narrative checks out. In the 1922 edition of “The Sanitation of Bath Houses” by William Paul Gerhard, nude swimming is encouraged alongside a pre-swim “physical examination.” “Much can be done to keep the water in a swimming pool sanitary by an efficient supervision and management of the bathers,” Gerhard wrote nearly a century ago. “A physical examination of the bathers, while nude, to exclude the diseased, accomplishes much good, but it is difficult to enforce, except in YMCA buildings and in school or military baths.” a photo of young boys in a shower as part of a spread on the concept of democracy. “Taking a camera into a boys’ locker room at school and photographing teenage boys completely naked while showering, then, printing that photo taking up an entire half page for the world to look at was considered perfectly appropriate,” writes a historian on the subject. “The published letters to the editor immediately subsequent to this edition never revealed any reader voicing concern about it.” Sentiments began to change around the early 1960s, however. Societal norms shifted and some boys—and their parents—began speaking up. In 1961, in the small town of Menasha, Wisconsin, high school boys and their parents petitioned the school board to allow boys to wear swim trunks to swim practice. “The boys were affected morally, physically and psychologically by forcing them to swim in the nude,” one of the mothers noted at the meeting. But the petition was voted down. The all-male board claimed swim trunks would be prohibitively expensive. They also claimed that swimming nude would build a man’s character. “Physical education considers that this experience is a good one for later life, for example the armed services, where the disregard for privacy is real and serious,” the director of the board noted. In 1961, sentiments began shifting, and more boys were protesting the nude swimming rules. Within the YMCA, there was no national mandate, so each location decided for itself on its nude swimming policies. But Beam believes the tide began to shift in 1961 when Ervin Baugher, the general secretary of the Allentown, Pennsylvania, YMCA reported to an executive YMCA conference that, basically, the reasons for nude swimming—wool fibers and cleanliness—no longer made sense for modern pools, which were then equipped with chlorine and powerful filtration systems. In fact, Baugher said the only rational reason to continue the tradition of nude swimming was “encouraging a proper attitude toward the body.” Nude swimming became less and less common in the mid-1970s, and boys were forever spared the nightmarish experience of strip-down inspections. But nude swimming is sort of an interesting exception to the general pattern of our culture becoming less Victorian as time goes on. Today, if some head of aquatics at the Y suggested naked swimming, let alone tried to actually implement it, they’d probably lose their job immediately. Girls did not have the same requirement. They were forced to wear bathing suits from the beginning. “One of the things that’s fascinating about it as a story is that we tend to assume back then was more puritanical than we are now,” notes Beam. “That’s not necessarily the case. It’s a pretty interesting little narrative about American culture and body image and masculinity.”

In Junior High we had an Indoor Pool -- And Showers --- No nude swimming because the outerwall of the pool was all windows---- But I do recall swimming classes at the local Y - was gender segregated and boys and men swam nude - but the instructors wore suits or jocks or both

A Brief, Humiliating History Of Swimming In Gym Class The only thing worse than swimming at school is swimming naked. LIFE Magazine High school gym class can be mortifying. Unless you’re the punk who gets off on pelting volleyballs into pretty girls’ faces, the experience promises unlimited opportunities for humiliation. For many students, the only place more anxiety-inducing than the gymnasium is the pool. If you were lucky, you went to a high school without swimming facilities. If you were unlucky, you were forced into participating in the most hated gym unit. Swim season meant weeks of sitting in academic classes with skin clogged with chlorine and crispy hair that dampened the back of your shirt. It meant too much time spent in a musty locker room and swimsuits that never really dried, but molded by the end of the semester. Has school-mandated physical fitness always been this annoying? Suit up and let’s take a deep dive into the history of swimming in gym class. Janesville Daily Gazette, 1967 A “naked in public” nightmare come to life In 1885, the Brooklyn YMCA opened America’s first recreational indoor pool and required men to swim nude. Wool swimsuits were potential traps for disease and bacteria, and fibers clogged the pool’s simple filtration system. At the time, nude swimming seemed like the most sensible option (even though incorrect proportions of chlorine had a tendency to burn swimmers’ bare skin). It wasn’t long before school administrators followed suit. Per their pool management guidelines, The American Public Health Association (APHA) required male public school students to swim nude between 1926 and 1962. cutanduncut.tumblr.com | Ines Vuckovic for Dose After pools installed more advanced filtration systems, swimming nude became redundant. The YMCA and public schools phased the practice out in the 60s and 70s, but it lived on longer than was strictly necessary. It’s possible these administrators thought nude swimming built cohesion between young men, fostering a bond through mutual chagrin. The negative emotional consequences of swimming nude Unsurprisingly, mandatory nude swimming had a lasting impact on its unwilling participants. “Could there be a more frightening scenario on Earth than forced skinny dipping at school against your will?” Bill Flanigin blogged in The Huffington Post. Apparently not: participants remain haunted by the memories and many still write or post on chat threads, seeking comfort from fellow sufferers. NPR commentator, Robin Washington, attended a Chicago public high school in the 70s. His story of swimming naked at school sounds like a scene ripped from an 80s comedy: “The school’s folklore included the tale of Coach Valentine using a lifesaving pole to remedy an embarrassing moment of a backstroking swimmer. The coach swatted him on the midsection and shouted, ‘Get that periscope down!’” The only two people to ever have fun in a high school pool. | It’s A Wonderful Life Nude swimming also left room for hijinks. Tilmon Brown attended school in Mobile, AL during the late 1960s and he has positive memories of swimming in the buff. “I can remember one day the girls’ P.E. teacher was out sick and they had a substitute that didn’t know the routine. We boys got naked, rinsed off and skipped roll,” he said in an email to dose. “We jumped in only to find the girls were already in the pool swimming. You can imagine the mayhem that ensued.” Pool-related pranks were not gender-specific: my mom attended a public high school in Chicago during the 60s and according to her, girls did their fair share of peeking through the pool door cracks to spy on the boys. Douglass College, 1970 | New Jersey Digital Highway A maroon one-piece in a world full of green one-pieces Unlike their male counterparts, women were always required to cover their bodies during swim lessons. The 1948 State of Illinois Public Health Association pool management guidelines stated that ladies had to don plain tank suits to preserve their modesty. Even so, women experienced their own unique forms of humiliation. The Chicago public school my mom and aunt attended in the late 60s required them to wear swimsuits color-coded by bust size. Women with 32-inch chests wore maroon, 34-inch chests wore navy, 36-inch chests wore red and women with 38-inch chests wore green. Our family is historically flat-chested and my mom and aunt always wore maroon. “Even though you’re with peers, when you’re 14 and have to wear a suit that reflects bust size when you’re flat chested and look like a 12-year-old boy, it’s embarrassing,” my mom said. She added: “We all had to wear the same sack of polyester, but I was still self-conscious. The girls who were more shapely still looked good in their red and green suits — and they were the ones with boyfriends.” I can empathize. I didn’t have it as rough as my older relatives, but no one escapes the swim unit unscathed. My insecurities began in the locker room where I changed in front of more developed girls. The decaying one-piece I borrowed from my older sister did little to cover my nipples, and I dreaded the walk from the locker room to the pool where the boys sat on bleachers, waiting. For women, self-esteem takes a hit during the swim unit. Body image issues aside, female biology makes swimming complicated. If you didn’t swim for a few days and sat on the bleachers instead, everyone knew you were on your period. And period stigma is no joke, folks. Just keep swimming Today, the idea of students swimming nude is unfathomable, thanks largely to our society’s obsession with modesty and sexualizing young bodies. Still, swim gym continues to provide fodder for high school horror stories. Maybe you escaped slightly disgruntled and celebrated the day you could finally return to curling your hair. Maybe school swimming is a memory that stuck with you for well over forty years, chafing you like an ill-fitting suit. Regardless of your swim experience, we are all united by our mutual distaste for this odious — but necessary — physical fitness unit.

https://medium.com/dose/a-brief-humiliating-history-of-swimming-in-gym-class-350a58e3e5d6

Sometimes just for fun!

As kid my parents only gave us condoms when they were out of Halloween candy

I had such a huge cruch on Robbie Benson for YEARS!!! http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/1340293/Ode-To-Billy-Joe-Movie-Clip-He-Sure-Is-Cute.html http://everydayheterosexism.blogspot.com/2012/09/robby-bensons-six-pack.html in Manpanties

Collected for UNICEF or Tricked for Treats? I did both! Then I found that Billy Joe McCallister was giving head underneath the Tallahachee Bridge!

My Front Door does not have a window - but my Back door has wrung its share of Bells! <rimshot> yes pun intended!

Never my favorite - But rest in peace Dorcas you wild and Crispy Gal!

I believe it stops in a Cage Match - With Maze Runners - Locked in a Thunder Dome - Then Purged in to a Running (Not Rimming) Man Competition --

WOOOOOOOFFFF --- The Houseboy I have always wanted

Pretty Lil Pissy Party

+ MY WHAT A PERFECT LANDSCAPE HYDRATION SYSTEM -- With a Great Hat!

Pretty Sure he Escorts as Tony Bishop based in NYC

Lucky Boy - Invite those Guys over for Beers!

YA - I am Snarflugen and this is my brother Pisslugen

Baby Taint nothin better than a bottle of NightTrain Wine with a pack of Dollar Store Oatmeal Cookies --- $4 and six people are piss fuck drunk and licking the neighbor dogs balls! And First in line is that Maloventka Tramp - people round the trailer park say she is the Fist Lady --- NOT WITH THOSE NAILS!!!!!!

Im Supposed to Watch My Eyes Too?????

You know there seems to be a perfect gap there - where I think more than a few of my favorite things would . . .

Pretty - Kiddy Fuzzy Pitty!