Why are so many Young Men so shy about Nudity?

[longtime lurker]

It has always fascinated me that in American films women’s breasts and men asses are acceptable but nothing more. In Europe full nudity is totally acceptable. We allow egregious violence to be show in all its gory detail but certain form of extreme violence is not allowed in Europe. I’m with the Europeans on this one.

 

I know I am going way off topic here, but this reminds me of the evolution of nudist documentaries.

 

Filmed 1932 (released '33) from mostly the back-end

 

[MEDIA=dailymotion]x1qli03[/MEDIA]

 

Meanwhile the Australians were accepting of some peekaboo frontals as long as they belonged to "wild men"

 

 

1954... just a montage of clips from the one title that caused the biggest ruckus at the time

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90x2rPcPEIQ

 

1965... finally the volleyballs were removed

 

[MEDIA=dailymotion]x5dvz1j[/MEDIA]

[+ WilliamM]

Now that sounds like a porn fantasy!!

 

.I knew few of the guys before the being assigned to new barracks, especially the kid who wrote "eat me" on the cap. Sadly, we hitched into Saigon and settled for French food instead. He had never been to the Saigon zoo so did not know we had to feed the animals on our own.

 

We had just time left in Vietnam, so we did not rent a hotel room, or see a movie. Too dangerous, and too close to finally leaving Southeast Asia. I wish I saved bis eat me cap because he left first.

Edited August 7, 2018 by WilliamM

[Sean Y]

When I was younger, I was more insecure - didn’t want people to stare at me because I was too skinny, too small, uncircumcised, too whatever.

Now that I’m older, I figure no one’s going to look at me, especially with all the hotties around.

As for pictures of me naked, haa haaa, why?

Beauty is wasted on the young and dumb - haaa haaa. If I could do it over, I would take tons of naked selfies so when I’m my age again, I’ll have proof how hot I was. My friends joke that Mother Nature hate old people - she makes us old, fat, ugly and impotent. Haa haa

[+ WilliamM]

News: Novak Djokovic just won the US Open Tennis Turnament in New York.

 

At smaller tournaments, the male players often shower next to the mens room. Example: tournament in Aptos near Santa Cruz, CA.

[Zapped]

I was just thinking about this earlier this evening, when I was showering in the otherwise empty locker room at the college where I have taught for over 30 years.

 

Back in the 1980s, there would be both faculty and students changing and showering in the locker room and using the sauna nude. Now, the students have their own locker room with individual shower stalls with curtained changing areas. And the sauna was removed after it gave out from old age and lack of maintainance.

 

During the day, especially at lunchtime, faculty and staff still change and shower together and almost everyone is comfortable with being naked around each other.

 

Sometimes I’m nostalgic for the old days and the sense of community that comes with non-sexual nudity. But in these post-Sandusky, #metoo days, I am relieved that there is rarely a student in the shower area, and I find I’m now uncomfortable when there are high school or younger kids in the locker room when I’m even briefly naked. I have no idea how anything, even just being naked in the shower, might be misinterpreted. Friendly banter sitting naked with athletic students in the sauna? Who knows what someone might make of it. I wouldn’t even want to hang out naked with younger colleagues in the current climate.

 

When I took showers after gym class in middle and high school, it never crossed my mind that a coach or teacher might be interested in me sexually. And I’m sure it was not a concern to my parents. Now, who knows? After Jerry Sandusky, everyone is suspect to some degree or another.

 

Separate from that, while most of us got over being naked around other guys in school and Y locker rooms, or in the service, and soon found it liberating, some didn’t and were traumatized. In the 60s and 70s it was too bad for them. Now it just can’t be done. So generations have now grown up never having had to take showers with others, suspicious that their coaches and teachers might be interested in them sexually, and aware that cell phone and hidden cameras are almost ubiquitous.

 

And, ironically, so many of them send naked photos of themselves to each other.

 

Anyway, I did enjoy the naked college jocks while it lasted!

[BasketBaller]

Many good reasons given here but I'll offer another-- with smaller families, fewer people have grown up sharing a room. My 2 brothers and I all shared a room for a time, and a bathroom, we were naked in front of each other nearly every day. My son at the Naval Academy shared a room with his twin and a bathroom with him and their older brother all his life. (Their end of the upstairs hall was pretty uncivilized most of the time.) His two roommates never shared a room with anyone. My son told us all one of them changes in the shower stall, and they both joke about how comfortable my kid is being naked in front of them. At one point their proposed motto for the room was "He's Naked Again."

[+ WilliamM]

Showering in basic training and/or more advanced training and in war zones may not have changed at all.

 

Not sure of military stationed in Europe because nobody seems to have posted about it in the 1960s

[+ WilliamM]

Boys still share bedrooms and bathroom, especially in less affluent families. When I was in the Army, guys from blue-collar familier were a bit more used to sleeping naked.

Interesting to know you have several sons.

[+ sniper]

Showering in basic training and/or more advanced training and in war zones may not have changed at all.

 

Not sure of military stationed in Europe because nobody seems to have posted about it in the 1960s

But we now have an all-volunteer military and it's a less universal experience than it was 50 years ago when successive generations of men faced the draft.

[+ sniper]

Boys still share bedrooms and bathroom, especially in less affluent families. When I was in the Army, guys from blue-collar familier were a bit more used to sleeping naked.

Interesting to know you have several sons.

 

The average family size today is FAR smaller than it was prior to widespread birth control and legal abortion. The vast majority of people I know under 30 have 1 or no siblings.

[gallahadesquire]

Many good reasons given here but I'll offer another-- with smaller families, fewer people have grown up sharing a room. My 2 brothers and I all shared a room for a time, and a bathroom, we were naked in front of each other nearly every day. My son at the Naval Academy shared a room with his twin and a bathroom with him and their older brother all his life. (Their end of the upstairs hall was pretty uncivilized most of the time.) His two roommates never shared a room with anyone. My son told us all one of them changes in the shower stall, and they both joke about how comfortable my kid is being naked in front of them. At one point their proposed motto for the room was "He's Naked Again."

 

[see Basketballer's Signature]

 

"Things are more like they are now than they ever were before." DDE, a.k.a. Ike, a.k.a. President Eisenhower.

[+ WilliamM]

But we now have an all-volunteer military and it's a less universal experience than it was 50 years ago when successive generations of men faced the draft.

 

Are you, or have you ever been, in the military?

[+ sniper]

Are you, or have you ever been, in the military?

No. And I wasn't questioning that people in the military are less uptight about nudity. I'm just saying that of my father's generation, pretty much all of them had served because there was a draft. Now I know very very few people my age who have served.

[+ WilliamM]

The average family size today is FAR smaller than it was prior to widespread birth control and legal abortion. The vast majority of people I know under 30 have 1 or no siblings.

No. And I wasn't questioning that people in the military are less uptight about nudity. I'm just saying that of my father's generation, pretty much all of them had served because there was a draft. Now I know very very few people my age who have served.

 

When I was discharged from tbe Army, the military was not even close to being a universal - to the point that I had trouble finding friends who were even vaguely interested.

[BabyBoomer]

Interesting to know you have several sons.

 

Since you didn't quote anyone, I'll assume that was directed to @BasketBaller.

 

~Boomer~

[Guest europeanman]

Nude beaches are a concentration point of ugliness. On a second thought all beaches are.

[+ bashful]

Nude beaches are a concentration point of ugliness. On a second thought all beaches are.

 

That's why I stick to the poolside bar.

[Guest europeanman]

That's why I stick to the poolside bar.

I do exactly the same. The one with the hottest staff.

[+ WilliamM]

Nude beaches are a concentration point of ugliness. On a second thought all beaches are.

 

No.

[Guest europeanman]

No.

Could you pls name one that is not?

[+ WilliamM]

Could you pls name one that is not?

 

Several nude beaches in, or near, Santa Cruz, CA.

[Guest europeanman]

Never been there unfortunately. But based on the obesity I have seen in the US (with the exception of Manhattan), I will rather stay away from the beach

[+ Gar1eth]

I never liked being naked in a group when I was in school because I was fat. I didn't even like to wear shorts because my thighs were so chubby. Same thing thru most of my adulthood. But due to my solitary nature, the matter never came up very frequently.

 

I got over this a bit when I started hiring escorts and occasionally went to the bathhouse. But I don't go to the bathhouse very often. And I'd never go to a nude beach. Or if I did, I'd never strip.

 

Gman

[Zapped]

I never liked being naked in a group when I was in school because I was fat. I didn't even like to wear shorts because my thighs were so chubby. Same thing thru most of my adulthood. But due to my solitary nature, the matter never came up very frequently.

 

I got over this a bit when I started hiring escorts and occasionally went to the bathhouse. But I don't go to the bathhouse very often. And I'd never go to a nude beach. Or if I did, I'd never strip.

 

Gman

 

I think this gets at at least part of the core of this cultural shift. When I was in junior high school, I don't think anyone cared enough about the overweight guys and guys with very small penises being made fun of. It was just a life-is-tough sort of thing. If you're fat, if you've got a small dick, you're going to be made fun of, and that's that.

 

We are much more aware of kids being traumatized now. Today's parents are much more likely to demand that their kids not be put in embarrassing situations.

 

As junior high approached, I felt embarrassed about the idea of changing and showering with other guys. A friend a year older than me said I'd get over it and get used to it, and he was right, even though I also had body-image issues (they didn't get better or worse with clothes on or off). Virtually all of us were uncomfortable at first, but we took off our clothes, took a quick shower, and soon it was normal.

 

Now the culture has changed. Most guys under 40 never had to take a naked shower with other guys, so they never got over it and used to it, and are still uncomfortable with it. Add in the hypersensitivity about sexual harassment, and the very real phenomenon of (some) coaches and athletic trainers sexualizing their relationships with students, and the current understanding that there are gay guys everywhere . . . well, today's emphasis on privacy is understandable.

 

I also can sympathize with guys who just want to enjoy the steam room or sauna at a gym without being hit on or watching guys mess around with each other. So I understand why some gyms have closed theirs and why my college didn't replace our old wood saunas when they wore out.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

I thought about this thread the other day when I was at an Equinox gym in London.

 

I overheard a young(er) member complaining to the front desk about 'naked guys in the locker room.' I guess he had his skirt in a twist over the fact that some men didn't have a towel on when they were shaving at the sink or whatnot. I found it funny.

 

I don't know what the front desk did about it, but fuck... It's a men's LOCKER ROOM.