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I recently read the following on another Message Board, and I'm wondering....is this really true? Did it really happen this way back then?
And if yes, how will I ever get over the dissappointment of missing out on all that eye action while huddling in our US individual and sterile showers after PE...??> ::-) ::-)
> I though members might be interested in the following which I wrote
> for another group folowing a question about group nudity promoting
> bonding. It relates to my expereicne at Public School in the UK in the
> 1950s/60s.
>
> Corporate nudity certainly does promote bonding- hence why rugby
> players have communal baths af ter the game etc. While a quick five
> minutes in the showers after games or PE at school was neither here
> not there, the fact that we swam nude meant those who like me opted
> to do swimming as a main sport (I could not stand cricket!) meant we
> had a particular bond as a swim team which derived form the fact that
> we trained together naked 2-3 times a week reinforced by the fact
> that when it came to matches/ competitions we appeared together
> naked, often in front of clothed spectators.
>
> (I found this very eerie at first but got used to it)
>
> This manifest itself particularly when it came to having team
> photographs. Despite the accepted tradition of nude swimming in my
> school (and quite a lot of others), it was not considered appropriate
> for boys to appear naked in official photographs of swim teams etc,
> so for swim team photos we donned Speedos, bathrobes or tracksuits
> for the sake of the camera. Almost invariably however the team then
> asked the photographer to do a second shot just for the team members
> with everyone naked (and no covering your privates!).
>
> Unofficial photography around the swimming pool was discouraged but
> for some of the big events the cameras came out. The year I was a
> prefect my house won the interhouse water polo. Both teams playing in
> the fianl were completly naked (as we were for all other internal and
> some external competitons - we wore colered arm bands so the referee
> could distinguish us!). At the ned we dried off and put bathrobes on
> and there was a tradition the captain (me in this case) went up and
> received the cup nude. This I did and having recieved it I then had
> to turn round, face the spectators and hold it above my head in the
> traditional fashion, stark naked, and allow the flash bulbs to pop
> etc.
>
> Sure enough after the match the team wanted a picture of us all
> wearing our winners medals and ONLY our winners medals.
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
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I'd like to hear about this traditions too.
Sounds like you stumbled onto something interesting David.
Brian
To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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Of course it was like that. Communal showers with up to 20-30 boys under four shower heads. Nude swimming, the lot.
It wasn't even thought of as unusual. Watch the film "If...". The first half is a documentary.
Nudity is just that. Nudity. It only becomes a problem when you get aroused"!
I suspect the photos were an exaggeration though. And try a racing dive with dangling genitals! You need one arm forward the other protective!
By the way I am off on vacation in just iover a week. The beaches in Lanzarote have no hard and fast rules about clothing. So I go naked. So do many others.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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I still say you should try Crete once though instead of those damn Canary Islands. 
You may not get to go swim naked (unless you do it late at night when it's all dark), but the mediterranean water is so warm and clear and lovely and greek food rocks and the architecture is really cool, and there's tons of old ruins and stuff to see (like 3000 y/o civilization on that island!), I wish everyone could get to go there at least once in their lives.
Anyway, nuff of my ranting, hehe! Have fun you & the family!
{{{Hugs}}}
-L
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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I've been to Crete. It was not the type of place I like. Too Cretan 
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Guest
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On fire! |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 2344
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Wow, are you really serious?!?! Communal showers and NAKED swimming!
Okay, I live in Canada, and I dunno, it might not be the same all over this country but I can tell you that in the school I went to, we had private cubicles…everyone went in with a towel around the waist…everyone came out with a towel around the waist. And even getting changed we had all mastered the so-called “towel dance” and nothing was ever shown. In fact walking around exposing yourself would have been regarded as almost as bad as looking.
Mind you, someone who graduated from my school a few years ago told me that there used to be communal showers around 10 years ago but they’ve since removed all trace of them (I graduated this year so I would have had no idea that there had been anything like that only 10 years ago if I hadn’t been told.)
It was a mixed blessing though, sure I would have liked to have seen a whole lot more than what I did, but if we had had communal showers and naked swimming and the whole lot, I don’t think I would have been able to keep my eyes to myself!
--Pyro.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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It has all changed now. "The Children's Act" saw to that. But it was communal and very interesting.
Wasn't the towel dance such a waste of energy? Just drop the thing. Let them look!
Doesn't seem to affect my gym, though
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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saben
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On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
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Sounds like my school, although we didn't have private showers the only times I ever showered were when we had swimming and then most people showered in their bathers and did towel dancing in order to ensure nothing was exposed.
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
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Guest
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On fire! |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 2344
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How sad for all of you. You have missed so much bonding.
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i graduated from an american school in 1983, and at that time we had communal showers and everyone was REQUIRED to shower after every gymn class. my school was tiny, and the pool of candidates for looking at rather small, so it got a bit boring after awhile. "Oh yeah, there's Fred...yup, still the same Fred i've seen every school day since sixth grade... ." But the muni pool had gang showers too, and that was much more fun. ;-D
"I promise not to try not to fuck with your mind/ I promise not to mind if you go your way and i go mine/promise not to lie if i'm looking you right in your eye/promise not to try not to let you down."
--Eve6
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Query for the MB Brits, please! 
Enquiring mind want to know!!! 
Yaay you Timmy for your vacation! 
