Nude Swimming at the YMCA

2/13/02

[pabianice]

All the recent news about pedophiles and child pornography has made me wonder about how our local YMCA was run back when I was a kid (late 1950s - early 1960s). No bathing suits were allowed in the Y pool. We kids (boys only, ages about 8-14) simply swam naked. Seemed a little odd at the time, but kids generally do as adults demand without thinking too much about it. There were men there, too, but they wore bathing suits.

Did anyone else have the same experience at the Y when they were kids? Did naked swimming serve some health purpose, or was advantage being taken of us?

[b4its2late]

Nope. No nude swimming at the Y when I was there. But we did have some yuks on the high school swim team....

The pool would go from 4 feet shallow end to 12 feet, and there was quite a slope on the bottom of the pool. Everyone wore speedo goggles (and speedo suits, of course).... makes it easier to see the wall..

A few of us would go to the bottom of 12 feet, remain there a bit (a good set of lungs was a prerequisite), and drop trough. The ones on the deck would see someone doing laps pull up quick in the lane and start laughing-choking due to the "moons" that would be observed rising as the swimmer swam, on the surface of the pool, over the slope that went from the 4 foot side to the 12 foot side......

Oh well.

[b4its2late]

Figured that this information (#41 in particular) might be of some benefit.....;-)

[TontoKowalski]

I'm going to ask for a new locker. That guy just gives me the creeps.

[Prodigal Son]

but it has given me the creeps...

As well it should.

I don't want to confront the guy

Think about this- if he is gay, what he is doing is at least the equivalent of you going into the women's shower and ogling a woman but in fact it's worse. At least if you walked into the women's, she would recognize that fact but if he is gay he is ogling you covertly and in a situation where you should normally feel safe.

I understand you wanting to not confront the guy (God forbid it were your imagination) but you have to in some fashion. The guy, if true, has fixated on you and is probably obsessed with this idea of being near you without you realizing. His own obsession is probably clouding his judgement to the point that he hasn't realized you've caught on to him. Or he just doesn't care- which is worse. Or even WORSE, this obsession might lead him to think you're teasing him or that you don't mind.

Try wearing a Straight Pride T'Shirt. Or if that's too bold a statement maybe go into the shower and then after a moment if he follows, act as if you've forgotten something and leave. If he follows you out of the shower, you can then re-enter with your forgotten item. If he re-enters well you've pretty much nailed him haven't you? If that's still not enough do it on back to back days. He should have gotten the hint at that point. If not, you don't even have to be overly ugly about it. Just ask him why he's following you into, out of and then back into the shower. If he wants to play stupid, you can say "Well, whatever- but I'm definitely NOT gay and wouldn't appreciate it very much if someone were and doing such a thing- I'd probably go to the management if that were the case".

That should put a stop to it and then you could go to the management afterwards if it didn't. But Dude, you can't just let that go.

[stlrocket]

In the late 50's & early 60's, it was not only at the YMCA - but at High School as well (1964)

I didn't realize how "advanced" and "free" we were back then!

[TontoKowalski]

You're killing me. I should add the disclaimer that my preference of moniker does not imply any resemblance to the hero of that joke.

Of course, it doesn't imply any non-resemblance, either.

I will neither confirm nor deny, but the weirdo with the locker next to mine could provide testimony with Paula-Jones-quality clarity. :)

[ArrogantBustard]

Get yourself a diver's knife, and hang it from your neck. Sound like this guy is a real perv. Wonder if he would "get" the message?

AB

[Zorobabel]

Ask the management for a locker change, and explain to them why you want it. I'm sure they want their patrons to feel confortable using the facilities and will accomodate you. From what you described, this dude is definitely "warm for your form."

[Neets]

How many MOONS ago was that ????

[TontoKowalski]

The other weird thing is that this guy is old. I'm 40, and he's got to be 60 if he's a day, although he dyes his hair. I just never in a million years thought I'd be locker-room-stalked by an aging homo. I'm married, and always wear my band, so you'd think he know that I'm not his type.

I appreciate that you all don't call me a paranoid nut. Your comments have confirmed for me that I'm not imagining this. I am definitely asking for a locker change, and telling management why I want it.

[Oschisms]

From your story, I would have figured you were in your early twenties, still able to pass as a teenager.

[HamiltonJay]

Most public pools men swam nude up until the 20s and 30s of this century.

[SouthCarolinaKit]

Before the public school mandate to promulgate homosexuality, men could behave like men (or boys like boys) without all the sexual innuendos. Just another example of the damage done by the liberal, educrats. They have no idea how to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic; they've given up on attempting to teach English grammar, but they sure know alot and can even demonstrate how to put on a condom, sexual harrassment, 'white men are bad,' girls are all good, and any other social perversion that can screw up the kids!

[skateman]

Before girls swimming suits, boys always swam in the buff, for centuries upon centuries. Such a rule in the depression years would have made the pool accessible to the poor who couldn't afford swim suits, or who's underwear might have well caused them ridicule. The question is not really why they did not allow swimsuits, but why you did know.

But why did I know what? What about before the depression years? How about in the 13th century, could people afford swim wear then? I take it you never took Dulcinea swimming. Your post really makes no sense...........

[DonkeyHodee]

30% of Americans were unemployed in the depression. Before that there were still a lot of places where kids went swimming the old fashioned way with the built in perversions of today's so fashionable and hip society. There was once a thing called childhood. Now, there's only child hoods.

[Zorobabel]

What is Dulcinia swimming? Also according to a google search I did, bathing suits were not invented until 1830 by someone named Bruzzi, so I guess people swam skinny up until then.

[b4its2late]

Many moons...............sometimes shot comets too, but you don't wanna know.............

[TrailDude]

There's a simple answer to this, one I was totally surprised at: it comes down to filters and fibers.

Back when, pool filters were pretty basic; they used sand to run the water through. The way the filters were built, fiber, especially from natural materials, would collect in the interstices between the sand grains. There, they could develop quite vigorous colonies of microorganisms, many of which just weren't healthy for human skin, eyes, and ears.
What about chlorine, you ask? Keeping it high enough to kill all that crap was also not good for human skin, etc. Besides, when it killed the stuff, that stuff was still in place, clogging the sand... and ready to feed more bugs in turn, if the chlorine wavered. But even if nothing grew there, the filters clogged, and did a poor job, and weren't easy to flush out.
In short, wearing clothes in the pool was a quick route to either chlorine counts high enough to drive people away, or disease.
This didn't depend on anyone using the pool being infected to set off; the fiber collected the dead skin cells and body oils we shed in vigorous activity, and that material inevitably housed all sorts of bacteria that could put people in the hospital if they thrived.

So the reason was indeed hygiene -- but it was to protect the swimmer from the pool more than the pool from the swimmer.

That's the sort of thing you learn when you're going to be head lifeguard at a public pool, with responsibility for pool chemistry, filters, and pumps.
Today's filters, commonly using diatomaceous earth, can be easily flushed, and are componentized so filter baffles with a problem can be easily removed and replaced.

My dad still doesn't believe that --; he says that swimsuits were a conspiracy by neo-Puritan clothing industrialists intent on expanding their sales.

[dfwgator]

All the recent news about pedophiles and child pornography has made me wonder about how our local YMCA was run back when I was a kid (late 1950s - early 1960s). No bathing suits were allowed in the Y pool. We kids (boys only, ages about 8-14) simply swam naked. Seemed a little odd at the time, but kids generally do as adults demand without thinking too much about it. There were men there, too, but they wore bathing suits.

And people wondered why the Village People chose to do a song about the YMCA.

[HamiltonJay]

The kids and adults swam naked almost exclusively not too far back in the past before that.

Of course back then adults looked after kids, even those that weren’t there own, and nearly all kids had 2 parents, and the ones that didn’t those around looked out for all the more.

That, and the fact you got caught doing that stuff, people didn’t go to the cops over it, you just quietly disappeared.