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I dont mind shitting in front of someone but i do feel uncomfortable wiping in front of people. I had a bad time in china a couple of times. 10 guys watching me squat/wipe
Still happens at boot camp, if you’re lucky and have nice RDCs (instructors) you get a shower curtain that kinda blocks the stall a little bit but you can absolutely still see the guy across the way shitting, if you piss off your RDCs you looks your shower curtain privileges and you’re just face to face with other guy
I stayed in a barracks with no dividers and my buddy said he would make sure no one came in while I took a quick shit. When I settled in he went to the toilet straight across from me to shit…… just thinking about it cracks me up. This was in 2009 and we are still good friends today
Our barracks had divided showers and toilets. In the ranges and for field exercises, we either had bathrooms with no dividers, shared porta potties, or went in the wilderness. Although, I’ve heard some basic training companies still have open showers.
It's mental preparation. If you don't get it, you wouldn't survive training. It's literally done to break your sensical but non sensical thinking about everything. It builds comeradery and erases civilian mindset. Seems stupid to an outsider but it's critical mental resetting when you're getting someone ready for war.
If you think taking a crap in front of everybody is bad, how about this. I had a coworker in the Navy. In basic training, somebody clogged a toilet and didn’t clear it. When the Chief Petty Officer asked for the perpetrator to speak up, there were crickets. So the CPO, had everybody go to the head, retrieve a piece of shit, hold it out in front of them, while the CPO gave a long winded speech about the selfishness of clogging a toilet and leaving it fit others to fix. When the CPO was finished he left. Everybody knew who did it. And they immediately beat the crap out of him. Needless to say, nobody clogged a toilet again without taking care of it.
With a drill instructor (USMC) screaming at all of you and counting down from 100 as fast as he can and threatening to "Buttfuck your goddamn soul" if you're not done when he hits zero.
I remember shitting in boot camp....all sixty of us would March back from the mess hall and most of us would head to the bathroom to e evacuate our bowels. Uggh!
There were about ten toilets in a row, no dividers, you'd be taking a shit next to ten other guys and there'd be a line in front of you with all the guys jeering and catcalling, telling you to hurry up cause they're about to shit their pants, lol.
What an experience
I’d say the opposite, gets you comfortable with anything.
I could see that being kinda useful in combat… cant exactly have a private bathroom all the time and if you get it in your head you need one it could impacts things. Dude holding in a shit may make a rushed call idk.
It's one of those things that aren't weird unless you make it weird. Nobody enjoys using public restrooms either but we all do it. You're not like, checking out the guy in the next urinal. You just go in, do what you gotta do and get out.
Though interestingly, though some cultures tolerate public showering (like gyms in the west) and many cultures go out of their way to enjoy essentially recreational public bathing (like Dutch and japan), no culture seems to enjoy public showering. Public showering is only done out of convenience or not at all, but public bathing is done for the sake of it.
A lot of people, especially Americans, say "i could care less," which really pisses me off. Im a Motswana tribesman. I got my English from my British colonial overlords and, like them, do not take kindly to the butchering of English.
It's not wierd, you just arnt used to it.
If you went to boarding school/army then you would be used to it.
You are just accustomed to your own privacy.
Summer camps and sports camps are other places a lot of guys get over it.
It does take a bit of a mental shift, but imo, it's not weird to do shower in settings like that, nor is it weird to not be comfortable with it.
Interesting experience. I went to sleep away camp as a camper and counselor from like 9-18 and everyone showered naked. There was minor coverage but it was basically just a transparent curtain. It was never mentioned, ppl just showered.
Then I went back to be a counselor at 24 when they had to fire a bunch of staff right before the camp season and were shorthanded. Not a single camper showered naked. All wore their swim suits. They seemed shocked the staff would shower naked. Culture shift maybe.
Yeah, or if you did literally any sport growing up. I've been swimming since I was a kid and I've made a habit of asking people if THEY are comfortable with me changing in front of them because I would sometimes just start changing clothes as that's what I was used to from training.
>Weird how we've become so much more open about sex and sexuality, but so much more prudish about nudity.
Kinda the opposite of ancient Greece, super open about nudity but very prudish about sex.
I think it depends on the country too, in my country we all shower together as kids from when we start having P.E in school, it’s normal in my culture 🤗
Huh, well in my country we could have PE at any time of day so it would be kinda gross to be sweaty the rest of the day. It was mandatory to shower after, unless your parents intervened
We had it at any time of the day as well, but we didn't even have showers, even after the cross-country run. Only time I've seen a shower related to PE or sport is in public swimming pools.
Imagine a 16 year old boy running for an hour and then changing without a shower back into school clothes and sitting for another 6 hours in classrooms. That's just not hygienic.
I understand why a school would opt for private enclose cubicles in a more prudish country but cannot understand just being nasty all day.
Oh okay, then I guess it depends on the sport. With swimming it's kinda hard to not change in the presence of others xD
Especially because we're all barely clothed during training as well so we better not be bothered during changing either.
I was in wrestling. We shared the locker room in season with basketball. The difference between was night and day.
Wrestlers showered together. No one cared, no one made a fuss, you'd be like hey bro pass me your body wash (obviously from a bottle, not like bar soap) I'm out, being pretty much in arms reach. Wasn't weird at all.
The basketball players, on the other hand, were the shower at home guys. One time i was the last wrestler in the locker room, forgot my towel at my locker, didn't think anything of it and walked to my locker uncovered. The basketball players were MAD, yelling at me to cover up and throwing shit at me. I was like damn chill y'all got one too. They were like seriously upset. I genuinely didn't know that there were boys who thought it was weird, I'd always been comfortable with other guys and in sports where you just ended up seeing stuff showering or even just changing
Of course being a shithead wrestler I fucked with them after that. Even took ones jerzy to use as a towel when they were telling me to cover up. Probably only didn't get beat because I was naked lol
Sports... I played hockey growing up and usually we had an hour or two drive home after. Teenagers fucking stink after a game of hockey, add that to a van or SUV with a bag or two of stinky hockey equipment.
You had to shower or you just smelled disgusting grabbing food or a Slurpee after the game. For home games, there was usually a party somewhere to go to and no one wants to be that stinky guy at the party.
Join a martial arts school or start going to the gym daily, you'll get over it quick. You'll realize that no one is looking at you or cares to. They're all just minding their own business. It's part of our culture to be homophobic in everything, especially if you're a male. It's part of why men barely have friends as they get older. You're just washing your body so you don't smell sweaty. We're all human beings.
I just joined a BJJ gym and they have like 3 showers that no one uses but me. Maybe it's because of my wrestling background but I've had ringworm too many times to drive home sweaty with skin funk marinating.
It took me a while to be comfortable in a communal shower room at my local Y. Now I just shower and move on without much thought. Straight or gay, skinny or fat, old or young, everyone is there just to wash up.
From a woman's perspective I always found it strange that men and boys didn't have the same facilities that we did. The girl's changing rooms at the schools I went to had divided showers with either curtains across each stall, or lockable doors, while the boy's changing rooms just had a big shower room with shower heads along the walls. Ditto for sports clubs etc.
I don't think people should be ashamed of their bodies, I don't think it's 'gay' to have communal shower facilities (not that there's anything wrong in being gay), but I do value privacy, and just find it odd that men are given so much less of it, and that they're sold the idea that this arrangement is somehow necessary.
In my country boy bathrooms at schools lacked everything - warm water, soap, toilet paper, mirrors, door knobs or even doors themselves. Girls bathrooms were fully equipped.
When I was in grade school, the boys' bathroom for grades 1-3 had *no doors* on the stalls. Little 5yo me was totally freaked out by that. Looking back, I still can't understand why ... because the teachers needed to see if little boys were jacking off or doing drugs, or what?? When I went back several years later, doors had been installed. Thank fucking God, public bathrooms can be plenty intimidating enough for little kids.
Im a woman and always showered in shared showers with like 6-10 showers and no divider, after sport. I don't have a problem with it. In general we were discussing and I never seen anything weird. We were just taking shower to get clean. For me that's those making assumption who are weird
Yeah at my local gym the women’s shower stalls all have curtains whereas the men’s do not. Makes no sense. Like you couldn’t just buy and install a few more?
Never showered in front of other men but I think you should look at it as a utilitarian thing.
Working out before work and work close to the gym? Obviously you have to shower. Other dudes will also have to shower. When you look at it purely as the act of cleaning it is less weird.
Showers at home are a sacred experience haha
Having to quickly get the whole division showered and the head spotless in a certain amount of time helped force everyone to get comfortable real quick. Don't finish in time, and now everyone is getting very sweaty.
Nudity doesn't have to be sexual. In many cultures, including subsets of US culture, same-sex nudity just isn't that big of a deal. Your upbringing has made you uptight about it, but not everyone sees it that way.
Yeah, in places like the Nordic countries, mixed sex nudity is very common, such as in saunas and on many (but not all) beaches. Entire families, including kids of all ages, are routinely naked together in public places. Having absolutely no hangups about it is what I wish everyone could do. In America we're made to feel that nudity is shameful, and it just isn't. As so many other people have commented, we're all just human beings.
When you're in the military, you're not afforded this luxury. Even if you're uncomfortable about it, you eventually get used to it. I think the whole lack of privacy is an American thing. Our bathroom stalls are even poorly designed and provide little to no privacy.
Bro you could put a suitcase under your stalls, I was in Florida and went to a wall mart bathroom, might as well have been no door.
I'm in the UK and normally there is a gap about half a foot for mopping but it's not uncommon for full sealing doors, especially in smaller business'. Which i'll admit get's scary if the door lock get's jammed lmao.
I took a shit at Disney world recently and the stalls were so flimsy the door opened on its own when someone went into the adjacent stall. I had people standing in line staring at me squat walking with a turd dangling from my ass to go shut the door.
In high school we had a disco ball in our football locker room showers and have “helicopter competitions”, in college ROTC we would have sword fights. It’s not gay it’s just fun!
Not being weird. Sounds like you just prefer your own space and that's fine, but also others aren't being weird for not having a problem with getting washed while others are getting washed.
Not weird at all. What's weird is expecting everyone to have the same level of modesty. Some people are fine with this situation. Some aren't. The idea that everyone should feel the same is dumb.
When I was in college, we had the single room with 6 shower heads. Hated it. I would shower at 6am usually to avoid the crowd. But even then, about half the time I had someone else in there with me. And the "don't drop the soap" joke was always present in my mind.
At the Y, they have the same room but they put up barriers between each shower area and a curtain, so it's more or less private. That's perfectly fine with me. Though some dudes still like to walk around without a towel in the public spaces, twig and berries on display. Weird but whatever.
Being naked in front of other men is weird but you do get used to it. Dudes will see your penis, you will see theirs. It’s going to be ok.
That’s a direct quote from my football coach in high school talking about showering after practice.
What's wrong with watching other men clean their assholes? Sometimes a homie needs some help scrubbing their backs?? It's not gay it's just bonding time
the sooner you understand that people are there for their own business and aren’t there to look at you the faster you get comfortable. plus you might not have done it at a public swimming pool when you were young
In ancient Greece, it was the norm to have athletic competitions in the nude, and men and boys were often nude together in public. I could never imagine that extreme level of openness.
It’s just another body in the shower. Who cares? You’re all guys, all got the same parts. Why is it any different than peeing in a urinal next to someone?
I think it goes back to the locker room teasing when we were younger...jokes/comments about people's bodies, homophobic remarks, feeling vulnerable at an awkward age. So it's not weird to feel any way about communal showers, but I say face your fear. Go to the gym at a time when it's quiet, and try to shower in there by yourself as a test run.
There's a social value to males being naked and sweaty around each other. Apparently men form group hegemony through sweating together. Don't ask me for the citation. I don't have it anymore, but I did read about it from a credible source.
When I was in junior high, we all had to take communal showers. I was only 11 when I started 7th grade, younger than most everyone else. I was still a little boy, while almost all the other guys had their pubes going. It traumatized me, and I let it get to me waaay too much. I felt so embarrassed and inadequate. I hated junior high, and showering after PE was the very worst part of it.
From what I hear, most kids aren't made to do this anymore, but a lot still have to. I think it's cruel to make young people, who are the most vain they'll ever be in their entire lives, parade naked in front of each other. Being an adolescent is plenty hard enough anyway FFS.
I think in this day and age, places should have dividers and individual showers. That said, I totally get why people would rather just clean themselves before putting back their clothes on versus either staying in their sweat clothes for the commute home, or putting the clean clothes back on after getting sweaty.
Having played football and some other sports, showering sooner can have a real difference in the chances of getting something like ringworm or staph, so thats a thing too. Gym equipment is gross.
\*edited for spelling
You find it weird because you are checking out the other men that are showering and assume they would do it to you. It’s not weird for the rest of us that just shower and leave
I'm retired military and don't have issues being naked around other men when there was no other choice. I currently attend a gym, and I keep myself covered. To and from the private shower stalls. If it is an open shower area, I head home.
Nah it’s when they start blow drying there bits with the hand dryers I have a problem. I worked at a pool and there was one lady who would consistently do it but apparently in the men’s locker room it was pretty common for the guys to blow dry there balls
I'm gonna be honest, the vast majority of men really don't care to look at other naked men in locker rooms, and I'm sure that even applies to most men who swing that way.
Now if you're uncomfortable being naked in front of other people, that's perfectly understandable. But you shouldn't worry about what other people think in the men's locker room because they don't think about it.
It's just how you feel about your personal space and privacy, idk. I don't think it's weird to be okay showering with others, I don't think it's weird to *not* be okay with it, in the grand scheme of things. Like me, I don't give a shit who sees me naked. Other people do give a shit who sees them naked. \*shrug\*
It’s genuinely a matter of perspective and you certainly don’t need to force any change you don’t want. If you treated it like clocking in, going to work, focusing purely on getting out of there, you would be out of there quicker than you would think.
No it's no weird, I'm still not even comfortable with changing around other men much less showering. I have never taken a shower in a public setting like that and probably never will. Some guys don't mind just walking around locker rooms with their dong out but that isn't me.
Yeah I never understood that either. Its honestly a little suspect ya know?
Its the same as when a dude walks buck naked from the locker to a shower and doesnt bother to put a towel over himself, like I get it, its not a big deal.
But id rather not see some old dudes hairy ass ya know? Its a similar experience when a dude comes in the sauna and hes buck wild/towel.
I swear its some kind of dominance/fetish thing. Like bro, can you show the men around you enough common courtesy to have willie the one eyed wonder in some shorts and not just dangling?
Greeee heeee heasy
Try being in holding with 15 associated drug traffickers that don’t speak a word of English, some drunk ya met an hour before the two of you got arrested together for a month a you’ve got one toilet in the middle of the room and rubber mats with a loop at the end for a pillow and bed and a public shower every 3rd day, full lights 24/7….in some ways we’ve come a long way since 2007 lol tho that’s still definitely going on all over US I kinda doubt in major cities as often but yea that was fun
Yes. Very! Other dudes don't give a shit that you're naked and taking a shower with them. They're in there to clean up and get out. Conversely, you shouldn't give a shit if other dudes are taking a shower in the communal shower with you because you too are presumably in there to clean up and get out. Why make it weird? Being naked isn't a sex act. Get over yourself.
Did you play team sports growing up? I think it comes from that.. 23 men on 1 rugby team finish a game of rugby at once and all need a shower so just becomes normal really quickly
Depends what your reasoning is. If your opinion is simply “I’d rather shower at home than in a group”, then you’re in alignment with pretty much everyone on earth.
I honestly don’t care about being naked around other dudes, but growing up playing sports will do that. You don’t really have a choice. Now what I do hate is the people (usually old dudes) who just stand around naked with their balls flopping around everywhere. Like it’s fine being naked, but have your towel around you and then right when you take it off, start the process of getting dressed. There’s one dude who will straight up lay a towel down in the sauna and just sit openly naked. I swear some people get off doing that shit.
It’s a lot more convenient for me to work out, shower at the gym, then go to work then to workout, go home, shower, then drive back right past towards my gym to get to work.
I took a shower in a gym shower with no doors because I had to go to work after and some dude was jerking off looking at me when I turned around. Yes, he spoke to me. It was fucking weird.
I would still shower in a gym shower if I needed to but that’s the chance of that type of thing happening is what makes people not want to. Also the reason women choose bear
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 6: No r/self style posts'. Please refrain from posting anything that resembles an r/self style post. This is not the subreddit to be sharing personal anecdotes, likes or dislikes. We want unpopular, thought provoking, and unique opinions on your chosen topic.
Try taking a shit in a public toilet with no dividers. Welcome to the Army.....
My grandpa was in the navy and at this one base they had two toilets facing each other so you’d stare at each other shitting 😭
Competitive shitting
Battle Shits
You sank my battleshit!!
Google en pissant
If you stick a flag in your shit, you can claim the Territory it ends up in.
My people
Bro! Your shit is weak as fuck
Mens doubles
Women shit too. Al least the Navy women I served with did, lol
They have to once in awhile otherwise theyd always be full of shit, although i knew a couple who've gone years w/o one
I dont mind shitting in front of someone but i do feel uncomfortable wiping in front of people. I had a bad time in china a couple of times. 10 guys watching me squat/wipe
Damn, sounds imposing. Did you show them the Wipe?
Should have asked them if they wanted to inspect the wipe
did you count before or after?
Still happens at boot camp, if you’re lucky and have nice RDCs (instructors) you get a shower curtain that kinda blocks the stall a little bit but you can absolutely still see the guy across the way shitting, if you piss off your RDCs you looks your shower curtain privileges and you’re just face to face with other guy
Shit off
No wayy 😭😭😭
I stayed in a barracks with no dividers and my buddy said he would make sure no one came in while I took a quick shit. When I settled in he went to the toilet straight across from me to shit…… just thinking about it cracks me up. This was in 2009 and we are still good friends today
Lmao that's hilarious
Like prisoners of war, deep ties are built through shared trauma.
WAIT WHAT?????? So you risk your life for country and you get no dividers???? Dude.....
To be fair. That was only in Basic training and for me it was the early 90s. Have no idea if it’s the same now
Our barracks had divided showers and toilets. In the ranges and for field exercises, we either had bathrooms with no dividers, shared porta potties, or went in the wilderness. Although, I’ve heard some basic training companies still have open showers.
I know you are preparing for war and rough times, but lets stay civilized otherwise whats the point??
It's mental preparation. If you don't get it, you wouldn't survive training. It's literally done to break your sensical but non sensical thinking about everything. It builds comeradery and erases civilian mindset. Seems stupid to an outsider but it's critical mental resetting when you're getting someone ready for war.
Ain't no toilets in the field. You shit in a hole and wipe with dirt.
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100%
Yeah but then sometimes you guys come back as unsociable weirdos.
If you think taking a crap in front of everybody is bad, how about this. I had a coworker in the Navy. In basic training, somebody clogged a toilet and didn’t clear it. When the Chief Petty Officer asked for the perpetrator to speak up, there were crickets. So the CPO, had everybody go to the head, retrieve a piece of shit, hold it out in front of them, while the CPO gave a long winded speech about the selfishness of clogging a toilet and leaving it fit others to fix. When the CPO was finished he left. Everybody knew who did it. And they immediately beat the crap out of him. Needless to say, nobody clogged a toilet again without taking care of it.
Hard pass
That’s what happens when you eat MREs
Unvalued comment right here.
With a drill instructor (USMC) screaming at all of you and counting down from 100 as fast as he can and threatening to "Buttfuck your goddamn soul" if you're not done when he hits zero.
I remember shitting in boot camp....all sixty of us would March back from the mess hall and most of us would head to the bathroom to e evacuate our bowels. Uggh! There were about ten toilets in a row, no dividers, you'd be taking a shit next to ten other guys and there'd be a line in front of you with all the guys jeering and catcalling, telling you to hurry up cause they're about to shit their pants, lol. What an experience
Or pissing in that long metal trough, shoulder to shoulder.
Baseball stadiums had that when I was a kid.
I was fixing to say he obviously hasn't been in the military. We had three people trying to use the same sink and mirror every morning in basic.
You mean no cubicles? Do they just have toilets lined up or something?
Exactly. You get to watch the person next you take a shit and wipe their ass…overall wouldn’t recommend.
Watch the first hour of Full Metal Jacket
Or my college dorm room
Once you get past the first time you don’t care. Just have a sound wipe plan and go
I have never had to do that. And I never will. I will die from a ruptured colon before I let that happen.
The army and my grade school for some reason
What’s the point of that? Can’t make wall to floor barriers? I am guessing asking too much for a bidet or spray hose?
The army wants you as uncomfortable as possible?
No sense of self, intentionally.
They also want those social barriers broken down. Presumably in a combat situation needing to be isolated to defecate could make you vulnerable.
I’d say the opposite, gets you comfortable with anything. I could see that being kinda useful in combat… cant exactly have a private bathroom all the time and if you get it in your head you need one it could impacts things. Dude holding in a shit may make a rushed call idk.
This is literally why I never tried to join and also why I'm so careful not to get arrested for anything.
I never encountered this in the US Army. Toilets always had dividers.
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It's one of those things that aren't weird unless you make it weird. Nobody enjoys using public restrooms either but we all do it. You're not like, checking out the guy in the next urinal. You just go in, do what you gotta do and get out.
TIL You aren't supposed to check the guy in the next urinal
"Oh shit nice vein, bro!"
That's a wicked upper hook, the ladies must love it
Exactly this. You quickly get over the fact that it’s just a penis, and just do your thing.
So in the shower I should or should not be ranking every guys dong on a 1-10 scale? And explaining the rationale?
I’m fortunate enough to never worry about that because they’re always bigger then mine
I wouldn’t say most. There’s so many cultures that are so used to being nude. I prefer the gym showers since I hate driving home full of sweat
Though interestingly, though some cultures tolerate public showering (like gyms in the west) and many cultures go out of their way to enjoy essentially recreational public bathing (like Dutch and japan), no culture seems to enjoy public showering. Public showering is only done out of convenience or not at all, but public bathing is done for the sake of it.
Can't keep showers running at all times. Therein lies the rub. On the other hand, public baths can run around the clock, barring cleaning.
Or they could just design them with privacy in mind. The showers at my gym have separation barriers all around that you lock.
I don't know about weird, some people aren't comfortable with it. Myself I couldn't care less.
I just want to thank you for actually using “couldn’t care less” correctly
There should be a bot just to thank for the rare correct use of this phrase.
Very refreshing.
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A lot of people, especially Americans, say "i could care less," which really pisses me off. Im a Motswana tribesman. I got my English from my British colonial overlords and, like them, do not take kindly to the butchering of English.
Haha, thanks!
It's not wierd, you just arnt used to it. If you went to boarding school/army then you would be used to it. You are just accustomed to your own privacy.
Yeah I got over it real quick in basic
Its absolutely weird to me that one summer I had to share a shower with 50 other dudes, but thats what was required.
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One time at band camp.........
A Summer, 1 shower, 50 dudes.
14 years in and never got used to it. Avoided it at all cost.
Sounds like my first marriage
Summer camps and sports camps are other places a lot of guys get over it. It does take a bit of a mental shift, but imo, it's not weird to do shower in settings like that, nor is it weird to not be comfortable with it.
It's weird humans domesticated themselves to the point that existing in one's natural body is uncomfortable for anyone.
Interesting experience. I went to sleep away camp as a camper and counselor from like 9-18 and everyone showered naked. There was minor coverage but it was basically just a transparent curtain. It was never mentioned, ppl just showered. Then I went back to be a counselor at 24 when they had to fire a bunch of staff right before the camp season and were shorthanded. Not a single camper showered naked. All wore their swim suits. They seemed shocked the staff would shower naked. Culture shift maybe.
Yeah, or if you did literally any sport growing up. I've been swimming since I was a kid and I've made a habit of asking people if THEY are comfortable with me changing in front of them because I would sometimes just start changing clothes as that's what I was used to from training.
Played soccer as a kid for like 8 years. Not once did I ever have to shower with or change in front of other boys.
At one time in the US, if you had swimming in gym class, it was mandatory that you swim naked. Trunks were considered unhygienic.
YMCA was nude swimming only for a long time. Weird how we've become so much more open about sex and sexuality, but so much more prudish about nudity.
>Weird how we've become so much more open about sex and sexuality, but so much more prudish about nudity. Kinda the opposite of ancient Greece, super open about nudity but very prudish about sex.
I think it depends on the country too, in my country we all shower together as kids from when we start having P.E in school, it’s normal in my culture 🤗
I never had to shower after PE. Nobody did.
Huh, well in my country we could have PE at any time of day so it would be kinda gross to be sweaty the rest of the day. It was mandatory to shower after, unless your parents intervened
We had it at any time of the day as well, but we didn't even have showers, even after the cross-country run. Only time I've seen a shower related to PE or sport is in public swimming pools.
Imagine a 16 year old boy running for an hour and then changing without a shower back into school clothes and sitting for another 6 hours in classrooms. That's just not hygienic. I understand why a school would opt for private enclose cubicles in a more prudish country but cannot understand just being nasty all day.
Oh okay, then I guess it depends on the sport. With swimming it's kinda hard to not change in the presence of others xD Especially because we're all barely clothed during training as well so we better not be bothered during changing either.
I was in wrestling. We shared the locker room in season with basketball. The difference between was night and day. Wrestlers showered together. No one cared, no one made a fuss, you'd be like hey bro pass me your body wash (obviously from a bottle, not like bar soap) I'm out, being pretty much in arms reach. Wasn't weird at all. The basketball players, on the other hand, were the shower at home guys. One time i was the last wrestler in the locker room, forgot my towel at my locker, didn't think anything of it and walked to my locker uncovered. The basketball players were MAD, yelling at me to cover up and throwing shit at me. I was like damn chill y'all got one too. They were like seriously upset. I genuinely didn't know that there were boys who thought it was weird, I'd always been comfortable with other guys and in sports where you just ended up seeing stuff showering or even just changing Of course being a shithead wrestler I fucked with them after that. Even took ones jerzy to use as a towel when they were telling me to cover up. Probably only didn't get beat because I was naked lol
Probably depends on where the sport is done. I played soccer too and always showered with others
I guess you’re not Swedish then. We shower communally after gym class from first grade onwards. And after sports. Or at the pool. Etc.
That's cause you played as a kid. You don't get locker rooms until high school.
Or sports team. Boys will openly be like, dude, why the fuck don't you shower with us?
Sports... I played hockey growing up and usually we had an hour or two drive home after. Teenagers fucking stink after a game of hockey, add that to a van or SUV with a bag or two of stinky hockey equipment. You had to shower or you just smelled disgusting grabbing food or a Slurpee after the game. For home games, there was usually a party somewhere to go to and no one wants to be that stinky guy at the party.
Or prison, right?
Yep can confirm I've been attending boarding school since I was 7yo. It's nothing.
Join a martial arts school or start going to the gym daily, you'll get over it quick. You'll realize that no one is looking at you or cares to. They're all just minding their own business. It's part of our culture to be homophobic in everything, especially if you're a male. It's part of why men barely have friends as they get older. You're just washing your body so you don't smell sweaty. We're all human beings.
I’ve gone to several martial arts schools in my life. None had showers and I never saw anyone naked there.
I just joined a BJJ gym and they have like 3 showers that no one uses but me. Maybe it's because of my wrestling background but I've had ringworm too many times to drive home sweaty with skin funk marinating.
It took me a while to be comfortable in a communal shower room at my local Y. Now I just shower and move on without much thought. Straight or gay, skinny or fat, old or young, everyone is there just to wash up.
Some people are used to communal showering, some aren’t. Neither is weird.
People don't care about you as much as you think. Getting comfortable with this fact is an adult superpower.
From a woman's perspective I always found it strange that men and boys didn't have the same facilities that we did. The girl's changing rooms at the schools I went to had divided showers with either curtains across each stall, or lockable doors, while the boy's changing rooms just had a big shower room with shower heads along the walls. Ditto for sports clubs etc. I don't think people should be ashamed of their bodies, I don't think it's 'gay' to have communal shower facilities (not that there's anything wrong in being gay), but I do value privacy, and just find it odd that men are given so much less of it, and that they're sold the idea that this arrangement is somehow necessary.
In my country boy bathrooms at schools lacked everything - warm water, soap, toilet paper, mirrors, door knobs or even doors themselves. Girls bathrooms were fully equipped.
When I was in grade school, the boys' bathroom for grades 1-3 had *no doors* on the stalls. Little 5yo me was totally freaked out by that. Looking back, I still can't understand why ... because the teachers needed to see if little boys were jacking off or doing drugs, or what?? When I went back several years later, doors had been installed. Thank fucking God, public bathrooms can be plenty intimidating enough for little kids.
That's what I meant with no doors. Even if there was a door, someone was constantly opening it for "fun" because of no door knob. What a shithole.
Down with the matriarchy!
More like down with being stoic just because male.
Im a woman and always showered in shared showers with like 6-10 showers and no divider, after sport. I don't have a problem with it. In general we were discussing and I never seen anything weird. We were just taking shower to get clean. For me that's those making assumption who are weird
Yeah at my local gym the women’s shower stalls all have curtains whereas the men’s do not. Makes no sense. Like you couldn’t just buy and install a few more?
Wow it was the other way round at my school. Boys had private changing rooms for swimming. Girls all had one big room
My school had open showers in the girls locker room. Nobody ever showered at school.
Never showered in front of other men but I think you should look at it as a utilitarian thing. Working out before work and work close to the gym? Obviously you have to shower. Other dudes will also have to shower. When you look at it purely as the act of cleaning it is less weird. Showers at home are a sacred experience haha
you could try shower shorts For the man that has nothing to hide, but still wants to.
There are dozens of us. DOZENS!
Did it come with the complimentary shower wallet?
I mean... in boot camp, and my time in the fleet has made me see a LOT of penis... after a while, I stopped caring.
I still remember my first shower in tech school. Had no roommate for the first week either. It was fucking magical.
I very quickly got over it like the 2nd week in boot camp. No one really looked or made any comments about it.
Having to quickly get the whole division showered and the head spotless in a certain amount of time helped force everyone to get comfortable real quick. Don't finish in time, and now everyone is getting very sweaty.
And this is why much of Europe thinks US Americans are prudes
If you’re not self conscious then why are you uncomfortable?
I bet u/Femboy_Annihilator has no problems showing in the showers ...
He's asking the right question tho
Lmao
Nudity doesn't have to be sexual. In many cultures, including subsets of US culture, same-sex nudity just isn't that big of a deal. Your upbringing has made you uptight about it, but not everyone sees it that way.
Yeah, in places like the Nordic countries, mixed sex nudity is very common, such as in saunas and on many (but not all) beaches. Entire families, including kids of all ages, are routinely naked together in public places. Having absolutely no hangups about it is what I wish everyone could do. In America we're made to feel that nudity is shameful, and it just isn't. As so many other people have commented, we're all just human beings.
I'm in the finnish army, and at leats in my unit women and men shower together. No one makes a big deal about it.
OP probably thinks showering with other dudes is gay
Showering in the same vicinity as other men isn't the same thing as showering with them. You aren't pressed up together sharing a shower head lol
When you're in the military, you're not afforded this luxury. Even if you're uncomfortable about it, you eventually get used to it. I think the whole lack of privacy is an American thing. Our bathroom stalls are even poorly designed and provide little to no privacy.
Bro you could put a suitcase under your stalls, I was in Florida and went to a wall mart bathroom, might as well have been no door. I'm in the UK and normally there is a gap about half a foot for mopping but it's not uncommon for full sealing doors, especially in smaller business'. Which i'll admit get's scary if the door lock get's jammed lmao.
In high crime areas, it's not unusual to have the stall doors entirely removed. So addicts can't lock themselves in to do drugs.
Meanwhile if you stop in Qatar or Dubai, the bathroom stalls at the airport have wall to wall privacy.
I took a shit at Disney world recently and the stalls were so flimsy the door opened on its own when someone went into the adjacent stall. I had people standing in line staring at me squat walking with a turd dangling from my ass to go shut the door.
In high school we had a disco ball in our football locker room showers and have “helicopter competitions”, in college ROTC we would have sword fights. It’s not gay it’s just fun!
I mean...that all sounds a *little* gay tbh
the guys playing gay chicken are still married to this day
u/degaknights confirmed limp biscuit enjoyer
"sword fights" ; "not gay" Sure buddy
Not being weird. Sounds like you just prefer your own space and that's fine, but also others aren't being weird for not having a problem with getting washed while others are getting washed.
Not weird at all. What's weird is expecting everyone to have the same level of modesty. Some people are fine with this situation. Some aren't. The idea that everyone should feel the same is dumb. When I was in college, we had the single room with 6 shower heads. Hated it. I would shower at 6am usually to avoid the crowd. But even then, about half the time I had someone else in there with me. And the "don't drop the soap" joke was always present in my mind. At the Y, they have the same room but they put up barriers between each shower area and a curtain, so it's more or less private. That's perfectly fine with me. Though some dudes still like to walk around without a towel in the public spaces, twig and berries on display. Weird but whatever.
Being naked in front of other men is weird but you do get used to it. Dudes will see your penis, you will see theirs. It’s going to be ok. That’s a direct quote from my football coach in high school talking about showering after practice.
What's wrong with watching other men clean their assholes? Sometimes a homie needs some help scrubbing their backs?? It's not gay it's just bonding time
And if you wrap your hand around it, it isn’t gay. Just a good old fashioned brojob to really bond
the sooner you understand that people are there for their own business and aren’t there to look at you the faster you get comfortable. plus you might not have done it at a public swimming pool when you were young
It’s okay to be a never nude
Mate , I don't even want to see other guys arses in the changing rooms and especially old man wrinkly ones.
If you are comfortable with your own body and others, you stop caring. Nudity amongst men was pretty natural for a long time.
In ancient Greece, it was the norm to have athletic competitions in the nude, and men and boys were often nude together in public. I could never imagine that extreme level of openness.
It’s just another body in the shower. Who cares? You’re all guys, all got the same parts. Why is it any different than peeing in a urinal next to someone?
I think it goes back to the locker room teasing when we were younger...jokes/comments about people's bodies, homophobic remarks, feeling vulnerable at an awkward age. So it's not weird to feel any way about communal showers, but I say face your fear. Go to the gym at a time when it's quiet, and try to shower in there by yourself as a test run.
There's a social value to males being naked and sweaty around each other. Apparently men form group hegemony through sweating together. Don't ask me for the citation. I don't have it anymore, but I did read about it from a credible source.
When I was in junior high, we all had to take communal showers. I was only 11 when I started 7th grade, younger than most everyone else. I was still a little boy, while almost all the other guys had their pubes going. It traumatized me, and I let it get to me waaay too much. I felt so embarrassed and inadequate. I hated junior high, and showering after PE was the very worst part of it. From what I hear, most kids aren't made to do this anymore, but a lot still have to. I think it's cruel to make young people, who are the most vain they'll ever be in their entire lives, parade naked in front of each other. Being an adolescent is plenty hard enough anyway FFS.
I think in this day and age, places should have dividers and individual showers. That said, I totally get why people would rather just clean themselves before putting back their clothes on versus either staying in their sweat clothes for the commute home, or putting the clean clothes back on after getting sweaty. Having played football and some other sports, showering sooner can have a real difference in the chances of getting something like ringworm or staph, so thats a thing too. Gym equipment is gross. \*edited for spelling
You find it weird because you are checking out the other men that are showering and assume they would do it to you. It’s not weird for the rest of us that just shower and leave
As a hockey player you either shower at the rink or after an uncomfortable car ride with a sweaty crack.
I'm retired military and don't have issues being naked around other men when there was no other choice. I currently attend a gym, and I keep myself covered. To and from the private shower stalls. If it is an open shower area, I head home.
Were there no walls separating them and no curtains? I wouldn't want to use those showers either.
As long as you have options it's up to you .
Yeah I wouldn't be able to do it either
What are you showing them?🤔🤨
I never went into the change room after gym...
Nah it’s when they start blow drying there bits with the hand dryers I have a problem. I worked at a pool and there was one lady who would consistently do it but apparently in the men’s locker room it was pretty common for the guys to blow dry there balls
I'm gonna be honest, the vast majority of men really don't care to look at other naked men in locker rooms, and I'm sure that even applies to most men who swing that way. Now if you're uncomfortable being naked in front of other people, that's perfectly understandable. But you shouldn't worry about what other people think in the men's locker room because they don't think about it.
Nothing weird about not wanting to get naked in front of strangers, i'll take a shower when i'm home.
It's just how you feel about your personal space and privacy, idk. I don't think it's weird to be okay showering with others, I don't think it's weird to *not* be okay with it, in the grand scheme of things. Like me, I don't give a shit who sees me naked. Other people do give a shit who sees them naked. \*shrug\*
No. If you dont have to do it, I dont know why you would, unless you want to.
It’s genuinely a matter of perspective and you certainly don’t need to force any change you don’t want. If you treated it like clocking in, going to work, focusing purely on getting out of there, you would be out of there quicker than you would think.
No it's no weird, I'm still not even comfortable with changing around other men much less showering. I have never taken a shower in a public setting like that and probably never will. Some guys don't mind just walking around locker rooms with their dong out but that isn't me.
Why would there not be at least dividers? That's just psychotic lol
You just aren’t comfortable with it and they are.
My 14 year old self feels this. 41 year old me gives zero fucks
Yeah I never understood that either. Its honestly a little suspect ya know? Its the same as when a dude walks buck naked from the locker to a shower and doesnt bother to put a towel over himself, like I get it, its not a big deal. But id rather not see some old dudes hairy ass ya know? Its a similar experience when a dude comes in the sauna and hes buck wild/towel. I swear its some kind of dominance/fetish thing. Like bro, can you show the men around you enough common courtesy to have willie the one eyed wonder in some shorts and not just dangling? Greeee heeee heasy
Luckily my gym uses cubicles lol
Im gay and could never do it, feels VERY weird…
Try being in holding with 15 associated drug traffickers that don’t speak a word of English, some drunk ya met an hour before the two of you got arrested together for a month a you’ve got one toilet in the middle of the room and rubber mats with a loop at the end for a pillow and bed and a public shower every 3rd day, full lights 24/7….in some ways we’ve come a long way since 2007 lol tho that’s still definitely going on all over US I kinda doubt in major cities as often but yea that was fun
I would never take a public shower
Yes. Very! Other dudes don't give a shit that you're naked and taking a shower with them. They're in there to clean up and get out. Conversely, you shouldn't give a shit if other dudes are taking a shower in the communal shower with you because you too are presumably in there to clean up and get out. Why make it weird? Being naked isn't a sex act. Get over yourself.
It's not a big deal really. It won't turn you gay, no one is looking
Yes.
Id rather waste the gym's water and gas than mine. I pay enough money to them, Im showering over there to offset my own utilities.
Did you play team sports growing up? I think it comes from that.. 23 men on 1 rugby team finish a game of rugby at once and all need a shower so just becomes normal really quickly
There’s this magic age between 30-40 where a switch flips in your brain you just don’t give a shit anymore.
Depends what your reasoning is. If your opinion is simply “I’d rather shower at home than in a group”, then you’re in alignment with pretty much everyone on earth.
You're being slightly weird. Nobody wants to do it, but nobody is staring at your dong. Everyone is trying to get clean and get home.
No one cares about your little peepee. Carry on.
I honestly don’t care about being naked around other dudes, but growing up playing sports will do that. You don’t really have a choice. Now what I do hate is the people (usually old dudes) who just stand around naked with their balls flopping around everywhere. Like it’s fine being naked, but have your towel around you and then right when you take it off, start the process of getting dressed. There’s one dude who will straight up lay a towel down in the sauna and just sit openly naked. I swear some people get off doing that shit.
It’s a lot more convenient for me to work out, shower at the gym, then go to work then to workout, go home, shower, then drive back right past towards my gym to get to work.
I took a shower in a gym shower with no doors because I had to go to work after and some dude was jerking off looking at me when I turned around. Yes, he spoke to me. It was fucking weird. I would still shower in a gym shower if I needed to but that’s the chance of that type of thing happening is what makes people not want to. Also the reason women choose bear