Then, your gym teacher tells you to strip naked and walk onto the pool deck with your nude male classmates. Yes, those same classmates you sit next to in math. But for more than 50 years even until , by some accounts , this was standard policy at public high schools in Chicago and across the country.
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But the Y played a big role in naked swimming in the U. Many men over fifty experienced this when they were boys. So it is worth writing more about the YMCA and the cultural and religious background of its physical education programs. It was intended to be a place of refuge for those seeking employment in the commerce and industry of the city. It specialized in helping with employment searches, providing a place of accommodation, and offering Bible study and prayer meetings.
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Apparently, in , as part of a freshman requirement for the city college he attended, all male students took a swim class at the YMCA. He remembers the instructor telling them something about it being more sanitary that way. Was his swim teacher some pervy old dude? Or was this requirement legit? And if it was, why? How would not wearing a bathing suit be any less sanitary than skinny-dipping? He chuckled.
Fascinating article. The times were definitely different. I'm not entirely sure you could "sell" gender-separated nude swimming today, even if it was still needful for sanitation and safety. In Japan, by contrast, gender-separated nude bathing in "onsen" is still quite popular and socially acceptable. I would suggest that it is just a difference in cultures. During the summers in the 50's there were swim classes for boys at Wright Junior College where I learned to swim. After showering we walked into pool area single file where on of the "lifeguards" would check to see that we actually washed. One test was to rub a finger on our skin to see if any dirt rubbed off sort of like an eraser - use you imagination on the how the test was conducted. The test was conducted after we stepped through a pan of what I assumed was chlorine. I thought the test was weird then and thinking about it now it seems even weirder.
