Male Bonding2
For those who like to explore the concept and dynamics of male bonding. Men are socialized in different ways in different societies, and so many men would like to have close male friendships, yet after spending time establishing a career, primary relationship and live in general, find themselves without close male friends. Many of us want male friends with whom we can share openly without...
- created by AZdesertman
Times are Changing and so is changing in the Locker Rooms
Return to DiscussionsMaybe there is hope. I just got back from the gym, where there were all sorts of naked guys in the showers, the locker room and the sauna (which was really busy tonight with our sub-zero temps). It's a university gym where you see athletes, profs with their kids, people of all ages from the community. Yes, there are some who keep their suits on in the sauna, some who do the towel dance when changing, but many who are comfortable in their skin. The nice thing is that regardless of state of dress we generally talk with each other in the sauna, across age gaps too.
Man, I love to skinnydip. I missed out on those YMCA experiences. But even tho I am often the only one who wears one, I am grateful for my little unlined Speedo-type suits for the pools. Nobody seems to mind, the lifeguards always smile and wave. So much better than board shorts. Hope this catches on everywhere.
I think this is one of the major issues with our political system: legislators on both sides of the isle create stupid insignificant laws such as the one alluded to here to "protect" the population rather than spending that energy tackling the bigger issues. It's a political win for them because they have yet another bill with their name on it and in the next election cycle they can tout their efforts to "protect the people". IMHO, too much is being legislated, too many of our freedoms are slowly eroding away! Meanwhile, the real issues go unresolved...
Don't be surprised if ,in the USA, there will be a law that prevents nudity in locker rooms.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f6bYBtt2PQ
I finally was able to cue up the video. What I see is a guy who is terrified; his anger is way out of scale for that situation. I sense terror and you can hear it in his voice. Perhaps terrified of his own curiosity about men's bodies, but then maybe this is a guy who was once preyed upon by an older guy. It's too bad, because that kind of zeal can infect other minds and indeed affect laws. I go to a local gym that will have a big remodel in about a year, and I won't be at all surprised if the gang shower is converted to stalls with curtains.
Glad that my own experience with guys at the gym is so much more body-positive.
What an Ahole... If you are ashamed stay home lol... hell I have nothing to flaunt, but I was never afraid of nudity. You are either comfortable being im your own skin or not. I was visiting my parents over the weekend my wife went out shopping with mom so i jumped in the shower with the door open. When i opened the curtain i saw my dad in the kitchen. I asked him a question and we were having a conversation me nude and him fixing a sandwich neither of us cared. Between the nude resorts, nude beaches, nude cruises and nude house parties I've been to I've seen 1000's of naked people of all shapes, sizes and disabilities
I just viewed the video and this guy is way out of line. It is a locker room for goodness sake. People are nude in a locker room. So what if a man is brushing his teeth in the nude. He has his own cultural norms about nudity that most people dont have. I dont see any Legislative action on this but maybe local gym policy could happen.
There can be no enforceable rule in a change room which has nudity from lockers to showers about where one may or may not be naked and which activities one must dress for. Lots of guys go from gym to work. They shave groom and brush their teeth in the locker room. Getting dressed to do that is absurd.
Reading this thread I don't even want to watch the vid since I know it already too well from the uptight evangelical people I grew up with. I have tried to have an open dialogue about how their views wounded me growing up to be met with hostility and confusion. Now I realize that they are all hurting to some degree. Their wounds became my wounds but I choose to no longer accept them.
They need compassion against their anger and hypocrisy. That's a real stretch for me, to be tolerant of intolerance. However, I believe that the most relevant issue is not their rant topic but their pain, and being open and vulnerable to approach that with them is the only good thing I can do instead of ignoring them. Taking off clothes is the easy part. Being naked to someone's pain is a bigger challenge.
In my own opinion this all has to do with stereotypes. Me being half asian I grew up to some of the you were stereotypes there are as I was bullied as well. Most men are very self-conscious about their penis size when it is soft only because from somewhere someone made it a point that a man's dick size justifies how much of a man he is. I believe this is one of the main reasons why men are so embarrassed to be naked around other men because of the simple comparisons. I for one enjoy looking at men in their natural state I could care less what it looks like erect.