I do not think nude swimming in schools was ever common because swimming pools in public schools were uncommon. Swimming nude at the YMCA was actually the practice up until perhaps 30 year or so ago but not necessarily universal. In schools that did have pools it was likewise not universal by any means for swimming to be nude and it was more likely in the northern states, for some reason. The pool I used nude was in Massachusetts.
It is well worth pointing out that, yes, things have changed, and that would be true at any time in history, believe it or not. By no means were those short shorts that were commonly worn by boys in high school for gym and sports in the 40s through the 60s always worn like that. For that matter, beyond a certain point, there was no gym in schools. You might recall that at one time the only acceptable tennis attire was white flannels, which included long pants.
Americans have some silly (and harsh) rules in some places but I tend to get a little defensive when I hear Americans called prudes. Some certainly are but there is prudish and prudent--and imprudent, not to mention modest and immodest. The thing is, who gets to say what's what.
At this distance from the days our our youth, much less from the days before we were born, it is easy to forget what the issues of the day were that people stayed up late nights worrying about. As an example, we took showers after gym class in high school (I have no idea what girls did) and they were done in haste. But there was never any mention or even thought of all these boys being naked together, however briefly, but Lord, how we did worry about athlete's foot, the dreaded social disease among high school boys in my day.
I mentioned the group nude swimming session that I was in when I was in Massachusetts, where I spent the summer working on a farm with a bunch of other teenage boys. That in itself (working, that is) is also something that has disappeared, apparently. But two days after the event, it was ancient history. There were girls there, too, mostly from the same place we were from. We had a few social meetings but they lived somewhere else and although they worked for the same company, also worked somewhere else. They used the same pool but on a different pool. They wore swimsuits.
We used to have a much better developed sense of a double standard than we do now but our standards have been lowered or something. It is curious that boys were expected to swim nude at the Y and sometimes elsewhere for the flimsiest of reason but never girls. Just the same way that girls wore those jeans or pants that buttoned or zipped up the side, rather than the front, which would have been overly masculine. At one time (this is a long time ago) there were bars on every corner, every town had a red light district (supposedly), and gambling dens and dancehalls were common. We've come a long way. All that's left are the bars. They outlast everything.
|