A thought on the nude male competitive swimming traditions of the past

Although I myself missed that whole era by at least a decade, I've read a lot of interesting stories, anecdotes, and personal accounts regarding it. In reading all those various accounts of it from both sides, a thought occurred to me.

Surely the administrators, officials, and spectators had to know that at least some of the swimmers were getting a bit of a thrill from showing themselves, having all those people up in the stands and on the sidelines watching them and looking them up and down? And surely the swimmers had to know that some of the spectators were getting a thrill from watching them? Surely they couldn't have been so clueless or naive as to think otherwise?

What do you guys think?

 

I'm thinking that I never heard of such a thing! Where was this happening?

 

It was an American tradition from the early 1900s until roughly the early 1980s when it finally went completely extinct. It was a requirement for males at the YMCA until the early 1970s, and was practiced at many public and private schools as well. Swim classes and practices were gender segregated, but anyone could attend the actual races, which were open to the public.

It was especially prevalent in midwestern states like Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, etc. which had a higher than average concentration of German and Scandinavian immigrants, who brought their more relaxed attitudes towards nudity with them. Women demanding equal time at the Y's pools as well as the passing of Title IX brought an end to nude male swimming in nearly all accredited learning institutions, as well as the Y. Private membership clubs were another matter, however.

 

Ah, okay, that would explain why (a), I never heard of it despite being a YMCA member in the 1960s and (b) living on the East Coast of the US. I was but a wee lad at the time but I don't seem to remember races at our Y or at any of the others. Maybe we weren't cool like that.

 

In your case it may have been a regional thing. Not only that, but IIRC, some of the later YMCAs were franchises rather than part of the base network.

Anyways, here's some more info:

Why didn’t I get to swim nude at the YMCA?

https://www.************/groups/gcmemories/posts/5788681677885151/

FOR 50+ YEARS THE YMCA & MOST SCHOOLS REQUIRED MALES TO SWIM NAKED! — Trey Speegle

 

Wool bathing suits clogged up the pool filters - a good reason to make guys swim naked. Some of the stuff I read seemed to be an "excuse" to keep young men swimming naked and especially the part where it was said it was easier to observe any disease issues if they were nude. Prudish mothers - not fathers, apparently - cited psychological trauma for boys being made to swim in the nude and if this was true, it was because moms were in charge of teaching modesty and pretty much making us kids ashamed to be naked alone or otherwise.

I "discovered" bisexuality in the 1960s so, um, yeah, swimming with nude guys would have been like heaven to me but, alas, all swimming at our Y was done in swim trunks. Well, as long as someone was watching us. Morality obviously got around to overruling YMCA mandates, but I have to confess that I'd heard of and seen firsthand (and, um, might have participated in) a ton of homosexual behaviors at the Y that seemed to go... overlooked by those in charge. In the 1960s, homophobia was more virulent than COVID-19 and while "everyone" knew what could go on at the Y, again, no one seemed to think it was unusual. My grandmother and godparents got me my membership and made sure it stayed paid and knowing my grandmom? If she knew about the homosexual stuff that happened at the Y, well, she didn't say anything about it and she was a bit of a homophobe seeing that she was a Christian born and bred so, yeah, stuff like that was a mortal sin and serious violation of God's Law.

 

Sadly, being brought up in the UK, I missed all of this but there is confirmation on image searches that this was the case!

I would have LOVED this experience, especially around my early teens when I first became sexually active with a group of my peers!

 

Google the old Shears Green primary school hat used to be in the UK. Apparently supervised coed nude swimming among students wasn't all that unusual there.