I'm a board member for our swim club.
Last nite there was mention of a complaint from a senior high school swimmer who was uncomfortable with using a locker room with the adult master swimmers. We practice at the same time a few days out of the week.
This became an bigger issue last nite because we have a desire to run USA swimming at the same time as a few masters sessions in the evening and our coach voiced concern about everyone using the locker room at the same time and kids being uncomfortable.
Does your club run practices at the same time?
Have you run into issues like this?
How did you handle/manage locker room time?
Vancouver, WA? — in your dreams!!!:canada:
Do they even have beaches?
It is on the Columbia River.
Former Member
Think, everywhere nudity is a issue… :blah:
Personally could not care less about what others say or think about being nude in areas legally allowed. Body is just that, a body, natural… :)
If seeing some parts is offensive at shower rooms for some just close eyes… if youngsters are having problems with their bodies and refuse to see others… that is part of growing up, we should not endorse legal nudity complains, we should talk about it …educate …:)
If with the new technologies someone is taking my picture without authorization… well… nowadays can happen everywhere, it is the price of advanced technologies at the hands of “closed” minds :afraid:
My local pool has 4 changing rooms. 1 Mens, 1 Womans, 1 Boys, 1 Girls. The Men's changing room is quite fancy and full of naked old men. The Boy's changing room is pretty plain and has much more modest people.
I feel like my generation and below (20 yrs old) is much more modest with all of the teachings of sexual harassment and pedophiles and such.
My pool in high school also had the 4 changing rooms. If some old, wrinkly, sagging, man happened to walk in of a shower the boys locker room someone would say NOMA. Naked Old Man Alert.
You do realize that at some point you'll both have to use the 'Mens' changing room and that you'll also get old?
Former Member
If with the new technologies someone is taking my picture without authorization… well… nowadays can happen everywhere, it is the price of advanced technologies at the hands of “closed” minds :afraid:
So are you saying that those that take nude photos in a locker room just have a closed mind with regard to nudity?
The price for doing this in the U.S. is a criminal offense.
I worried about nakedness in the locker room for about 2 weeks — when I was 10 years old. After that, I hardly ever thought about it. In Canadian schools of that era, from grade 5 on, gym was compulsory, with naked showers to follow, and you just did it and got over it!
Coincidentally, I was just googling ocean beach temperatures in Vancouver and came across a notice that as of June 2011, topless bathing is legal on all Vancouver beaches.:banana:
Former Member
Was curious if any more came of this topic from the Sandusky deal? Or is that topic banned? I don't want too stir up too much as I already had a post in this thread deleted a while back. But at the same time ...
However I am getting rather fed up with woman bringing in (large) virtually adolescent boys whose voices are on the verge of breaking, yet are apparently incapable of being left alone to change in the boys changing room
Not to excuse the practice you describe, but there was an article in a recent Time about the earlier onset of puberty: Little Women: When Puberty Starts Too Soon. The article focuses on girls, but mentions that, while more difficult to determine precisely, boys seem to be hitting puberty earlier as well.
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Former Member
Some idiot was doing naked deep knee bends in the locker room this morning. He was probably creepy and old, but I was doing my best not to look. :afraid:
Do you go to the same gym as me? He and his friend -- the one with the eyepatch who does the jumping jacks -- were harmonizing a cappella in the shower today.
Former Member
Okay, but seriously, I have been in hundreds of locker rooms that had a variety of "rules" and "policies". Initially as a naive child and then as an aware teen and now as a jaded adult and eventually as a decrepit old man...the change of perspectives is interesting.
What are the best practices? It is open to debate but here you go:
1. Children should be accompanied by a responsible adult. This puts the responsibility on the parent and partially protects regular people who just happen to be using the shower.
2. An employee should sweep through once an hour. Besides picking up a bit, this coaxes some of the people who like to literally hang out while engaging in extended chitchat that they should either start their workout or leave for the day.
3. All visitors/guests must be signed in with the desk and remain in the company of their member/host. The Free Friday policy of some gyms brings in a lot of homeless people, so they are literally hiding in the locker room which really drives up the ick factor.
4. A sign should be posted encouraging people to report unattended children, videotaping activies, and/or sexual contact to the attendent. This outlines what behavior is truly out of bounds and encourages people to report the real problems.
Personally I grew up with spartan concrete facilities that had no a/c or heating, so you literally wanted to change and shower and be done with it. As a result, I have the habit of changing and showering without any trace of modesty, not rushing but also not spending extra time.
Now locker rooms are so comfortable and plush, with televisions and magazine racks and even microwaves, that I can see how people get more comfortable spending an extra 20 or 30 minutes to socialize. It is like the gyms want people to hang out in there.
