So that deck changing thread got me thinking, what is normal for public sessions? I'm going back to my UK/USA comparisons........
When I took my kids swimming to the public sessions in the UK, I'd pack up a bag of suits, towels, floats, toys etc and schlepp along to the pool to change in the changing rooms.
Now an FYI 'cos things are different here....Changing rooms consist of a number of cubicles for people to change in private as well as a communal change area and are split between male and female change - although some pools have a changing village with huge family-sized cubicles and no communal change. All modern (ie non-victorian) UK pools have pretty good changing facilities, even those with not much more than a 25m 6 lane pool.
So I take my kids to our local-ish pool here in Texas. 8 lane, 25yd competition pool, plus leisure pool with waterslide, lazy river and kids play structure and walk into the women's locker room.
It is full of lockers and has 2 small benches...eh? Where do I change???
Anyway being a communal-change gal, I get myself and the kids suited up and we swim. We finish swimming, we shower, remove suits wrap ourselves in a towel and dress by one of the benches.
Now whilst drying off and dressing there are a few ladies/kids shuffling around changing in the toilets and dressing in the showers. I get a couple of odd looks standing there in my underwear directing 2 small children to dress as well, but don't care - we're all naked under our clothes after all.
While we were swimming a number of families came in, most it seemed already in their suits, they "undressed" on the deck and when they left they wrapped a towel around the kids or pulled on a t-shirt and that was it. And it wasn't summer! All I could think of was the chlorine eating away at their suits.
So what is normal? and am I the only female living in Texas not afraid to strip down in the women's locker room? :afraid:
And do they build pools here with crappy changing because no-one uses it? Or does no-one use the locker rooms because they're so crappy?
Or is this just a Texas thing, not a USA thing? :D
So what is normal? and am I the only female living in Texas not afraid to strip down in the women's locker room? :afraid:
Well I changed in the women's locker room once and was arrested... in fact ... I'm not really supposed to talk...... never mind.....
At least at any of the pools I've swam at, people are not really all that modest, but I'm on average 15-20 years younger than any other guy on my team. However - I do deck change, not because of any modesty issues, but mostly because I just like keeping my stuff on deck and don't mind coming to practice already wearing my suit. When practice gets over around 9:30 at night, I don't really think about anything other than just going home at that point.
-Michael P.
when my family was back home in texas visiting my parents, I was planing on taking our youngest daughter just under 2 yrs in the mens locker room with me and my wife our 4.5 yrs old daughter with her.
since my mom works at the YMCA she knew the rules and told us kids that age were not allowed (or it was not liked by members) in the main locker rooms and there was a family changing room.
ok we could deal with that, but the funny thing was it was on the other side of the building. we had to walk nearly 100m through the halls in our suits (wrapped up of course in towels as to not scare the locals by walking around in our suits ;)
But I've changed over the last 9 yrs. through my entire swimming carreer in the US I don't remember ever showering naked. in HS I would come to the pool in my suit and go home in it. in college I changed in front of my locker and that was it. after practice showers could take 20-30 minutes but I changed at my locker.
but now I don't seem to have as much of a problem to take a real shower at the pool, even in a 16 shower stall. I don't seem to care as much about changing either.
and over here we have both men and women that service the men's changing rooms.
I think the only acceptable response to this would be "and your point is?" This is right up there with noodlers complaining that their hair is getting wet.
No kidding. I would have laughed in her face had she reported that to me... I thought it was ridiculous. I expect to see naked people in locker rooms.
Former Member
There is no normal. It varies by region, age group, and gym culture.
One pool nearby has a G-rated locker room where almost everyone showers in their suit and does a "deck change" under a towel, even though they're in a single-gender locker room.
Another pool, not 5 miles away, has an NC-17 locker room where it's almost obligatory to strut around and have a conversation with a complete stranger with all of your parts flapping in the breeze.
I think it depends a lot on age. The college kids (and younger) seem oddly conservative. My personal theory is that high school gym class has changed in the decades since I experienced it, and not as many kids these days get their modesty forcibly trained out of them.
Changing cubicles are definitely not the norm in the US, though. Lockers and benches are standard.
My experience in men's changing/locker rooms is that nearly everyone changes in front of their locker and walking from the showers to the changing area nude is commonplace. My wife tells me the women's changing room actually has a couple privacy closets, so I have a feeling women tend to be a little more modest.
Back in college our locker room didn't even have enclosed toilets!
Also it's commonplace at the pool I swim at for parents to take young kids (maybe under 5) into the opposite sex locker room (i.e., women take boys into the women's, and men take their daughters into the men's).
Former Member
I think it depends a lot on age. The college kids (and younger) seem oddly conservative. My personal theory is that high school gym class has changed in the decades since I experien. ced it, and not as many kids these days get their modesty forcibly trained out of them.
:lmao: So true!!
I think where we live, kids from birth are having modesty forcibly trained into them..... I have witnessed a number of moms in the locker room holding towels up round their kids (4-8 yr olds or so) while they change, or ushering them into the toilets :eeew: so no-one sees them...and then people wonder why there is a such a body-image problem among young girls these days.
And there's me, stripping the girls down, drying them off and putting clothes on all in the open - much quicker overall. I am now having to explain to my 6 year old that some people just want to cover up all the time, and that really all girls are the same, just slightly different shapes and sizes. :sigh:
No kidding. I would have laughed in her face had she reported that to me... I thought it was ridiculous. I expect to see naked people in locker rooms.
Maybe we can introduce your ultra-prude teammate to the Pink Thong Exhibitionist. He struts around the locker room with this horrible EDACTED] on his REDACTED] there for all to see. I guess he watches people's reactions to see who doesn't flinch or vomit. But I suppose it does explain how he his hideous swimsuit. Have a day! :bolt:
Deck changing at USA Swimming meets is rampant, and quite scary to see. Most of the kids are one inch away from showing off their, um, endowments, and the women have a tougher time with it.
I understand that most don't want to walk all the way across the pool to the locker room, but I don't know why deck changing among kids is just so commonplace.
I have done a few deck changes in my life, but not since joining Masters. When I was a member of the USA national junior team in 1990, a swimmer on the team was "setting up" to do a deck change. When he removed his suit and leaned over to grab his underwear, one of the coaches reached over and yanked off his towel. The kid, surprisingly, wasn't embarrassed, and no one outside of our team who witnessed it was shocked. I thought it was funny, but I swore to never do a deck change within arm's reach of anyone.
Most locker rooms don't have adequate changing areas, and I know the Mesa pool (site of 2011 nationals) only has space for about four people to change clothes in the locker room. I'm sure we'll see lots of deck changes next spring. But not from me. Since I live 20 minutes away, I'll probably just wear my racing suit home and shower there.
When I was in Rome this past winter, one of the pools I investigated for swimming in was at the Foro Italico, site of the 1960 (?) Olympics. In the literature I was given, it stated quite explicitly that there was to be no nudity in the showers or changing rooms (!) I later came upon a discussion in a forum very much like this one (in Italian). It seems that Italian mothers are accustomed to bringing their boys into the men's changing room to supervise them while they change, instead of taking them to the women's changing room to change together. The women, often not just the mother, but her sister, teenage daughter, daughter's friend, etc., all stand around in the men's changing room while the child gets dressed and they do not want to be "offended" by any untoward sights. However, the same does not pertain in the opposite direction: under no circumstances do Italian men take their daughters into the women's changing room to change. The daughters go with their dads into the men's changing room!
The discussion I read was very bitter. Many (men) complained that the policy was blatantly unfair. But apparently not all pools enforce the policy equally. Some men said they showered in the buff just as they pleased and anyone who didn't like it could lump it. And apparently, not all cities and towns have the same policy. Some commenters had never heard of it, but enough had to make me think that it was the norm in Rome, at least.
In the end, I never got to find out first hand. The other requirements for swimming in a public pool in Rome—medical certificate from an Italian doctor, including electroencephalogram; various other papers and permissions; joining fee; monthly fee; various other fees; purchase of compulsory slippers and bathrobe for deck wear—made me think better of it, and I got my exercise walking.
Incidentally, I've been told that one of the reasons the younger generation here at home are shy about changing in public is the omnipresence of cell phones and the ease with which clandestine photos end up on the internet.
A few years ago, I took my son to an event at a local theater. He had to go, BADLY, as in ready to pee his pants. The line at the women's bathroom was really long and despite the fact that he was practically crying, not one woman would let him go ahead of them. I even made sure to say "I will not use the bathroom--it's just him!" But no go--no pun intended.
We ran--literally--over to the men's bathroom where i told him he would need to go in by himself since I couldn't go with him. He started to cry, really nervous because it was his first time going to a busy public bathroom on his own.
A man who was coming out of the bathroom looked my son and I, opened the door to the men's room and shouted inside "Men, there's a lady coming in." He then proceeded to escort my son and I into the bathroom, I found a stall, and then listened to the men at the urinals talk about how ridiculous it was that there weren't more bathrooms for women or families and how glad they were to help out. Not one man had an issue with it--and in fact, I think they felt proud to help.
When my son was done, I shouted "We're coming out-and I promise not to look." Instead of being upset, my son was now laughing hysterically and it was a great story.
Totally funny story! And how nice that the gentleman helped you and your son.
