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
Nude In Showers
Return to DiscussionsI was incredibly nervous when I learned that in jr. high we'd have to take showers after gym class. Initially I was afraid of getting an erection, but learned I have great self control. I was mortified when guys would pop a bone, and then get mercilessly teased. Ouch!
Now, I love using the gang showers at the gym, and can't imagine using one of the individual stalls!
Very much like the others -- hesitant at first, and OMG if someone got a boner, they were harassed for weeks. But what I did enjoy was the being nude with others. Seeing how some of us boys were more developed (hung) than others, and at that point pubic hair was just a trace. Except for one kid, Alex, wow he already had a sensational bush and hairy legs. Vision of Alex undressing for the shower is still engraved in my mind, and perhaps why even today I feel that men should have a natural full bush, and that hairy legs are another symbol of being a man. :)
The junior high I attended had just put a new gym/locker-room addition on before the school year began.I was also nervous about showering with other boys but not for the boner problem...i was just shy. This was 7th grade, age 13.Our gym teacher insisted we all shower. At 5 minutes before gym ended, one assigned boy went in and turned on all the showers, to get them warmed up for when the rest of the class walked in.Several things stick out in my mind about this class.We were not allowed to use soap. There was fear of slipping and breaking a bone. So, we had to walk, single file in a line under all the shower heads while the coach watched us.Then we had to walk past him, dripping wet, naked and have him put a check mark next to our name in his grade book.What was fun about standing in line waiting to enter the showers was I almost always felt another guys dick on my butt or legs.and one boy in particular stands out in my mind. Rick G. had the blackest, thickest bush I think I've ever seen on anybody, even to this day. I loved how it spread out onto his upper thighs....I can still smell that locker-room.Once I got over my initial nervousness about my nudity, I got to love group showers...and I still do. Bonding.
I think most guys were afraid of getting an erection in our younger years. We didn't have much control and hormones were off the charts. I remember being nervous at first but quickly realized that all the guys looked pretty much the same except for the few "advanced" guys who went through puberty sooner. We did have one guy who got an erection and everyone teased him relentlessly. Poor guy. I never got an erection, thankfully.
My early shower shyness had little to do with erections. It was in junior high school that our PE coach started "encouraging" us to shower. At that age (13 - 15, and some dumb kids who were even older than that) we were all in various stages of development and some guys were more pubically and genitally advanced than others. I was one the "others". We got teased for being, shall we say, boys among men? It was all good natured ribbing looking back on it but what boy is good natured about his body and development at that age. Certainly not me. We all eventually caught up with each other; at least as much as we were genetically going to, and I began to relax about it somewhat. Then there was the growers vs showers situation but that's probably another thread...
Yeah. Grower here. Always felt inadequate when showering with the other guys.
Hmm! I guess I'm lucky then. In my situation we all shared a bath and no one seemed to care. In fact you would've been teased if you were trying to cover. And I'm a grower too, in fact a small one, but I never cared a bit, as nobody cared how you looked like, and it wasn't boys business how your penis looked like. It was quite possible indeed someone to be made fun of, for commenting an another boy's penis as it was considered kind of gay (I live in quite a homophobic society, although I have nothing against gays).
Water cutbacks were standard at my jr high as a Southern Californian (though a few years earlier than you!), and I can't remember anyone showering. It wasn't until I went to a Christian school in Chattanooga for one year (really long story) that the idea of a group shower ever arose, and while the coach didn't watch us (that's, um, strange), we were expected to. I think I ignored that directive, though - the last thing I was going to do is be naked with all those guys. I was already the "weird Californian" and made fun of for being probably gay (in fact, i was), so I pretty much changed and didn't look at anyone else if I could help it. Thankfully got back to Cali the next year and never again had a shower in high school.
Am I the oldest one in this group? When I began high school in the mid 60s, nobody talked about homosexuals....i do not think that "gay" had even come into being yet. I spent the summer before ninth grade worrying about the showers as I knew that they were part of our grade and that we cold get graded down for not showering. I had seen my brother naked but only him and dad. I was living quite a nice masturbation life so I knew I could get hard. I feared getting hard in the shower with the other guys and them thinking it was because I liked guys. On the first day of school, after gym, we had to go back to the locker room to change and I was shy but the coach was watching to make sure that everyone took a shower. I eventually removed my shorts and went to the shower, soaped up, rinsed off and was given a towel as I left the gang shower. Once dressed, I went to my next class but I remember thinking, "that wasn't so bad". I showered at school every day for four years. The first day, I think we were all a bit shy and did not look at each other much...though I sure peeked and I bet others did also. Soon we were laughing as we washed and nobody cared if anybody looked. i NEVER saw a hard on in those four years but if I had, I would have thought nothing bout it. I was involved in varsity athletics and saw a LOT of guys who were very well built and well hung and never considered sex at all (I have since smartened up). Some of us even started a skinnydipping club that met late at night when our parents thought we were asleep and the school pool was well lit by security lights but not visible from the street.
Four decades later, I remembered this time when I first visited a nude resort. I was a bit concerned about things but as soon as I got there and naked, I felt at home. The apprehension about the experience was worse than the actual experience just like my first high school shower. We do our kids a disservice by not requiring showers or by building stalls for them. If the only other cocks they ever see are from porn, they will ALWAYS feel inadequate. If nudity is something to be hidden even in the locker room, they will think it is not a natural thing.
I talk to guys here who are afraid of getting hard but it will not happen in most nude places and if it does, it is easy to deal with. The problem comes with the guy who wants to show off his rock hard cock.....though I may like to see it, some places are not the appropriate places to show that off.
Rant over