Scared of school showers?

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TMAN, yeh, I was not exactly terrified, but, having never undressed in front of my classmates, it felt embarrassing to strip naked and shower after a physical education class at age 10-12. Somehow it was easier at the beach, during the summer, where all of us were thrown into a communal dressing room, irrespective of age. The fact that there, at the beach, all of us were different ages and different sizes, ranging from a four-year old boy on up to, well, his father, and with everyone in-between, the discrepancy between penile development of boys of the same general age was somewhat reduced. Oh, yes, then there were the exhibitionists, too: teenage boys who flaunted their maturity in front of the younger boys. Such peculiar reactions hinge on experiences gained on home turf. Now in my case, father never appeared nude before his children. I'm sure if he had, that the naturalness of stripping in front of others before taking a shower or before going swimming would have reduced to zero the sense of shame which I, at least, felt.Shame, understand, is impressed upon most people from the day of birth, when babies are wrapped securely in swaddling clothes, and repeatedly told, henceforth, never, ever, appear naked in front of anyone. Well, that's simply ridiculous if you ask me. It took conscious effort over a period of years for me to overcome those feelings of shame, and now there is nothing more natural than to strip after a workout to shower with other guys.Trouble is ... showers in gyms are increasingly becoming single, private booths. Shame, in short, is becoming institutionalized.Indeed, in my community (SW USA) many schools have closed their shower rooms, because boys have become too embarrassed and afraid to shower in front of their peers. Many students involved in sports, such as football, don't shower after practice or a game, until they return home, where they can undress in private. This is even true of the coach's son, believe it or not. Such fear is screwing up the lives of thousands of young fellows, and psychiatric offices will one day be full of these guys, unless they learn to overcome unnatural feelings of extreme reserve. An unhealthy and paralyzing fear of homosexuality has something to do with it, too.So ... blame shame on parents. They are the one's who have the power and opportunity to bring up children who are natural and free. A good lesson for the future? Korydon

its embarrassing and abit scary to use communal showers when you haven't done so before. it takes time for the embarrassment to subside and to get use to showering with other people.after a while you do get use to it and you worry less about people looking or staring at you.

its no biggieevery guy has a dick and if your just showering u shouldnt be lookin around with intentions of comparing sizes

In the 2 of 3 highschools for my area (each of the 3 middle schools contains 2 grades due to size of graduating classes. My graduating class has a little over 700)that i''ve been in, its not mandatory. Though, in Jr High everyone rinsed off in their bathing suits after swimming, i don't believe the gym had showers but i'm not sure.... At the school i currently go to, its not required at all. At first in my freshman year i'd shower off after swimming, then i just realized its pointless if you don't have soap. Your just getting clean from a clean, highly over chlorinated pool... its not even possible to rinse the smell off. The gym locker rooms have showers, but there isn't enough time to use them. The only people that use them are very seldom if there is something they have to go to after the class. As far as like the smell and personal hyg. part, you wipe the sweat off with the shirt from class, and use LOTS of deod or cologne lol. Though, as far as the whole being insecure with your body, i always found it funny (no offense to anyone) that people line up to get into the bathroom stalls to change. I personally always just took off my pants and boxers and changed. Theres also the oh to common battle with the towel lol... not even gonna start on that

I think it's interesting how all of this has changed over the past few decades. It seems like I've been thrown into mandatory communal shower situations all my life: 5th grade gymn, 9th grade gymn, 10th grade gymn, college dorms, camps, trips with church, etc. It was just a way of life. You couldn't be a boy without being in a situation in which you were naked with a bunch of other boys.

But this is changing. It is no longer required and most kids I'm around avoid it like the plague. I've noticed this several times on church trips over the past 10 years or so. In public shower situations the kids typically do this little dance where they put a towel around them over their boxers, remove their boxers, put on swim trunks, remove towel, shower in trunks, then do the whole thing in reverse. Meanwhile the adults and a couple braver kids are hitting the showers nekkid.

I read an article about this once that suggested that kids are this way because there is more focus on privacy and stranger danger and educating them on body safety and things like that. I dunno...

Yeah, it's such a shame that people are embarrassed about their bodies, or that parents aren't taking the time to explain that there are some places where it is okay, or society would expect people to be naked. (Which is one reason I generally wouldn't say anything if some poor guy pops a boner, because I wouldn't want to contribute to such irrational fears.) I see nothing wrong with communal showers or locker rooms, and can't imagine that people would wait in line, for an absurd amount of privacy. I was never much concerned that somebody might see me changing, but the limited time factor I believe was a big thing in school. A lot of us don't see to be into 5 minute quickie showers. I just quit doing PE (Physical Education) or gym classes when I could, because I liked the academic route better anyhow. And towell popping is just plain rude. That kind of thing should never be done to people without their consent. Kind of like how people shouldn't expect to have snowballs thrown at them as they innocently walk by, unless of course they are holding snowballs themselves, indicating that they want to play.And yet for all our shyness of shower nudity and such, our society seems to be more immoral than before. And all the more confused about proper sexuality and the distinctive roles of the sexes.

Like I said in my original post that were required to take showers, well I have never seen any guy pop a boner. I know I've gotten a semi. But it's not because I'm getting horny looking at dicks, it just happens. But anyways I think what would happen if I pop a boner so my semi goes away fast. There are some kids that attempt to shower in their boxers,but not for very long. The older kids tease the hell out of them and sometimes even pulls their boxers off. After these same shy kids get over being scared I notice that their joking,laughing and teasing in the locker room. I can't understand why were all so embarrased about being seen naked in the proper environment. I mean all guys have a dick and balls. Yeah so what some are big some are small. Oh well they work the same. Maybe I feel this way because at my home accidental nudity or being seen in underwear is no big thing. There are times my younger brother see each other naked in our rooms or the bathroom. No big thing. Sometimes are dad sees us naked or we see him. No big thing. So I guess it all starts at home.

There really are many different reasons for this shyness. 1. Some guys are embarrassed because they believe their dick is too small (or in some cases embarassed because it's large)2. Some guys are shy because they have general body image problems, not just around their dick.3. Some guys, particularly young teenagers, are shy because it's new. They've never been naked in public places or around other guys. 4. I know a guy - my roommate - who is 31 years old and avoids being seen naked at all cost. He has a fairly small penis, which is part of his deal. But a lot of it is because he has had a couple of experiences in which someone he trusted took advantage of him when he was vulnerable and tried to "stroke" him or whatever. Because of this, he feels vulnerable when he's naked around other guys, so he avoids it if possible.I think this list could go on and on.

I knew someone who had been sexually abused, for whom nudity was therefore always bad. He saw a picture in an art book, a painting representing heaven, and couldn't understand how people could be naked in heaven.

In reply to: I knew someone who had been sexually abused, for whom nudity was therefore always bad. He saw a picture in an art book, a painting representing heaven, and couldn't understand how people could be naked in heaven. That's a good point, I hadn't thought much about. I suppose people could be naked in heaven, because there would be neither shame nor sin, and people would once again be innocent and rather unaware or uncaring about their nakedness, as Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, before they sinned.I thinked nakedness often represents vunerability and openness and exposure, something that makes us feel uncomfortable if we are around people who we don't trust. A sinful perverted society would also tend to make more people uneasy about being naked around strangers. Also, since people become as the angels in heaven, not given in marriage (and no longer able to reproduce?), there wouldn't be any of the arousal issues anymore.I thought it a little strange when I saw in the movie, Left Behind, that the people who were raptured off to heaven suddenly, had left their clothes lying behind. Some woman was worried about where her husband had gone, and thought he was naked, because his clothes had collapsed onto his airplane seat. Then after a few minutes, a mass panic broke out when it dawned on people that a bunch of people on the airplane, had mysterious gone missing. On the ground cars crashed, after suddenly having no drivers. The world tried to explain it away with bizarre theories about alien abductions or some ecology thing or something. But I thought this interesting movie, a fictional account of how future Biblical endtimes might play out, was on track, as I read in the Bible that when Jesus was resurected, he left his burial clothes behind. And clothes are a rather artificial covering, and not really part of us.So it seems about right, that people could be naked in heaven. And imagine if you were the only one to show up in clothes? Now wouldn't that be strange?

i hate having school showers because it always seems like the bigger, more athletic kids would always pick on us smaller, not as athletic people. most the time, the guys wanted to secure their masculinity, so they would joke about us, and snap their towels. it did not make for a good enviroment

School locker rooms are one of the main places bullying happens. I don't think that showering at school should be banned, but I do believe there should be better supervision.Anyone remember the movie 'Carrie'? That crap really happens.

. . . I wish we had to shower at our school

And then there's that... :smirk:

better supervision? easier said than done...No matter how good the intention, no matter how good the person, it wouldn't work. Theres just no way to make it easier for people.

I used to hate P.E. showers because I suffered many embrassing times at the hands of these boys because most of them already shown signs of puberty when I was not there at this point. But I went through with my wits. They would jeer at my private area, how bald it was, how small it was, and etc... I had to use my wits by saying, "Well, it seems that you all are jealous of my private areas." They eventually backed off after seeing me standing up for myself showing that I would not cower down and hide behind the door. Well, one year after this, I was already showing the signs of puberty. These "friends" who mocked me became my good friends!

In reply to: better supervision? easier said than done...No matter how good the intention, no matter how good the person, it wouldn't work. Theres just no way to make it easier for people. I wasn't saying it would make it easier for the kids to shower together. I was saying better supervision would alleviate bullying in those areas. I've seen enough research that shows that to be the case.Or am I totally misunderstanding your post?

In reply to: I knew someone who had been sexually abused, for whom nudity was therefore always bad. He saw a picture in an art book, a painting representing heaven, and couldn't understand how people could be naked in heaven. I recall something about somebody said we would be wearing white robes. So maybe people won't be "naked" in heaven after all?

lol, i dont like going to school showers, that isnt cuz of the size of my flaccid penis.. but i just get erect by every thing a person can think of which, as some might know, is quite embarassing sometimes

I think you did exactly the right thing, Deafvols. By showing confidence you negated the teasing and showed that it isn't necessary to be hung and hairy to be worthy of respect.

I am also glad that you didn't spurn those guys later. Bullies and teasers are often insecure people themselves, who need friends.