I don’t know what Feng Shui consultant was responsible for all of the gym locker rooms of the world…but the mirrors? It’s a little much.
I shouldn’t be able to stand around a maze of the locker room at the wall of sinkless countertops and see you, standing completely nude, facing the locker room.
The fuck is this?
Another set of nips behind me, washing her hands after going to the bathroom, naked.
The fuck was that?
Where’s your ingrained, American sense of shame about your body?! Didn’t your parents teach that nudity was one of Satan’s tricks to tempt you or something? Have you ever seen an H&M ad before? Isn’t that enough!?
What we really hate about other people’s nudity is not the nakedness itself, right? It’s their complete lack of awareness that they’re supposed to feel self-conscious and ashamed.
If I have to huddle in the corner facing the lockers after the shower and wrangle my still-damp legs into jeans while still wearing my robe and prepare my tank top ahead of time so there is only .485 seconds between when I am wearing my robe and wearing something else, then, damnit, you should too.
If you ask me? The appropriate level of nudity in the gym is calves.
It’s always the 60-and-up crowd and the used-to-be-chubbsters who want to hang out with their poonangs out, too. They’re either getting used to their newfound fitness or they just don’t care anymore.
But when mine eyes have seen three sets of nipples before 8 A.M., you’ve officially encroached on what I need to have a good day: a distinct lack of nipple sightings.
What are your thoughts? Are you a bare-all at the gym kinda gal or do you get dressed in the shower?
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Full blown nudity is a wee awkward… especially for prolonged periods and such but I totally walk around in nothing but undies while I dry my hair and such. And yeah… it’s always the 60+ crowd that shamelessly hangs it all out and for very prolonged periods of time. I don’t love it… But eh… I just try to look away. They’ve got seniority on me and good for them if they don’t care!
RIGHT. The worst offender was drying her back for like..10 minutes…looking me in the eye…shaking and drying, shaking and drying…it was strange.
girl, you and i are going to a nude beach this summer.
I “happened upon” a nude beach in Austria once (I was on a pedal-boat on the river, so somewhat far away). First I was SHOCKED. All these naked men, women, kids! Eeek. And wrinkly old people! And then… I was kind of refreshed. It seemed like no big deal, just bodies (none of them airbrushed and perfect) enjoying the sun and water. Pretty cool, actually. Not sure how I’d handle being at a nude beach myself… but I sort of want to give it a try someday.
I want to try it once too. At least a topless beach. I think it would really help my self esteem to just let it all hang out and realize no one cares.
NO THANK YOU. I mean. Ahem. No, thank you, Liz.
Maybe my opinion is skewed by being on the swim team during high school, but I’m one of those who just lets it all hang out. I don’t wander around the locker room naked, but I don’t hurry to change into my clothes after I shower. It makes the entire experience much less stressful if you don’t worry so much about whether someone has seen your boobs – because seriously, we all have them. The only time I change quickly is when someone has a young boy with them (fie on gyms without family locker rooms!).
Yes, that would skew your opinion! I was thinking about that the other day…that if I just relaxed and changed semi-quickly without freaking out, I might be a little more relaxed with the gym experience as a whole. Exercising shouldn’t be a source of stress, I suppose.
Really? My high school swim team were all prudes. We all hid our parts by hunching over and changing as quickly as possible under towels.
First, I’d actually have to step foot in a gym, but I’m the type who will get dressed IN the shower.
Haha. I’m with you. I actually enjoy the gym in the mornings. I don’t shower before I go…just sleep in my gym clothes and shower there after…and in the morning, everyone’s in the same boat. They’re unkempt, frazzled, they still have eye goop just like you…It’s just about you and your workout vs. OMG the girl isn’t REAL, is she? JESUS.
lol, that’s a fantastic set of lolcats images.
Anyway, I think you really hit on it when you said what we mind isn’t that nakedness but the lack of self-consciousness and shame. At least for me, it’s tinged with a bit of envy…I mostly try to take Alice’s attitude of “whatever, they’re old so they get to do what they want now” but it can be rather awkward. Something to look forward to as you get older, right?
Haha, thanks KWu. For sure – that’s exactly how I feel. Less upset that they’re naked and more upset that they don’t seem to know that they’re naked.
I live in AZ so they’re almost all over 60. My husband wondered why I didn’t shower at the gym … Then he joined & he showers at home, too. So I guess the men’s locker room is scary as well.
Hah! Isaiah said it’s a little awkward in there, but not as awkward as (I made) the girls’ locker room (out to be).
I step around this issue entirely by showering at home. Then again, my gym is only four blocks away, and I work from home. So.
There was a time, though, when I was working full time and taking classes at night and I tried working out/showering in between the two. THAT was… awkward. I was surprised by the people who straight up walked around nude. I was more of a “pull underwear on under towel, pull up jeans under towel, then drop towel and put on bra/shirt while facing lockers” kind of person, though. There’s a certain point where I just stopped caring if someone caught side of the side of my boobs during the seconds I was rushing to put on my undergarments. We’ve all seen boobs before, it shouldn’t be shameful. But then again, I’m not going to subject full-frontal boobage on anyone who didn’t ask for it, hence the partial modesty thing.
I’m with you: calves are ok. Maybe elbows.
It isn’t too bad at my gym because I think us New Englanders skew a little more modest than most. That said, I’m among the most modest as far as I can tell. Usually I show up in my workout clothes, but if not, I’ll change in a bathroom stall. Nobody needs to see me layering on the sportsbras. After I work out, I bring the bag with my shower stuff and my clean clothes into a shower stall and don’t emerge until I’m clean and dressed.
One of my favorite women’s college traditions was the “Naked Brunch,” which was a fancy brunch held the day after seniors turned in their theses. It was outdoors in a fully-enclosed (and beautiful) garden. Security guards flanked the exits; women poured in, poured champagne, and poured sundresses on to the ground. The booze helped, of course, but it was super empowering and fun even for the few sober ones. Body paint and glitter were involved, even. Next, everyone sprints across campus to the swimming pool for a few hours of ladies-only skinny dipping, with more champagne.
That morning pretty much killed all my nudity-induced awkwardness. I wish the same experience for everyone, seriously. Now I don’t prance around gym locker rooms with body glitter on, but I also don’t strategically plan the bra-strapping-on for the moment when the nearest neighbor has her back turned.
I think nudity in the locker room should have a time limit. Like a minute or so. Enough time to put your clothes on. But I also don’t usually stroll around my own house totally in the buff, since I’ve found that even the tiniest bit of mystery can make you all the more enticing.
dude. naked people make me SO UNCOMFORTABLE.
the first time I ever went to Vegas, Brian’s sister (and his other sister and about eight other adults) convinced us to go to some “tasteful striptease experience” and I was so uncomfortable I drank AMF’s until I blacked out.
locker rooms are worse ’cause the lack of booze
LMFAO! Oh God Lizzie, I’m that naked lady, LOL! But throw me a bone here, I went to a women’s college where most of us fall into the “that naked lady” category. Like Caitlin I don’t wander or lounge around in the locker room, and I draw the line at taking a dump naked (whether in public or not), but in general I got over my squeamishness with public nudity in college when we had to shower together in a group shower–no walls, just a room lined with shower heads.
I solve this problem by never going to the gym. Oh. Wait. I think I see a different problem…
This made me laugh so much. I adore you.
I’ll change, but I don’t run around nude. The running around nude is really weird.
Yes, I definitely think that there’s something about being on a swim-team that makes you comfortable with locker room nudity. I was on the girls swim team in high school, and we all showered nude in front of each other after practices, and were generally in no hurry to cover up after showering. My sister and I swim together one night a week at the Y. After swimming I just strip down to shower, but since it’s a group shower-room with no stalls my sister wears her swimsuit in the shower. We are alike in most ways, but I guess I had the benefit of losing my shyness from being on the swim-team, and she was never on a team. I’m glad I got over that shyness years ago. It makes it a lot easier as an adult at the gym.