Swimming the nude for men

You have made the work of historians more than a little easier by researching the topic of boys and men being coerced to swim naked at YMCA pools and for gym class. Those of us boys who were fortunate to attend private schools between the ages of six and eighteen experienced the same situation. We too were ordered to remove all our clothes and line up at the pool’s edge as the swimming instructor lectured us on what to do and not do. It was a decidedly precarious five to ten minutes of verbal instruction, particularly for the preteens and early teens who now and then were unable to contain their excitement over swimming clad in suits or not. Their temporary condition was neither an issue nor a cause for ridicule or concern of any kind. Your insights and thought-provoking comments about this subject are of serious historic value. Thank you for applying your gifted, sharply accurate lens to an earlier time when male nude swimming was demanded.

In prehistory and for much of ancient history, both swimming and bathing were done without clothing. In Western societies into the 20th century, nude swimming was common for men and boys, particularly in male-only contexts; however, swimwear began to be expected in mixed-sex environments. The widespread acceptance of in many countries led to legal recognition of clothing-optional swimming in locations open to the public.

Modest clothing for bathing or swimming was not considered until the 15th century, when women began wearing bathing dresses and men linen drawers. In male-only groups, men continued to swim nude in rivers and the sea until the mid-19th century. The Bath Corporation official bathing dress code of 1737 prohibited men and women from swimming nude either in the day or in the night.

In the late 19th to early 20th century, using tax revenue to provide public bathing facilities for working-class men was not politically popular in , while private establishments served the middle and upper classes. These included swimming at the , which required membership or payment of fees. However, the problem of men being publicly naked while swimming and bathing in open water was recognized. Efforts to regulate nude swimming with laws against doing so during daylight hours did not prevent increases in incidents in the 1860s through the 1880s by laborers and boys.

In the 19th century, boys and working-class men in swimming nude in the Humber and Don Rivers was allowed in secluded swimming holes, while officially prohibited elsewhere. “” (a colloquial term for nude swimming) was seen by many as an innocent activity for young males, as long as it did not intrude upon the sensibilities of females. In the 20th century, urban growth had encroached upon this isolation, and also created the problem of water pollution. The development of beaches in the district on the Lake Ontario waterfront marked the end of nude outdoor swimming.