It’s one of those stories that you’ve always heard about but aren’t quite sure actually happened. They also make great fantasies that you wish happened when you were in school. But the reality would actually mortify most of us.
Now, I had swimming lessons when I was at school and the regulation uniform was black trunks. The thought of actually having to do the class naked would have embarrashed me so much I fear I might have actually died. But it appears that this did happen.
I’ve also heard stories that men would swim naked at the YMCA (where “They have everything For young men to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys. It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.”)
I’ve never skinny dipped in the sea, lake, stream or river. About the only time I swam naked was when I had the pool to myself in a hotel I was staying at. I checked there were no CCTV cameras first and I only dared do one length, but at least I did it. I’m sure many of you have had much more adventurous experiences. I would love to hear them, or write them in the comments.
So regulatory nude swimming did happen in high schools and the YMCA in the United States, but did it happen in the UK or anywhere else? Let me know if it did happen, especially if it happened to you.
Swimming naked at the YMCA in Hamilton (Canada) was a daily routine until the 1970s and was a holdover from old pool filter systems not liking all the fluff from cotton bathing costumes….or so we were told. Summer camps regularly had naked swims during the day at single sex camps in Ontario.
Today’s generation is bizarre in its prudish behaviours about nudity