[part 2] Swim class changing rooms growing up - a different double standard?

[purgethestop]

Sorry - I'm new to the forum, and I can't respond to posts or PMs. But I wanted to post the second part of my experience growing up.
Again, this is not a story of fantasy, this is actually how I grew up in the late 80s early 90s. I don't think it's unique to me, I would love to hear if others had similar experiences.

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Let's talk about 6th grade afternoon classes. By this time I was in middle school, a different school. Swimming was no longer part of the curriculum, so we were no longer bussed to the pool once a week, and finally we no longer had a teacher in the changing room with us. Great, right? Well...

My mom would drop me off at the pool and pick me up about one hour and a half later so to have enough time to get changed before and after. Do you remember I told you there were 4 changing rooms in this pool? 2 for the boys, and 2 for the girls?

One reserved for schools, the other one used by normal patrons.

While in the morning we used the one reserved for schools, in the afternoon we'd all use the normal changing rooms, those used by patrons.

The room was just a long corridor, with a long bench on one side. The kind of bench that has some sort of a top shelf and hooks so we could all hang our clothes and leave our bag either on the shelf on top or under it. Opposite of the bench, on the other wall, the room had a few coin operated hair driers and the doors to 2 or 3 cubicles. You entered the corridor from the lobby on one side, exited the corridor to the pool on the other side.

In the afternoon classes they had probably 30-40 kids in the water at any given time. Boys and girls together, one class right after the other, with maybe 10-15 mins to get changed. The classes were not divided by age or gender, but by swim ability. It was common for a good swimmer to be in a class with older kids, and for a bad swimmer to be in a class with younger kids.

Despite my 6 years of weekly swimming I was never a great swimmer, just average. The class I ended up joining had a good mix of kids from I'd say 3rd or 4th grade to about 7th grade. As a 6th grader, I was amongst the oldest.


This arrangement presented at least three problems.

The first was that the changing rooms were filled with moms helping the younger boys. At drop off, I'd get in, find a spot on the bench in the crowd of kids either getting ready to go home or changing to join the class. Many of them were helped by their moms, and nobody really bat an eye about their presence with older boys. The room was small and crowded, everyone tried to be as fast as possible, there was very little space to not bump into one another, and changing wrapped in a towel was not really something anyone did or wanted to do. We were pretty much expected to change in the nude, no matter who was there.

But there was a second problem as well: with all the kids entering and exiting the changing room wearing their normal shoes, or even boots in the winter, by late afternoon the floor of the changing room would be filthy and covered in mud. To the point that if your pants or underwear even got close to it, they'd get soiled. And nobody wanted to go home with brown streaks on their clothes. The solution was simple: most parents stood their kids on the bench while changing them. On the way in, after taking the shoes off, they'd lift their boy, put him standing on the bench, undress him, put the swimsuit on, carefully let him sit on the bench, put something on his feet, let him go to class.

On the way out, pretty much the same thing on the reverse, except the boy would spend a few minutes naked on the bench while getting dried and while waiting for his clothes.

But what about older kids, those that did not have parents helping them? Like me? I had not started puberty yet at that point, and even if I was still skinny I was certainly taller and bigger than most of the kids there. Well, my solution was the same that other boys would use: despite the embarrassment, we'd leave our slippers on the floor, climb on the bench, stand on top like other kids, grabbing the clothes hangers or the top shelf if needed for balance, remove our swimsuit in a complex balancing act, maybe sit on our towel to dry off while putting our feet back in the slippers to not touch the floor, fish our clothes out of the bag, then climb again leaving the towel behind to put on our underwear and pants so they would never touch the floor. Of course, becoming skilled at this dance required practice, and I can tell you there was not much space here for modesty, as holding a towel for the entire duration was practically impossible - and really, nobody bothered.

Why did I not use the cubicles? There were only a handful of them, always busy, and well... it would have been very embarrassing as well, as none of the other boys was shy or even bothered. I would have been the odd one out.

We just all changed naked trying to look like we didn't care at all, trying to look cool while trying not to fall off the bench. Facing the wall was also impossible, as there was just not enough space to bend to pull up or down your pants or underwear. If I got "lucky", the mom of a school mate would be there to help change a younger brother, with my penis pretty much at face height while she was helping her own kid. At least, I'd have someone to chit chat with, who would sometimes help me by passing my clothes or drying my hair just like she would at school in the morning just a year before.

Now the third problem is the one that made the whole experience significantly worse for me, and I think it was the main reason I stopped with the swim classes past 6th grade. As winter approached, the weather started getting pretty cold. Normal, right? But the cold weather brought some unexpected changes in our established changing routine. Leaving the pool with wet hair was really not something your parents would allow you to do. "You'll get sick if you go out with wet hair!" they'd keep repeating us over and over, "you'll get pneumonia!" or who knows what other terrible ailment.

Back then it was pretty universal that boys had short hair, while the girls had long hair. And with only 3 hair driers in the girls changing room and upward of 15-20 girls needing a few minutes for their hair to be dry after class... it was common and even encouraged by both moms and the pool staff for kids of any gender to use the driers in the boys changing room.

So imagine my shock as the cold season started. I'd go change at the end of class, wait for a spot on a bench to open, climb up like I always did, take my swimsuit off while standing on the bench, raise my head to look in front of me, to see some of the girls in my swim class just calmly drying their hair, facing me, smiling, in the boys changing room, while we all got changed. They'd not be shy to chat with us boys, occasionally reminded by their moms or other adults in line to turn left or right so to dry more quickly and to leave the space to other kids waiting in line, boys or girls.

Some of those girls were the same age as me, some even in my same school. They'd say hi, maybe talk about homework while I was changing, or chat about the swim class we just had. Some had brothers and sisters, so maybe their mom was there as well and ask her "who is the boy you're talking to" or extending their hands to introduce themselves "oh, hello, I'm Julie's mom, so nice to meet you. You two are in the same class, right? with Ms Terris?" or "say hello to your mom".

In some cases they'd see me in the changing room, but would be too far to chat with me, exchange a few glances here and there, me changing naked, them either dressed or getting dried while still in their swimsuit. But then we would usually talk and joke and laugh as normal friends while waiting outside the changing rooms for our moms to pick us up. Really: boys before puberty were not expected to be embarrassed, or to need modesty. At least, not in the setting of a changing room, while at home I was living an entirely different story.

Given that it was so common for mom and girls to be in the boys changing room, there was really no reason to keep the door closed either. The fact that you needed quarters to operate the driers also meant there was always someone making a run to the lobby to get some change. And with the steam, the heat of the pool, the heat of all those hair dryers running all the time, and having to put on heavy clothes to go out in the cold winter, nobody really wanted the main door to be closed. The downside was that everyone could really see inside the changing room while all of this was happening, which I mean... at this point, what difference would it make?

The girls side was much more quiet. Apart from a couple very young brothers, no boy or dad was allowed inside. The door was closed. If a mom had both a boy and a girl she'd bring them both in the boys changing room, and let the girl change in the 2-3 cubicles that were available, but always busy. Occasionally I'd see a young girl do the same dance as me or other boys on the bench, but it was a rare sight, and generally for very young girls.

As you can guess, I was always embarrassed. I was not in puberty yet, but sometimes I had to slow things down with my towel, rush things up or try to stretch my shirt down to try to hide my penis either out of embarrassment, or because there was some movement down there. Some days were more embarrassing then others.

I remember once when about 3 girls from my school were all there. One was drying her hair, one had a younger brother but did not take a class, while the other was just keeping them company. Probably tagging along after doing homework together? They were just chatting while their friend finished getting ready, sometimes looking in my direction. They never brought it up at school, but I remember they were always friendly with me or smiling.

It goes without saying that many years later a lot of those experiences are still impressed in my mind, it's hard to leave the embarrassment behind.

[NudeBaG]

If they were always smiling, does that mean they maybe liked what they saw?

[Boris_P]

Am I right in thinking that 6th grade means you were about 11 years old? That must have been really humiliating, being seen totally naked by girls, some of who were in your class!

[Necro8617]

Not quite the same but one of the local pools by me had an open locker room for the boys where the door very slowly closed. Thing was there was a water fountain right across from it. It was amazing all the girls that were thirsty in between swim classes.

[CuletCat]

Wow. Did the girls really never tease you or any other boy about your nudity? Even with no adults present, after the swimming class?

I can relate to being placed in the worst swim ability group, in my swimming PE classes there were 3 groups and I always ended in the lowest ability one I didn't care, the other kids were my age (classes were mixed too), but if had to swim with younger kids, that would have been embarrassing.

[NickTwisp]

So up to age 11 or so most of your female contemporaries saw you naked in the changing room? Yeah, that would make for some real uncomfortable feelings of shame in class the next day I would imagine. The boys' modest was apparently not in the least respected in the pre-teenage years.