Born Free
Last summer we joined a community rec center. Mainly for the pool, but also to have access to the work out equipment. We wanted to get back in shape, play in the pool with Declan’s neighborhood friends, etc. To date, it’s been mostly the playing in the pool variety, but that’s neither here nor there.
The point is, to *get* to any of the activities, you have to go through the locker room and change. Changing, of course, requires getting down to skin at some point, which I prefer to either do within a shower stall, bathroom stall, or behind a towel. Maybe, MAYBE a 3 second flash when I am really desperate. No, I am no crazy prude. I just don’t need my privates on display for god and country.
Apparently I am alone in this feeling.
Because just about every time I turn to corner into the locker room these days – BAM!!! Smorgasbord of women in their birthday suits. Seriously! And they’re not just getting dressed and moving about their business. They are standing there, DISCUSSING THE WEATHER.
WHO DISCUSSES THE WEATHER WITH NO CLOTHES ON???
Not to sound ageist, but at first I thought maybe it was just the older generation. Nope. All ages, sizes, shapes.
Then, not to sound sexist, I wondered if it was just the women. So I asked my husband about it – and apparently the MEN sit around and read the newspaper in front of the TV undressed in this same way. [Nice mental picture.]
Is it just MY rec center? Did I accidentally join a nudist colony? Or is there just something really liberating in standing around a locker room flapping in the breeze, talking about current events? I tried that in middle school and I was not a fan. Does it grow on you? Ha ha. Pun.
Seriously, what am I missing here???
Great post, Aimee! I keep thinking…how would one iron a birthday suit? Just kidding. Our rec center is unfettered as well…which I didn’t mind too much until I had to start answering Claire’s questions about the scenery.
You may not be a prude (although my bs-meter goes off whenever someone says “I’m not [something], but…”), but you clearly have body image problems. Why else would you go to such great lengths to hide yourself in a locker room setting? You don’t need to spend more time nude than it takes to change, but it sounds like you aren’t even willing to do that. Why is that? Where did you learn to be ashamed of of your body? (And yes, there is a middle ground between abject shame and outright exhibitionism.) A mature, well-adjusted person should be comfortable enough with the reality of their own skin that they can go into a locker room, change, and leave without feeling embarrassed or ashamed and without being so put off by the sight of others’ bare flesh that they feel the need to loudly declare how horrible it is that people would have the gall to be naked around them.
I’m with you, Aimee. If we swam together, you might catch a fleeting glimpse of me, but you would definitely see the rest of Berkeley prancing around in their Birthday Suits (fat, thin, young, old…); yes, I think they prance. And if memory serves, they shower with the curtain OPEN. Who does that when there’s a curtain?!!
I am so not into that whole locker room scene either. I’ve been this way my whole life though, even when I was little. I just don’t like being naked around other people.
I know, the human body is nothing to be ashamed of, and being naked in a situation like that isn’t a crime, etc. However, being modest isn’t a crime either.
Brian, based on your email address, I am thinking you were googling and stewing for a fight on this one. First, you don’t know me so you can’t guess that most of this was me joking around. Second, I think I was pretty clear that I am OK with the people who change and go about their business. What I am uncomfortable with is people sitting around a lounge area of the locker room watching TV in their nothingness. And mostly uncomfortable because I am laughing. Because it’s funny. P.S. I also laugh at people who google terms like “nudist colony.”
ha ha, you go get em, Aimee. Totally with you.
Aimee, as we belong to the same club I can attest to the high amount of nudity and comfort w
nudity there. I have no prob being naked but even there I
don’t walk around chatting weather. Draw the line people. As to the men’s room… I think the naked tv watcher is the infamous ‘Naked Man’ who is always there watching tv naked. Just ask Bill or Jon H.
I totally agree. I don’t understand why people don’t get dressed. Do they really need to blow dry their hair before they get dressed.
I think Brian has just been *exposed*! Good job, Aimee.
Ha! ::rimshot:: for Mama Bird.
ha ha Chris!
I’m not comfortable enough to hold a conversation naked with strangers or friends in the locker room (I had a friend talk to me while she was naked, I didn’t know where to look!). I have nearly mastered getting dressed under a towel. A small girl stared at me in shock as I walked in the shower stall in my gym clothes, because I wasn’t going to strip down *then* walk to the shower.
Aimee-
1) I came to your blog through a link posted by a friend on the Facebook.
2) It looks like I’m not alone in judging a person based on what they write. Weird.
3) I realize my comment came off a bit more acerbic than the actual sentiment behind it; for that I blame insufficient time to craft a more gently-worded response. Well, that and all the stew.
4) I’m sorry you were offended by a comment that expressed a view other than your own. (Classic non-apology, that.)
5) You may have been “joking around”, you may have been utterly incensed – my knowledge of your state of mind is roughly the same as your knowledge of mine. Regardless, I stand by my assessment of the attitude underlying your post.
6) I’m sure your friends will have additional zingers in reserve for me. I shall add them to the stew.
Right on the money, Aimee. My club offers private changing stalls and I think I’m the only one who uses them! Its unnesessary for people to wander around the room naked. Although if the mens lockerroom has a sexy naked man contest, I might want to see that.
HAHA! This is a great post, amy.
Melissa – I had the same problem! Normally when I talk to someone I stare at their chest, but I couldn’t do that when they’re naked!
Ohhh…. sadface. I tried leaving a response and you didn’t post it, but when my girlfriend wrote one, you did.
Brian, first, I had the editors look through the spam filters and they found your second comment there. I asked them to release it. None of us is sure why the first one made it and the second one didn’t, but I promise it wasn’t intentional. I am certainly open to a differing view. My problem is when someone I don’t know comes on and starts essentially diagnosing me from a silly post, then maybe yes, I get a bit defensive. Regarding the original issue though, we are gonna have to agree to disagree. And be glad we don’t share a locker room.
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