Prompted by: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/11/naked-locker-room-end/684907/
Today, the only naked bodies that many Americans will likely ever see are their own, a partner’s, or those on a screen. Gone are our unvarnished points of physical comparison—the ordinary, unposed figures of other people. In their place, we’re left with the curated ideals of social-media posts, AI-generated advertising, and pornography. The loss may seem trivial, but it also may change how people see themselves. Without exposure to the normal variety of bodies, we may become less comfortable with our own, more likely to mistake common characteristics for flaws—and more inclined to see every bare body as an inherently sexual object, making nudity even more charged.
I'm 60. I was in U.S. public grade school in the 70s and early 80s.
Starting in Junior High, which was grades seven and eight, we were all required to take Physical Education (P.E.) classes, and we were all required to change into P.E. uniforms. The dress code for the school otherwise was minimal.
We changed in the locker room in front of each other, that meant we were nude in front of each other. This was true for girls and boys, of course, we had separate locker rooms.
Furthermore, after class, we were required to shower, which we also did together.
For both junior high and high school it was very much like this. Rows of lockers and open showers at one end. There were high windows along the ceiling to let the steam out.:
It took two or three days for everyone to get comfortable with being nude in front of each other, and that was the end of the problem. It was a small hump to get over, and everyone did, easily. By the end of the week we were all goofing around naked in the shower, like you may have seen in movies or wherever.
I'm curious about your experiences, and whether you think it's harmful or beneficial for kids to be forced to get nude in front of each other for this purpose.
Back in the early 2000s when I was in middle/high school there was never enough time after PE to both take a shower and get to your next class if you wanted to. There was barely enough time to change back into regular clothes.
7 minute passing period between classes.
I think the passing period is down to 5 minutes, or less in some schools, now. That's ridiculous. I suppose the idea is if the kids need to run to class, then they don't have time to cause trouble. Rather than, you know, fostering an environment of love, trust, and support to reduce the urge to cause trouble in the first place.
This post is empty now, so I'll say it. When capitalists run the world, empathy is lost. They treat everyone as a burden and enemy to their personal goals, they see us as unavoidable, interchangeable, expendable nuisances. Love, trust, and support is not even on the table as a solution. The carrot is gone, there is only the stick. Zero empathy for anyone, including their own children. Fuck the filthy rich capitalists.