Shower etiquette at the swimming pool

Frogletina

TBagpuss wrote: »

In my experience, this depends mostly on whether the Bath is one which caters primarily to Turks or primarily to tourists. When I have been to ones where the clientele was mainly Turkish, they were always either segregated or would sometimes be just the group you arrived with, but on those ocassions they always asked whether we were happy to go in together.

In the ones which catered mainly to non-Turkish visitors then they tended to assume you were OK with mixed bathing.

I never had anyone undo a bikini or move a swim suit withiout checking first. I wonder whether the woman you saw was a regular so they already knew that she was comfortable with this?

I'm craving a proper Turkish bath, now...

The lady was not a regular there - it was her first time.

That Turkish bath appeared to be mainly for tourists and arranged by the tour company at the hotel we were staying in, but not in the same town.

Now I just go and get an appointment at the local Turkish baths which I prefer.

frogletina

barbarawright

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

:eek:My husband was quite upset the other day when he was in his (all male) communal changing room, with everyone naked, when a man brought a little girl in :eek::eek:

Happens all the time in women's changing rooms with small boys but men probably don't realise this. One of the very few times I've written a letter of complaint was when I went swimming in a pool with open (single sex) showers and a teacher brought in a whole gang of boys who were clearly, from their conversation, in secondary school and some of them stood staring at the naked women in the shower. Others must have complained too as, a few days later, a notice went up saying 'No children over 8 in the opposite sex changing rooms'

skint_chick

I go to aqua aerobics a few times a week and most of us in the class head straight to the showers after class with cosies on, then take them off in the individual shower cubicles, and walk out with towels around us. Showering with a chlorinated cossie on sort of defeats the purpose of showering IMO. I keep my towel round me while putting my undies on, but it's actually impossible to do up my bra and hold my towel up. I don't think walking round in a towel is unacceptable, surely a bikini or swimsuit covers a lot less - if people have issues with other people's nudity then communal changing rooms are not for them. I don't think it's inappropriate for children to see adults of both sexes naked, it helps them have a healthier body image and not feel that their bodies are in some way dirty. My parents used to walk around naked when I was little and it hasn't harmed me in any way. My gym has an adults only changing section for those who think it's inappropriate (or who just want a child free space to change), I think as a parent if you felt seeing other adults naked wasn't appropriate then you would choose a pool with a family changing area with individual cubicles

duchy

Pyxis wrote: »

Taking this discussion a little further, I am also not keen on the trend towards 'communal' toilets either, such as they tend to have in some European countries.

Instead of separate male and female toilets, you enter a door to find a room with a bank of say, three or four cubicles, for use by either sex, and a bank of washbasins. I'm already sensitive about 'noises' produced when one goes to the loo, without having to worry about men being in the adjacent cubicles. Then, I may want to adjust my dress after washing my hands, or adjust makeup or check my teeth for bits of food etc., and really don't want to do this in front of strange men.

Call me repressed if you like, but it makes me feel very uncomfortable indeed.

But it's OK to do it in front of strange women ?

Why putting on make up in front of a strange man rather than a strange woman ? Is it only men you might fancy you'd have this problem with or all men ? I'm not sure if that is repressed behaviour - but it does sound a bit odd.

seven-day-weekend

It's not a matter of thinking the naked body 'dirty', it's just a matter of thinking it 'private'. It's one thing mum and dad going naked in front of you; quite another a room full of strangers.

When then DOES it become inappropriate?

duchy

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

That it is inappropriate for a child of that age to be in a room full of naked strangers of the opposite sex

It's a changing room - They aren't sitting around naked they are getting changed . Any "exposure" would be seconds at most and you'd have to be staring to notice. Like most things though children will follow the example of parents - if parents think it's disgusting or dirty then so will the children-if parents are matter of fact - get the job done and get on with their day instead of pointing out an escaped willy or nipple briefly making an appearance and making a fuss.

seven-day-weekend

duchy wrote: »

It's a changing room - They aren't sitting around naked they are getting changed . Any "exposure" would be seconds at most and you'd have to be staring to notice. Like most things though children will follow the example of parents - if parents think it's disgusting or dirty then so will the children-if parents are matter of fact - get the job done and get on with their day instead of pointing out an escaped willy or nipple briefly making an appearance and making a fuss.

See my post 96. And no-one said anything about 'pointing it out and making a fuss'.

duchy

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

It's not a matter of thinking the naked body 'dirty', it's just a matter of thinking it 'private'. It's one thing mum and dad going naked in front of you; quite another a room full of strangers.

When then DOES it become inappropriate?

If it's that important then choose a pool with private cubicles -or a health club that provides robes or single sex sessions or a combination of the above. No-one *has* to visit a swimming pool if they don't want to or if they don't offer the facilities you require just like some people won't buy clothes in stores that don't have cubicle changing rooms.

In Victorian times men and women were segregated when swimming even in the sea .......customs change over time and for most refusing to swim because there were those of the opposite sex in the pool would be unthinkable - but for the minority who feel that way pools do offer single sex swimming (not sure what they'd make of a Victorian swimming costume though !). Shop with your feet .

BNT

Jagraf wrote: »

The thought of a naked sauna ...... Sitting and sweating and then getting up and someone sitting in the same place .....

Although I prefer steam rooms, most are in the same place as the swimming pools now so you can't go naked. I'm in my forties and ive never seen a naked person in a sauna - on holiday or at a pool. Maybe it's because I take my glasses off.

It is fairly common now to see people in swinsuits in a sauna if you go to a tourist or spa-type sauna. I do find it a bit offputting as they will often have come from a chlorinated pool and you get the smell of chlorine as their swimsuit starts to dry out. It would be like going into a sauna still wearing cologne or perfume.

In most dedicated saunas/baths, you're unlikely to see people wearing anything; in fact, most that I go to wouldn't allow it. Sweat shouldn't be an issue as that would get absorbed by your towel. If you don't take a towel to sit on you're likely to get ejected pretty sharpish.

thorsoak

I've experienced the Japanese Onsen where people firstly scrub off and shower comunally (although mostly same sex) and then step into the hot water spring naked - taking with them only a small (face-flannel sized) towel - which is used to preserve modesty whilst moving from the shower area into the onsen - and the towel is then placed upon the head!