Author:
jean the frenchie ( happy)
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Date Posted: Monday, December 15, 2025, 12:22: pm
"JIM " and others who put messages about double standard at swimming pools with nudity for the boys and not for girls.
Of course, it seems strange for young persons of today and they do not believe in first hand that it was true, but if they try to read more about it, there is no doubt, it happened on some states ( not all ) in the United States and among the states at some school district and lasted until the middle of the 60's, sometimes longer.
It happened a little also in Great Britain or Scotland and stopped also at the middle of 60's.
It happened obviously (we have a lot of relations on forums, or on newspapers and also some photos which seem true - it was not a make up!) at most YMCA swimming pools, and very often for swimming lessons at schools too, at middle school as well as at high school.
The nudity for all the boys was the rule for swimmming lessons, not only for swimming teams.
There was even a swimming test in the nude for young freshmen students at some universities of the Ivy League, and it lasted a long time before being suppressed. You can find mention of it on internet.
So you can consider that it was true that boy's students might swim in the nude, but were they alone or with girls classmates clothed in swim suits ?
It is more difficult to know what was the reality, but it might have happened in some schools at least at middle schools that there was mixed lessons with boys naked and girls in swim suits, and anyway it was obvious that the girls could have very often a view on boy's students naked because of a mess on the schedule of lessons, as it is said often, the class of girls entered in the swimming pool before the boys were gone out of the swimming pool, or on the reverse the girls were still in the swimming pool when the boys came naked in line for their roll call. So it happened certainly incidentally more than one time!
Besides, it was obvious also that since girls students knew that boys students were naked, they tried to have a glance on them by spying when it was possible, the curiosity is a permanent human feeling especially when the sight is normally forbidden.
The girls students could try to have a look by windows if they were not closed or by the doors if they left a space to look or by going to the Pe office if it gave a view on the swimming pool.
I believe that if girls were caught to have spied boys students during swimming lessons, they were certainly reprimanded by their female teachers but not strongly, not like if it had been the reverse.
As regards the audience of women and girls stitting on benches,I believe that it was less frequent, above all for high school students, but may be at schools and YMCA swimming pools, with small kids or male students at middle schools, it could have been possible that mothers or older sisters or any other female sibling were allowed to come to wait the end of the lessons before going back at home with their sons and in that case there could have been also sisters of all ages sitting with the mothers or siblings to look at the swimming lessons of boys in the nude including the awkward roll call.
I doubt that it could have happened later at high school.
As regards interscholastic meets, I presume that it was possible that an audience of families was allowed but certainly not everywhere.
Don't forget that the attitude about nudity of boys was not the same at that time, until the middle of 60's, than now, they had no right to privacy and their nudity was not a big deal, except it was offensive for women and girls. If female members of a family came to a swimming meet where boys were naked, it meaned that they did not felt offensive by the budkity of the boys because they knew that the boys would be naked .. so why not !
And at least what about a substitute female teacher for boys students if a male teacher was ill ?
I believe that it could happen in most schools especially without any question at middle school, may be less easily ay high school but I doubt also that a middle aged female Pe teacher had refused if she was told to do it, they were certainly used to see boys swimming in the nude even if they were not their teachers , by the view from their office and anyway it was not a big deal to see boys in the nude when you were a marture adult woman at that time.
Of course it was different for a new and young teacher having just graduated like in your relation but it was a special case !
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