Is true than in 50's thru 70's pt class in US ( specially swim class) was naked ?

Look a hoax to me, look too out of the puritain U.S. society.

 

No

 

Yes it was true. We had swim class where we had to swim nude. Gym class we didn't. Gang showers were mandatory after each swim or gym class.

 

When I was a child, the YMCA was nude swimming a couple of days a week, with a big open shower room. I used to go with my Dad.

 

When I was in college the school used the local YMCA pool for college swim classes. If we ran late there would be naked or almost naked open swimmers ready to use the pool watching us. Boys and girls that were young and old.

 

It was pretty common for schools and the YMCA to require nude swimming or men and boys (never girls) up to around 1970. But note these would be all-male groups--once in a while women and girls were able to see, but that was unusual.

 

Public schools in the 60’s didn’t have this practice but at private schools and organizations like the YMCA it was common

 

I've also seen pictures of groups of naked men and boys at the swimming hole. It seemed to be the norm. If this was true were women and girls present? Did they swim too or just stand by and watch?

 

Someone put a link on here a while ago to a very detailed article about how men and boys swam naked in public in the past.

I can't find it now, but perhaps someone could repost it here if they find it?

 

A Brief, Humiliating History Of Swimming In Gym Class

When boys swam naked

https://www.pvswim.org/official/newsletters/PVSOM_2019-04.pdf

 

Thanks for those links. I knew I had seen them somewhere.

 

Simply incredible from U.S., from there and now so puritain today ???? very special. By the way, any mixed swimming class with both female and male nude ?

 

I think one of the reasons there is so little nude swimming allowed in public schools, pools, gyms, etc. is the fear of homosexuality. I saw this when I was on the HS swim team and in my regular gym class. Many of the boys would not shower or change out in the open for fear of being seen. Even now, at the gym I used to attend, I heard negative comments from guys about guys who go naked to and from the showers.

Well, that's my 2 cents worth....

 

Back when I was in school only boys swam nude. Girls wore suits given to them by the school. No coed classes

 

I have read that the same applied in some boys schools in the UK but certainly ended by the 1970s when I was at school. It was not until adult life that I discovered that swimming is more comfortable (certainly for men or boys) without swimwear.

 

PE class in my high school was mandatory unless you were a participant in extracurricular sports. There was a required semester of swimming class and if you didn't have a suit you went bare. It was an on purpose tact that "Oh darn, I forgot to bring my suit today." was the accepted ploy The modest classmates always had their suits. The rest of us had a grand time splashing about in the nude. There was a local YMCA and YWCA and the two didn't cross the gender line. At my "Y" swimming was always done sans clothes of any kind. The policy began to change in the early 70's as one by one local Y's allowed women to room and board at the facility.

 

The biggest reason for doubting the nude swim classes is that people these days don't understand what the YMCA was back then. It's not your local 'Y' like it is today.

 

In Missouri public school swim classes and Ymca were required nude for boys with the gang showers into the mid to late 1960s and then became optional. At my school it was required to shower after gym class or... I understand swim classes in public school was optional nude for girls and they also had the gang showers, but many girls refused to use them. I heard of girls walking into the gang showers, getting arms wet and walking out. Filtering and pool cleanliness was given for the required nudity.
Not at my school, but I heard some schools would occasionally have a female in charge of boys gym classes and male for girls.

 

At my middle school (mid-1980s) if you forgot to bring your swim trunks, the PE instructors made you swim naked. I only forgot once, but I remember it felt a little humiliating. Unlike your experience, it was not at all common to see any of my classmates swimming nude, and I don't think anyone ever forgot swim trunks on purpose. I was worried I might pop a boner and someone would notice it. I don't think I did, but I remember being so glad to get back to the locker room and into my clothes again.

 

Yes, it did happen. I took swim lessons at the YMCA, it was nude only. When I went to High School, we had swim class twice a week and it was also nude. Nobody objected or complained It was a great way to learn anatomy, as every body developed at different times.