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Speak Up: Getting Naked in the Locker Room

Wed, 08/27/2008 - 1:30pm by FitSugar
4,741 Views - 53 comments

I would say that the locker room became an emotionally loaded issue during junior high or high school. Getting naked with a bunch of strangers is definitely not an American pastime. Other cultures take steam baths in public regularly and topless sunbathing is common all over Europe. It seems like FitSugar reader are split in how they feel about their bodies naked. I read Locker Room Diaries last Summer and I emailed the author, my blogging buddy Leslie, whenever I have a "partially clothed" conversation in the locker room.

After reading her book, I have noticed how different women approach changing and showering at the gym. So now I am wondering about how you all feel about getting naked in the locker room? Are you comfortable with it, or do you change at home? The showers at my gym are communal, and I have seen ladies wearing swimsuits while washing their hair as well as women shaving all sorts of hair in the shower. Do you shower at the gym? How about the sauna or the steam room? Speak up and tell me how you feel about getting naked in the locker room.

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53 Comments Add a Comment

  • hithatsmybike's picture
    hithatsmybike
    2

    I feel pretty great about my body, but that doesn't make me want to strip in front of strangers.

    I've always kept myself covered. I always just turn my back to the crowd and change in a corner, or slip my clothes on whilst wrapped in a towel after my shower. I look incredible naked, but only my boyfriend gets to see that.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Tami715's picture
    Tami715
    3

    I'm very comfortable and confident in my skin, but there's a time and place for nakedness... If I have to change my bra and underwear, I'll use a bathroom stall or changing room. Otherwise, I just change as fast as possible.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • xfuchsiax's picture
    xfuchsiax
    4

    I've never been naked in a locker room, and I doubt it will ever happen, even if I had a supermodel body.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • lauraxtc's picture
    lauraxtc
    5

    I am not ashamed of my body. I am there to work out so I do get naked in there to change into my workout clothes and back to my regular clothes when I am done.
    If some people get offended by it. Im sorry, its just another human body!
    I don't stare at nobody, so no one should be staring at me unless you are bi and like me. = P lol.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cmd0610's picture
    cmd0610
    6

    I have no problem getting naked in the locker room, I just don't talk to anyone when not clothed and I don't stare at anyone either. I don't think I should have to do some secret-stash changing while trying to keep a towel up, I always cover myself with a towel when walking to/from the shower. I'm not freaked at all if i have a sighting of someone else naked either- we are all women, we all have the same parts, and hopefully no one is "judging" other women's bodies bc I certainly am not if I happened to see someone else changing.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • bastylefilegirl's picture
    bastylefilegirl
    7

    I feel great about my body, but I don't feel the need for everyone and there mom to see it. Seriously I think it's rude when people walk around butt-ass naked in the Gym Locker room. I have seen women hold conversations with one another sit down and relax etc all naked in the locker room. My big problem with this is well I don't want to see wrinkly old people or grey hair down there ahahah but seriously we are strangers and you have a towel so use it...it's a matter of respect. The Sauna is a diffrent story and I think naked is appropriate ( and therefore I don't go in there). It's almost like my personal space is being invaded.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Sun_Sun's picture
    Sun_Sun
    8

    it really makes me uncomfortable seeing other people naked, or see ppl sit their naked a$$ on a bench that i've probably placed my hand on. and it grosses me out seeing hair in the drains in the shower or on the walls of the shower or on the curtain. im a germaphobe when it comes to stuff like that. so unless i realllyyyy need to go somewhere straight from the gym, i'll dress, undress and shower in the comfort of my own clean home Smiling

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • StefanieO's picture
    StefanieO
    9

    I used to be totally skeeved out by getting naked in the locker room, until my husband and I bought a second home in Germany. Now, it's more embarrassing to be modest - that's when they stare at you here!

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • californiagirlx7's picture
    californiagirlx7
    10

    I would NEVER get naked in the locker room, I'm just too modest. I would rather change in the bathroom stall.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • bastylefilegirl's picture
    bastylefilegirl
    11

    Oh my Sun_ Sun sitting down on a bench without a towel between a naked bum and the bench is unsanitary and should be reported to your gym as well as the suspect cleaniness of the shower area.

    P.S. I'm modest but I still get dressed at the gym and have showered there before and I don't get dressed in the bathroom...I just use a towel and cover myself appropriately like more people should .......

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • kehinde75's picture
    kehinde75
    12

    There's a Sex and the City episode about this where Charlotte freaks out about taking her towel off in the steam room. She squeals and runs into the locker room and of course, Carrie follows her and asks what the problem is. Charlotte declares that she can't get naked in public and Carrie says the ladies locker room is not public.
    Changing and showering and being naked in the women's locker room is not rude or unsanitary - its function is for changing and showering and therefore being naked. I understand feeling modest and wanting privacy but to declare being naked in the women's locker room as rude? I think that's being a little overly sensitive.
    I'm not one to hold conversations while naked, but neither am I one to rush through my shower (my locker room has no curtained off shower stalls), drying my hair, toweling off, etc. and I don't feel like I'm being rude. We're all women! I've seen great bodies and not so great bodies - who cares?

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • mondaymoos's picture
    mondaymoos
    13

    I go home from work, make dinner then usually go to the gym. I'm not trying to cook a meal in my work clothes and get them stained, so I usually change into my gym clothes before I start cooking because they're more comfortable anyway. Sort of does away with the whole issue. Nakedness in no way bothers me, however I do NOT take showers at the gym. I don't like taking showers in flip flops and I'd rather just high tail it back home and shower there.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • anna_muffin's picture
    anna_muffin
    14

    I don't have a problem with it either, but I try to keep my naked time to minimum.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Allytta's picture
    Allytta
    15

    i love saunas, and they're made for being naked, so that's why i hate it since i've moved to UK male and female saunas are together. WTF? I don't want to wear my bikini in sauna and don't want to sit next to some sweaty guy who is checking me out.

    on the beach i prefer women's beach, were i sunbathe naked as well - i hate swimsuit lines on people, i think it's ugly like warts.

    in locker rooms i don't give a damn what people would think, but i don't parade naked.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • kia's picture
    kia
    16

    I have no problem getting nekked in the locker room or shower. I will lean towards the side of modesty if there is a child in the locker room (kids are usually around at pools).

    I used to hate the locker room situation in Miami where there would be older boys in the locker room with their moms. No way. I felt weird being in my swimsuit in front of them.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • JessicaLE's picture
    JessicaLE
    17

    I hardly have enough courage to drop the towel to jump in the pool, let alone shower or change in front of others. But when I change in the bathroom stalls located inside the locker room, I'm never offended by other people changing in the open. That's what it's there for, and kudos to them for having more guts than me. =)

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • sunnytropic's picture
    sunnytropic
    18

    I shower at the gym about 4 mornings a week. I bring my own bathsheet sized towel and if no one is around will change in a corner in the locker room camp-style over/under my towel, but if someone else is in there with me I change in the bathroom stall. I have no problem being naked, I just don't care to be it around strangers! If I was going in the sauna or steam room (which I don't) I'd go in a towel.

    I don't care if other people want to change/be naked in the locker room, sometimes it is just annoying though when someone is doing it standing behind the mirror that I'm trying to dry my hair/put on makeup in, cause then I have nowhere to look!

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • tlsgirl's picture
    tlsgirl
    19

    I don't generally get naked in the locker room since I often don't change there, but when I do I generally just turn my back and get undressed and redressed quickly. I love my body, and I'm not modest in any other area, but for some reason I just don't like being all naked in the locker room. Doesn't really bother me when other people do it, though.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Cadi Con Carne's picture
    Cadi Con Carne
    20

    I'm not ballsy enough to walk around starkers. Maybe if I still have this body when I'm 70...my milkshake will bring all the boys to the yard. Of the retirement home. In their power scooters.

    'Til then, I just change quick, only sit my semiclothed tush on a towel, not bare on the bench, and I don't stare. I'm not in there to stare!

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • lydialee_home's picture
    lydialee_home
    21

    I have no problem to change in front of anyone. I am in master swim team, everyone change swimsuit in front of others. It is actually awkward if one of us change inside a stall.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • Jeny's picture
    Jeny
    22

    I definitely DO NOT mind changing in the locker room, that's basically what it's there for! Take this morning for instance, I worked out and when I was finished, took off my work out clothes and wrapped a towel around me and went to take a shower, in the NUDE, and then did my hair and make up with my towel wrapped around me.. a woman is a woman is a woman and i'm not making it a point to stare at you if you're naked and i don't think anyone gives to farts to look at me when i'm naked.. i definitely just have a towel wrapped around me in the sauna as well : ) I guess i'm just super comfy in the nude esp. around just women

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • hannegee's picture
    hannegee
    23

    I think people from europe is more used to the naked body, due to nude beaches and toppless tanning.
    I always shower at the gym, naked of course! Hey, that saves me heap on my electricity bill:)I dont like how my body looks, but thats in front of myself, not others...dont really care what they think Smiling
    Smiling

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • GlowingMoon's picture
    GlowingMoon
    24

    I'm comfortable being naked in the locker room, and being around other naked women. I was formerly on a swim team, too, so it's no big deal.

    Truthfully, I think it also helps that I'm content with my body.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • porkypocky's picture
    porkypocky
    25

    i vaugely remember changing in the locker rooms in high school, it wasn't a big deal...i just changed really quickly!

    the only other time i would've been naked in a locker room was when i used to swim at the Y. that was the worst...i don't know if they still do this, but they would let little boys up to the age of 6 into the locker rooms with their mommies. you HAD to cover up lest some little boy be standing there staring at you...super awkward. it was like "um, hello there...where's mommy? go stare at her, please... :("

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • cdelphine's picture
    cdelphine
    26

    wow, I would have thought that more commenters here would be comfortable with changing in the locker room. American culture is so messed up when it comes to aging, the human body and nudity.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • jessie's picture
    jessie
    28

    ack....no way...never was comfy with it..not even in middle school, high school...if i had to go to the shower i'd go as fast as possible..another runner...wouldn't want scare anyone!

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • lovelystate's picture
    lovelystate
    29

    I'm comfortable changing in the locker room. Of course, I don't parade around naked but I usually change into my workout clothes at the gym. I don't shower there because I'm a mild germaphobe and would much rather high-tail it home right after my workout to undress and shower.

    18 weeks 6 days ago Report Comment
  • bloodredrose's picture
    bloodredrose
    30

    Eh, I'm kind of over it - I've discovered that it's just not practical to worry about being naked in the locker room. I don't exactly go around flaunting my nakedness, but I can't be concerned about it either - I only have so much time to get in and out of there. Besides, it gets a little irritating when there are only a few showers or bathrooms, half a dozen people waiting, while someone is hogging the stall like it's a private dressing room.

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • Geminispoppy's picture
    Geminispoppy
    31

    I'll change and shower in the locker room, and be naked during those brief intervals, but I'd never just walk around aimlessly naked like a lot of women do at my gym. I just don't feel the need to subject others to my nakedness that didn't sign up to see it, like my boyfriend did Sticking out tongue

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • Lanfear's picture
    Lanfear
    32

    WOW I expected a few "I don't get naked in the gym" answers but not that many.

    I'm from Germany and here if you go to a sauna you are expected to be naked (or wrapped in a towel if you must) bathing suits will get you strange looks. And in my gym there are no individual changing rooms and there are signs up saying "please don't change in the bathroom stalls" so unless you want to go home sweaty you have to change in the open. You only make it a big deal if you act all weird about being naked.

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • wambalus's picture
    wambalus
    33

    I'm also really surprised by the responses here - especially ones suggesting being naked is rude to others (shaving in the shower and sitting naked on benches is another issue). I also live in Europe and the body is just a part of everyday life. I definitely get naked in the locker room, and while I don't hurry to cover up, I don't do a song and dance saying 'look at me!'

    I do really wish women would become more comfortable with their own bodies, and perhaps one of the ways of achieving this is to get more comfortable with other women's bodies.

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • sundaygreen's picture
    sundaygreen
    34

    It doesn't make me uncomfortable when other chicks get naked (especially people who aren't perfect or older ladies - love them for not caring), but I'm not comfortable doing it.

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • FitZucchero's picture
    FitZucchero
    35

    I am a total prude when it comes to this area and I'm glad to read I'm not the only one. I know it's completely absurd and I even feel silly, but having moved from the U.S. to Europe my prudishness seems even more pronounced. I think I'm gradually overcoming this "issue", but I do think that Americans tend to be more conservative than our friends from the other side of the ocean (UK excluded perhaps)

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • komler's picture
    komler
    36

    Another one from Europe.

    I honestly never found changing in locker rooms weird - it's just something we used to do from an early age at elementary school after gym and swimming lessons, and continued to to until graduation from high school, at least. The first time with a new class would always be a bit weird, but it quickly adjusted.

    Like that, I've had no problems when I started going to the gym as an adult. It's just body parts - we've all got them.

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • sparklestar's picture
    sparklestar
    37

    I don't care! If they see something that offends them THEY SHOULDN'T BE STARING.
    Jeez.

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • Shadowcat14's picture
    Shadowcat14
    38

    I change in the locker rooms. When I slip out of my underwear I just simply face the locker. The only issue I have is when people strut around the locker room stark naked and then get offended when you look at them. Kinda difficult not to when they are prancing around. That has only happened to me once though.

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • yasume's picture
    yasume
    39

    I haven't been a member of a gym in a long time. I workout at home. But when I was in the gym, I would always arrive with my workout clothes already on and then I would go home to shower, etc.

    Honestly, I don't have a problem with it. Just slip on your clothes and keep moving. It's not a big deal. There are other pressing issues in the world. Sometimes we,(Americans) can be a bit prudish about something as simple as nudity.

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • Amethyst's picture
    Amethyst
    40

    I've always wondered why women do this. Now I am not a prude, I have no hang-ups or anything like that, but when I am in the locker room of my gym, I practice simple modesty.

    Why do some women take the opportunity to walk around a public locker room either butt naked or topless and in a thong? I mean, really, I'm curious WHY they do that? What are they trying to prove? A) there are no guys around, so unless they're trying to attract other women, why do that? B) showing off? I certainly don't ogle women.

    I'm curious because this is a pet peeve of mine. It's like, get over yourself already, change your clothes, cover your naked self up and leave... *sheesh*

    18 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment