I just want to say that in the 1991/1992 school year, I was 13 years old, and in the 8th grade. We took showers after P.E., everyone took showers. The 6th grade guys took separate showers from the 7th and 8th graders, but they still showered after Gym.
The so called nerds showered right next to the bullies, the rich kids showered with the poor kids, the black kids next to the white kids and so on. It was the great equalizer we were all wet, we were all naked and we were all in various stages of puberty.
I noticed penises the growers and showers, I saw boners, and I saw shrinkage. Sometimes when a guy would shrink he'd play with himself until his penis semi-hardened into a respectable size. If a guy had a boner he'd try to hide it. I saw the circumcised and the intact guys. In the shower we'd throw wet towels, whip each other, make dirty jokes. But one thing that rarely happened was publicly commenting on another kid's dick. In my school it just wasn't done, it was considered gay to notice although I know most kids were at least glancing at the other naked boys in the shower.
I even suspect that one of our P.E. coaches looked at his fair share of boy's privates but never did anything other than glance. All of this looking at each other and we just weren't allowed to acknowledge it out loud. I think sadly I was among the last generation of kids in that particular school to take showers.
I graduated Middle School and when I got to High School showers were optional. I would gladly take a shower, but hardly anyone else did. In truth, the football team and swim team took showers. It was for that reason alone, I considered joining one of the team sports, ultimately I never did.
The last time I went to my old middle school the showers were being used as storage areas, the shower heads now neglected and corroded. I miss that time we had in the showers, I miss seeing so called 100 per cent straight kids day in and day out, who were clearly staring at as many dicks as possible. The way you could be observed to be on the small side or on the large side...yet nobody made any comments. I miss borrowing cologne from a pal after the shower and feeling so fresh after P.E.. The shower was one of the things that I strangely looked forward to everyday. I hope somewhere in North America kids are still taking showers at school. I'd hate to actually be the last generation to experience this.
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Well done. Your story makes me long for my own junior high days. You were fortunate that the tradition of showering continued until you were in middle school. I remember, one of my nephews entered middle school in the early 1980's. His dad had given him a little talk about locker room etiquette. Then the guy came home and announced that showers had been eliminated. I think he was genuinely disappointed. And I was disappointed for him.
ReplyDeleteThe strip-and-shower routine had a civilizing influence on some of us that were disadvantaged as kids. We learned not only to keep our bare body clean, but to wear clean clothes every day. The coach began every year with a pep talk about cleanliness. He was very frank and said if our parents did not do our laundry regularly, it was our job to keep our own clothes clean. Also, the showers were available after school for those who needed an extra clean-up before going home. My memories of showering and trotting around in the nude with all the other bare guys are very positive, and I agree with the OP that we've lost something valuable.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else find it strange that showers were compulsory for the Middle School kids but then optional for the High School kids?
ReplyDeleteI would’ve thought that the High School kids would need a shower more after sport because a later teen would be sweatier, hairier and smellier than an early teen after Gym class?
"Trotting around in the nude." Great description of a middle school phys ed class. There's only one thing I would add to this discussion: We nearly smothered our bodies during the first week, wrapping our towels as tight as possible around ourselves to make sure nothing showed. But by the second week we were letting it all hang out, and proud of it too!
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