Please, not until after we've been properly introduced

[pbray]

The time change threw me for a loop. Officially I lost only one hour, but somehow I found myself running at least two hours behind my usual schedule. Thus instead of leaving for the gym at 1PM (the hour formerly known as noon), it was after 2PM when I finally left the house.

It's been a month since I rejoined the gym in my quest to maintain fitness year round rather than just in the biking season. There's not a lot of choices for gyms in the area. This one's okay, but the biggest drawback is the women's locker room.


I don't consider myself prudish. I understand that a certain amount of nudity is to be expected in a common locker room. But I'm pretty sure there's a line to be drawn between the amount of nakedness required to change in and out of gym clothes, and the sheer exhibitionism that is common at this gym. Several of the ladies (and I use this term loosely) feel that it is entirely appropriate to wander around completely naked as they shower, blow dry their hair, apply their makeup, and only then decide to put on clothes. Since the locker room is small and cramped, when they're standing by the mirrors you must brush by them if you're going to or from the lockers. I'd prefer not to get that intimate with a naked stranger until they've at least bought me dinner.

And, for the crowning touch, the women who feel that they should do their warmup stretches in the nude, while laying on the bench. Today as I turned the corner to the middle row of lockers I was greeted by a sight that well, frankly, should have been saved for her partner or her gynecologist. I froze in complete amazement, but there was no where else to change, so I just turned my back on her and proceeded to do so. Though I did make a mental note never to set anything of mine down on the bench. Because this isn't the first time this has happened.


Talking with other women I know who go to this gym, I know I'm not the only one who finds this behavior odd. But the consensus is that it's unlikely to change in the near future. It makes me nostalgic for the gym where I used to work out. The locker room there was freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer, thus inspiring people to get in and out as quickly as possible. Perhaps they were on to something, after all.

Comments

[tryslora]

Wow. *flabbergasted* The women's changing rooms at our Y are comfortable, but people still don't wander about in them naked more than they have to. Or stretch! I'm just... *shakes head* I am utterly flabbergasted.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yeah--- I kind of think if people want to work out in the nude they need to join a different kind of gym....

[janni.livejournal.com]

When I was in Iceland and visited the local pool, I was at first startled by the local woman's locker room--women pretty much ditched their clothes entirely before heading for the showers, and did all their business in the local locker room without clothing and also without any self-consciousness. After a while, though, I began to kind of appreciate the total comfort in one's own body that went with this--and the women all had it, regardless of weight or body type.

I think how I felt in a U.S. locker room would depend on whether there was the same lack of self-consciousness there, in which case I'd be cool with it--or whether there was more awareness and deliberateness attached, in which case I might not be.

Though the gym I go to now is aimed at seniors, especially those with health issues (but is very close by in my neighborhood, which is why I go), and many of them can't change quickly, so there's a little less personal modesty as a matter of practicality there.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

This is where I'm conflicted. Part of me thinks I should be pleased to see that women are comfortable with their bodies and support their choice.
Part of me feels that some of the women have crossed the line into exhibitionism,a nd I'd be happier if they were comfortable with their bodies somewhere other than right in my face.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I think a lot has to do with how it's done--I suspect fewer Americans would have that lack of self-consciousness that makes it not exhibitionism.

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

Ew.
I certainly wouldn't place any part of my naked anatomy on anything in a gym locker room. Ew.
The GYN exam pose would be a total put off for me too. *gives the female creature the old raised eyebrow*

Do those dispensing machines sell body condoms?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Think we need sunglasses.

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

I very comfortable with nudity (but not a nudist), so I would not mind them wandering about nude, but I would draw the line at doing stretches in the nude. Being you are at the gym, where there are places that are very appropiate for that type of thing out in the workout areas, I would say that is crossing the line to exbiotionism (spelling alert), and it would be quite appropiate to complain to management. After all, the benches are there for the comfort of those getting dressed.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think my discomfort comes from exactly that point--there's a difference between being comfortable with your body and being an exhibitionist.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

I think I'd be OK with the wandering-around-naked (although why someone would want to do their hair and makeup before getting dressed, I'm not certain; that may just be because I'm almost always wearing a jumper, often a turtleneck one, at this time of year ...), but the spread-legged naked stretching on the benches strikes me as, um, excessive. There's being comfortable with your body, and there's pushing the boundaries in an effort to make other people uncomfortable.

I also think it's a little odd when people hide in the stalls to change, though. My family were pretty nudity-tolerant when I was growing up, and I've just never seen the point of pretending everyone else hasn't got the same equipment you've got.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

You make a good point. I have no problem with changing in a locker room, and when I was in a folk dancing group both sexes often shared a single room for changing, and it was no big deal. It was a step up from changing in the back seat of someone's car :-)

But there's a line between the practicality of sharing a space for dressing & undressing, and "look at me" exhibitionism. And I think what the comments are articulating is that we all recognize that the line is there... it's just a question of where people draw it.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

So folk-dancers do that too, eh? I thought it was only touring choirs ... ;^)

I think you're exactly right about the line.