Did you have to shower after PE?

[Quanon]

Question due to a conversation about when this became unacceptable. Was it ever OK? Really? I didn’t ever experience it but DH did, with a teacher enforcing that everyone showered properly. It’s surely not expected now in secondary schools for safeguarding reasons? Our kids certainly don’t.

Were you required to shower after PE at school?

If you could give me an idea of when (decade) and yes or no, it will help our discussion. I wonder if it was more boys than girl?

For us
90s, female, no
90s, male, yes after rugby (teacher watching)

That's shocking

Yes. 80s female, communal showers, absolutely horrendous. We were excused if we were on our period but we had to go and specifically tell the terrifying PE teacher.

Left school in 82. We had walk through showers which a teacher made sure we went through, only excused if we had a period.

Early 80s. Female. No.

Late 70's - mid 80's female. Yes, and it was traumatic. The teacher made usually striping front of her and she watched us shower.

Wonder if we were in the same school. Was the term 'track shoes' used instead of trainers?

80s, female, no showering.
However, like PPs mentioned, we also had a lesbian PE teacher (my mum taught at the same school and confirmed it after I'd left) who insisted on supervising us getting changed in the communal changing rooms "to prevent any silly behaviour".

Seems a common theme whether male or female, being watched and scrutinised whilst naked....so glad things changed.my experience of teachers in the late 70s early 80s ..a lot of them should have been nowhere near children.

Late 90's, female and yes.
We were made to walk naked through a long shower while the PE teacher stood at the other end eyeing up your body then handed you a towel. Smiling.

when we were all herded in it meant our hair got soaked which was not too bad in summer but in winter was awful. often games were in the morning but it meant your blouse and jumper got soaked from your hair dripping down your back as most of us had long hair plus due to space we often only had small towels which got soaked from drying our bodies so were wet when we tried to dry our hair. wet blouses never seemed to dry so we spent a cold shivery day after games!

Yes! 80s. Long row of showers. You HAD to go through and if you forgot a towel, you had to use your PE kit!!

It's actually traumatic to think all this went on when we were in school.

Yip nothing dried you off better than dirty kit after cross country run.

It sounds awful. I feel very fortunate not to have gone through it. I started bolting our bathroom door at home from age 9 or 10, so was used to privacy when I bathed or showered. I can't imagine having that taken away from me at school.

No. In comp from 1977-83.

Compulsory in my Girls' Grammar school - I'm old.
Happy to have a shower, but not happy with the PE/Games teacher .

She got either an MBE or OBE for services to (a particular sport).
Should have been an award for voyeurism and inappropriate touching.

80s female yes. And the female PE teacher would inspect us to make sure we had got wet.

80s high school, communal showers after PE with teacher watching.
Not after every PE lesson, can't remember which qualified...
Was particularly horrible being a late developer for everyone to make fun of.

It's weird really. I'm a teacher (not PE!) and the idea of it happening now seems insane and awful, but I don't feel traumatised at all by the fact that we had to do it. I remember not liking it, but only in a fairly normal 'Annoying things you have to do at achool' kind of way.

It’s fucking horrendous.

I refused. I was hauled up in front of the class to be humiliated and asked if why I was so shy of my body, I still refused.

I remember my dad being called in as I refused to do PE or shower. He told me just to do as I was told. Nope. The headteacher said they would hold me down and make me get changed and do PE. I said good luck, try it.

The things I endured at school from he teachers, the way I was spoken to and treated is horrific looking back. I couldn’t imagine my dc being put through it.

@Funkyslippers a lot of girls that age have bodies like women though. They don't look like "kids"

1970s: yes absolutely. The only reasons allowed for not showering were period, athlete's food and verrucas (same as for swimming). PE teacher was present in communal changing room to make sure we did it properly.

I was quite surprised when my children (in their 20s) told me that they weren't expected to shower.

We also had to have verruca checks at the start of each half term. It was vitally important that we were in our tiny, horrible PE skirts for this. Then we would have to raise our feet while the male PE teachers looked up our skirts for far too long, sorry, at our feet.

They would make smelly faces at each other or lick their lips. Fucking grotesque. I told my father, he told me not to make trouble.

Ah yes, the foot checking nonsense as well.

00's female yes, fully naked in shower infront of all girls in class. Mortifying.