to think stripping naked to shower after PE at school was horrific? **title edited by MNHQ**

[Flowersinyourhair]

Recent conversations with my daughter about PE at school (she loves it, I hated it) have got me thinking about why I disliked it so much.

I was reminded of the hideous shower experience. After PE, the girls would be obliged to have a naked shower, all in together. We would then have to go to the teacher, totally starkers and dripping wet, and bit ticked off on a register to say we'd had a shower.

I can't to this day understand why it mattered so much. It's a safeguarding nightmare really and I'm so glad it doesn't work like that anymore.

AIBU to think it's no reason I hated PE and to ask whether my school was particularly weird??

I remember this too. Small rural private school in the early 90s. There was no privacy, shitty showers that didn't work properly, no soap, overt ogling from girls who hadn't got boobs/period yet. We had stupid tiny PE shorts and our pervy sports teacher would let the boys do all their sprints first then sit at the end of the track and watch us girls with newly developed boobs bouncing down the track.
I'm totally with Catsmother who can't imagine why the hell this was allowed to happen. I was an absolute model pupil in all other classes but an intractable cowbag in PE and I've had to fight really hard to work against a natural hatred of all sports to try and keep fit and discovered that I'm not all that bad at running after all. Fucking smoke that in your pipe, Mr McN!!

Given that this thread has gone on for a month or so now and some of the replies, it seems that this was a major contributor to this country seemingly having far more body confidence issues than our European neighbours at least. And our levels of obesity given the hatred of exercise it has engendered.

Perhaps a recognition of this in the strategies that the government and medical profession have and will have in the future to combat the levels of overweight and obese people should be made.

But Saints in other countries they also shower communally - any swimming pool in Scandinavia, Germany or Iceland at least, it is mandatory to have a full shower before entering a pool.

There are instruction posters telling you exactly where to wash (pits, groin, hair etc).

Similar experience here too. Imagine if all the women this has happened to brought court cases against their former schools/LEAs? Could that happen? I'd say it was most definitely abusive.

We had to strip at our school and have a communal shower, the PE teacher (who is still a teacher) would stand at the end and watch us

Turns out that it's totally normal for men to wander round bollocko in the changing rooms in the gym to get from the shower to their locker/peg. He says everyone does it.

It happens at our local leisure centre, there are signs up asking people not to do it. I see women naked during the day when I go to the gym even when they are regulars who go daily and know that the school swimming classes are there. My Ds hates going swimming as he goes in the male changing rooms and is intimidated by adult men walking round naked.

Early 2000's.

We had individual shower cubicles with curtains. You had to throw your towel over the top of the curtain along with your underwear.

I used to just wet my hair and got away with it. The one time I didn't, she sent me back in and I promptly slipped, fell and banged my head

I rebelled completely after that by "forgetting" my towel as I'd cottoned on that the girls who forgot their towel did not have to shower.

Also meant to add that the boys stated their PE teacher never made them shower. Hence why they were always back in the next lesson much quicker than us.