For Thinking that Mixed Saunas are Perverted?

[GreekDogRescue]

I am currently staying in a spa resort in Switzerland. The facilities are immaculate but it always strikes me as odd that the conservative Germanic cultures are so keen on the mixed naked sauna.

I visit every year and endure it but every time I enter the sauna with trepidation, hoping against hope that I do not have to confront some elephantine Germanic male proudly plodding about with his crown jewels on display. Thankfully I’m increasingly myopic but WTF?

The irony is that Brits are seen as wacky nonconformists yet conservative European cultures are so keen to get their kit off at the first glimpse of a bit of heat. There are even signs up forbidding users to wear their bathing costumes. Why?

Obviously as a rule-breaking Brit I defy this but will never forget a Swiss lifeguard storming into the Davos public sauna demanding I take my bathers off. I have also been harassed in the most horrible way so now stick to hotels.

AIBU to find this all very perverted?

Are there any Scandi or Germanic contributors who can shed some light?

Not that I like the word "prude," usually used to try and embarrass someone into changing their boundaries, but I don't think nude saunas are "perverted" either. People should not be shamed either for going to them or for not wanting to.

Nothing beats a good sauna session. Spending a few hours relaxing in-between cold showers to cool down and drinks and chatting to your mates or being alone with your thoughts. And nothing else gets you properly clean like sauna.

Not true
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen

Because you come out of them feeling rejuvenated, healthy and fantastic - particularly if you also have an icy cold shower or jump into an ice cold lake immediately afterwards.

You don't have to like them (or indeed, go into one) but they're popular for very good reasons.

@GoldsolesLugs - mixed public Onsen require bathing costumes and that is confirmed in your link.

Honestly there are very few things better than sauna. One of my current favourites is this place - a dozen different saunas, various relaxation rooms, tons of pools at various temperatures, plus a lovely garden and restaurant. Of course you can also book treatments and massages - you can easily spend an entire day there and come out the most relaxed you've ever been.
https://www.bad-krozingen.info/Vita-Classica/Saunaparadies

Yes saunas are textile free, as they say - but it is oddly liberating and does not feel seedy or sexual one bit.

Soggy swimwear is not comfortable.

And I’m telling you that mixed sex onsens are not a thing. We hear legends of the last mixed sex onsens that some old grandmas and grandpas use, but it’s not really a thing. Like, not
at all.

Well I wonder where you've lived. I'd say Middle Eastern and Far East countries are far more conservative obviously. Compared to Europe I'd say we are equal.

We just don't do mixed naked saunas and that isn't prudish.

But swimwear is soggy generally. It gets wet when one wears it to swim.

Actually, I think rather it's the idea of wearing clothes in a sauna that's perverse. Think about it.

And, well, I like to be with my partner (and kids, sometimes) in a sauna. Hence, mixed sex nude sauna.

Just sensible. Nothing approaching perversity. The shoe is on the other foot, OP: it's your attitude that seems a bit perverted to us sensible people.

--But, of course, we rub along: takes all sorts ... Live and let live.

Most of the time I've used the word "prude", and heard it used, is nothing to do with the prude's own boundaries. No one cares. A prude is someone who tries to impose their boundaries on other people, and who explicitly states or insinuates that their willingness to do X or Y or Z is because they're sluttish, weird, deviant or perverse. Like this very thread! Accusing people who enjoy a commonplace social activity with no sexual element to it of being pervs doing it for the kink.

True! It gets wet. But there is a difference between wet (when you immersed) and soggy, when out of the water. And soggy is not comfy in my book. And there are nude mixed saunas in the UK.

In the words of my late mother when sister and l were growing up “ there is nothing wrong or to be ashamed of in nudity, but be on the look out for bad people”.

That's what I think.. all the leakage 🤢

A towel wrapped around you is more comfortable than a swimming costume when in a sauna.

Everything is perverted if you're that way inclined and the UK is full of repressed perverts which is why public nudity is seen so differently here

Of course it's ok not to like it!

But the op is flouting the rules and complaining about other cultures!!

That's not ok

I am prudish and there's no way I'd go into a mixed sauna naked.

I did spend a couple of saunas in Finland when I was a student, but only went into the female-only ones.

I don't really like them anyway, they are too hot to be comfortable for me.

Try the Claudiusbad in Cologne, you'll see all sorts on show there!

Fortunately they do have a non-naturist section as well.

Ooh, me too!

In fact, I never last more than a couple of minutes in mixed saunas (the kind where you wear swimwear) if there's even one bloke in there. This is because they all seem utterly unable to stop themselves sighing loudly and slapping their thighs constantly.

Surely the whole point of those designers and artists is that they were shockingly non-conformist and lashing back at uptight, conservative society? They're not representative of most Brits, otherwise they'd be completely unremarkable.

Most societies have counter-cultural movements, they just manifest in different ways.

I don't think most Europeans have thought of brits as nonconformist or rule breakers for a very very very long time 😅
In my case it's quite the opposite

There are few more enjoyable things in life than getting out of the sauna and running straight into the sea or jumping into a cold lake. Bonus points if it’s dark outside and the water is pitch black. It’s such an innocent, child-like joy.

Plus sauna is great for your immune system, and blood circulation, and the rapid change of temperature delivers a totally guilt-free and healthy dopamine kick. No need to go on a shopping spree or binge on chocolate.

Well that's a bit of a sweeping generalisation isn't it.

@LlynTegid We were both wearing actual swimsuits and not bikinis. So, given their leering behaviour (towards one of us 😂) we may as well have been naked!