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?

I’m not flouting any ‘rules’, don’t be ridiculous lol.
And I’m not British btw. Many cultures are uncomfortable with public nudity, it’s not a peculiarly ‘little Englander’ mentality.
Try stripping off in Dubai, the US or Iran etc.
At any rate, there is no right or wrong about it - if stripping off in the mixed sauna is enjoyable go right ahead.
Mixed saunas just seem quite odd to some cultures and not others.
Perverted was clearly the wrong word to use - perhaps uncomfortable would have been better.

obviously as a rule - breaking Brit I defy this

It's in your OP.

Nothing unusual to be uncomfortable, if it is not for you then just don't go to the sauna in that particular place.

Wow, so at the first post you are a rule breaking Brit and now you use Iran as a base for comparison to not sound as a prude to yourself.

Enjoy your mental gymnastics medal.

Well he was a racist idiot then.

Dubai is not in Iran lol

tbh a lot of actual Scandinavians in this thread have said that mixed sex saunas are not really a thing beyond family visits, which I can imagine is a good thing as in Japan you’d typically have to split up and never get to enjoy the facilities with male family members.

So it seems women everywhere tend to avoid mixed sex saunas with unrelated men, gee I wonder why that could be????

I don't understand why, if it makes you feel so uncomfortable to go to these saunas and abide by their rules on what you can or cannot wear... you keep going?!

Just stop going! There are plenty of places you can go to saunas and wear a sweaty towel and not see any floppy bits... just go there!

I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable for a variety of reasons, therefore I have never been to a mixed, strictly naked, sauna.

Problem neatly avoided!

I’m not flouting any ‘rules’, don’t be ridiculous

But op you said yourself that "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 been to mixed sex saunas in Austria and Switzerland, I don’t have any problems whatsoever with getting into a sauna with naked people of opposite sex, I would definitely not avoid sauna after a day out in the snow even if I were the only woman there. It’s great for muscle recovery.

In my home country there have also been situations when I shared sauna with strangers, e.g. in a student house and similar settings where there’s more camaraderie by default, and people ask politely beforehand if it’s okay to join. Naked bodies in sauna are not sexual to me.

I would not go into a sauna in a swimming suit unless it’s explicitly required because for me it’s a bit gross and uncomfortable.

It was the OP who specifically mentioned Iran, which admittedly caught my attention:
Try stripping off in Dubai, the US or Iran etc

Yes, Scandinavians said that they use mostly family& friends sauna. However, the OP started this thread talking about the central Europe, and yes, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czechia all have public mixed saunas without swimwear (with an option to cover yourself with towel/sheet)

As for stripping off in the USA, I’ve sunbathed topless with friends in Central Park, New York. It is permitted. Admittedly you have to keep your bottoms on.

Granted, I haven't read the entire thread but if you go here every year and you know about the mixed sauna and how it makes you feel, couldn't you just..... not go?

It's not my idea of fun either so I just wouldn't go in a mixed sauna. I'm fully aware that in other places and cultures it's considered totally normal and they don't make such a big deal about the naked body as we Brits do.

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

I live overseas in an area with a lot of Brits and Europeans. I don't think this is how Brits are seen AT ALL, nor Europeans.

I can't speak for the one you have been to obviously but I have been to one in a big swimming complex near Berlin and it was fine. I'm British. It was casual and just the same as having things on. Unless the one you're at is full of pervs then the naked mixed rule itself is not wrong or shameful. I think it is wrong to go about clothed at one of these naked ones as well.

I agree. I mildly resent those who make me wear a swimming costume in a sauna. I do defer to them, however.

If you're one of those prudes who insists on us covering up in a sauna, I won't say it to your face, but I do think you're a silly fool. We'd be better off if you could overcome your prudishness ... even though it's maybe not the worst deprivation we experience.

'If you're one of those prudes who insists on us covering up in a sauna, I won't say it to your face, but I do think you're a silly fool. We'd be better off if you could overcome your prudishness ... even though it's maybe not the worst deprivation we experience.'

I'm neither a prude nor a silly fool. I just don't want to see strangers genitals thanks. Swimming costumes do not impinge on the experience in the slightest those who suggest they do doth protest too much imo. No one is suggesting anyone wear a wetsuit or a jumper.

We went to Helsinki last year and our Finnish guide explained to us just how important saunas are in Finnish culture. Absolutely loved it!

Finland seems to be a very good place to live. I’m jealous!

OP for someone so horrified by mixed naked saunas, you’ve been to a lot of them!

It is a key part of the culture here. My workplace has a sauna and when we have a party it always gets heated up and for our Christmas party we hired out a nice sauna cottage and it was hot all afternoon and night for people to go in and out. (awkward for me though as its pretty much an entirely male company. I waited all evening for a moment when it would be empty so I could go in by myself but never got a chance - next time I'll just tell them to get out for half an hour )

This fascinates me. How is it a key part of any culture, just sitting and sweating in a little room?

Well I suppose because it's been central to life ever since it was invented, from birth to death - babies were born in it (one of my mum's sisters was in fact, though that was sadly because she came quickly and prematurely so there was no chance to get to the hospital) and when people died their bodies were washed in it before burying them.
It's a social place, where people gather and talk more freely than they otherwise would, because when you're all naked, you're all equal. It was common to conduct business and political meetings in saunas because of this (nowadays not because it obviously leaves women out of the meetings). It's common to invite your friends over to go to sauna and drink a few beers. We start taking our children to sauna as babies to teach them the culture and so of course most grow up loving it when they've been going weekly since they were tiny babies.
So it's not just sitting and sweating, it's everything.

Our guide said that the Finnish prime minister has a sauna in their office! It’s such a civilised idea. Love it!

'babies were born in it (one of my mum's sisters was in fact, though that was sadly because she came quickly and prematurely so there was no chance to get to the hospital) and when people died their bodies were washed in it before burying them.'

But why, surely once in labour you'd get the woman somewhere cooler, likewise a body. I can't think of a more inappropriate place to wash a dead body than a sauna. Morgues are refrigerated for a reason.

I can understand why some may like a sauna to a point but the being a key part to a culture seems strange. Still we're all different!

You don't do it in a hot sauna. It's because it was the most hygienic place in a house back then so was the best place to give birth, and would have been easy to clean out afterwards compared to cleaning a bed.
I assume it was the same for cleaning the dead, you wouldn't heat it for that, but the sauna would have warm water in the pata (cauldron) from the last time it was heated for washing.

Apparently saunas are the new pub, of the number of articles about the growth of wood fired saunas is anything to go by. Sauna hats are an important accessory.

As for prime ministers, apparently Angela Merkel did not see the Berlin Wall come down in 1989 because of a weekly sauna visit.

If anybody wants to understand Nordic sauna culture, there's an award winning documentary called Smoke Sauna Sisterhood.