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?

its like nudity is your natural state and you mostly cover up for propriety

Nudity is not sexualised in and of itself,

It takes the eye of the beholder to make it so.

Try this experiment: in complete private, look at yourself in a mirror stark naked. Then, add a small item of clothing strategically placed. Notice how more alluring and mysterious you look, with the small cover up drawing attention to what is hidden and possibly forbidden.

I grew up in Northern Germany, with Irish parents determined to not pass on the narrow minded views of the body they had learned at home. I'm perfectly happy with full nudity and as an adolescent found the textile free beaches the only place I felt free of the male gaze.

It's ingrained in me that wearing swimwear in a sauna is unhygienic though admittedly when challenged by colleague could not explain why. I think it's to allow skin to sweat and water vapour to evaporate.

The idea that really young girls should required to wear some sort of 'bikini top to cover in entirely nonexistent breasts seems to me a nonsense.

Oh I hear you. Never seen so much dog shit on a beach in my life either.

It was your comment that was condescending. Not the whole thread.

It's just nudity.

It's only sexual if you make it so. We're all just sacks of skin and bone.

I'm irish and love saunas of all flavours. And nude beaches for that matter.

you are being a typical prudish Brit I'm afraid.

"perverted" FFS. it is WELL KNOWN that several European countries have naked mixed saunas. There is nothing perverted or sexual about it. It is in your head if it is.

They always offer single sex too. Go for one of those sessions.

'The idea that really young girls should required to wear some sort of 'bikini top to cover in entirely nonexistent breasts seems to me a nonsense.'

Pants to cover genitals is all that is required for young girls and boys. I agree bikini tops on toddlers look silly.

Sadly it isn't a nonsense that there are perverts, many perverts unfortunately, who enjoy seeing naked children.

i am curious that you think that Europeans see Brits as quirky odballs.

They mostly, IME, think of Brits as buttoned up killjoys. Who drink beer far too quickly, vomit then fall asleep at tram stops.

Pretty much all Swedish saunas I've been too are segregated but will have specific time slots that are mixed. In my local sauna you're only allowed to go to the mixed session if you're in the company of someone from the other sex. I'm completely used to being naked in the sauna, but do prefer to go to the women only time slot.

I'll never forget the Finnish man, who asked me if I was British, when I said yes he looked sad and said "I'm sorry". Pitying me for being British

A norm here is a single flat bedsheet arranged either under you or around you. The actual nakedness is optional. Swimsuit is seen as stupid and specifically unacceptable if wet, changing the humidity for everyone else and growing bacteria (wet and hot environment).

Brittons are seen as prudish, half way to Americans.

I truly hate men like this.

But I prefer Asian spas where the sexes are strictly segregated. Just cannot relax with men around.

I guess I didn’t quote properly but there are foreign men like the British mentioned earlier that take this as a big joke and do ogle women. Nothing is done about it. So I prefer Asian spas

It's not necessarily "perverted", but an awful lot of men are perverted and problematic for women or other men or children.

And even if not, it's ridiculous to think that no-one would ever be looking at other people's bits in a sexual way and there would be no inappropriate comments or inappropriate touching even in cultures where they are "more relaxed about nudity".

A certain number of men are a problem anywhere in the world, particularly around places where people are wholly or partially unclothed such as swimming pools, changing rooms and toilets.

I wouldn't find it relaxing being naked around men, and wouldn't even want to be around other naked women particularly. I don't mind communal changing rooms but any exposure is fairly brief.

I'm really confident about my body but it's not an experience I'd seek out. I'm just not interested in seeing loads of naked humans whatever the reason.

I wouldn't listen seriously to the views of anyone who uses derogatory national, cultural or racist stereotypes.

Yeah, sexual harassment only happens in the UK and is not a problem anywhere else in Europe. 🙄

I wouldn't find it relaxing being naked around men, and wouldn't even want to be around other naked women particularly.

Well in such case you obviously do not need to go to nude saunas. Doesn't mean that people who do are perverted though, like OP suggests.

Having being flashed in a swiss sauna, and yes it was absolutely deliberate, I do get where the op is coming from
I live in Switzerland. At my gym there is a lovely wellness. I only go alone during the female only times and go with husband during the mixed times.
i don’t see much difference between the women and men in nudity levels
But the men are much louder with the puffing, panting and effort noises when coming out of the sauna and also when having the cold showers. That’s annoying

I didn't say they were. But a number of men are perverts, all over the world. The Swiss are no different.

I am Scandinavian and I don’t think I ever came across a public mixed sauna where both sexes are naked unless you want to actively seek them out. We are naked in female only saunas. I never go in saunas after moving to the U.K. as I don’t like wearing clothes in a sauna. I would go in a naked mixed sauna though.

Sorry I mean I would not go in a mixed sauna. Not because I think it’s perverted

I’m Swedish and have never been to a mixed sauna in this country, except once as a child with relatives ie everyone went to the sauna together. I don’t fancy a mixed sauna at all, but I don’t think it’s necessarily perverse. Men can be though - what I dislike most is the performative nature of male nudity that I don’t think they reflect on at all.

I read an article about German nudity culture - apparently a bigger thing in the East for various reasons. The article brings up that the traditional clubs are having trouble recruiting women nowadays. One man muses that maybe women are more ashamed of their bodies? While a women thinks that women are less exhibitionist than men and that’s why.

But nudity in same sex changing rooms is fine. I think it’s very sad that this culture is changing here. It leads to people not washing properly before getting in the pool for example which is disgusting.

i was flying back home to Germany via Helsinki on my British passport on 29th March 2019 wich is when it all changed EU wise for travel and all the Finish officials who saw it were asking me if i was "sorted out for a post-brexit world" and people who were in the queue behind me for security, seeing it in my hand were equally sympathetic 😂

Your post says far more about you than those you are calling perverted.
You are dismissing centuries of culture and tradition with your narrow-minded, little-Englander comments.
Ridiculous

I’ve lived in Scandinavia- the no swimsuit ‘rule’ has to do with avoiding chlorine fumes if you have been in the swimming pool before the sauna.
Covering yourself with a towel is allowed! Though most would just use the towel to sit on.
They are just more comfortable with nudity- most would have grown up having had regular naked saunas etc with family.