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?

Maybe read the bit where OP and others have stated they were sexually assaulted in mixed sauna environments before you throw around ridiculous accusations of `racism'.
Grow up.

I did not mention racism

I wouldn’t call it perverted but I wouldn’t like being in mixed sauna either. I wouldn’t feel comfortable being so “exposed” and I would be very conscious about touching other people’s bodies accidentally, I wouldn’t like it. It’s just not my thing.

Thats fair enough, not everyone would be comfortable with it.
The thing is though there is a choice of whether to go in or not and as long as its clear (which in my experience it is) that its "no Textiles" then you can go or not.

I think it’s a really interesting phenomenon. On one hand, I love the idea that it’s just bodies and for how we all look to be less important - sounds liberating. However I also have life experience and have existed under the male gaze since I was young - and I don’t imagine there’s significantly less sexual harassment of women and children in countries that are more comfortable with nakedness, is there?

I have German family who think we are prudes about this but the thought of hanging out naked with my dad makes me feel ill. One observation that may be relevant is that in Germany I think there are different norms about staring at others - many Germans stare openly ime. In the uk we’re taught early that ‘it’s rude to stare’. So this applies to nakedness and maybe people are less threatened by people looking at them naked because they are used to being stared at?

you grow up, and maybe people who have been sexually abused in saunas can either stay out of them (so not triggered) or go to women only sessions. Which even the mixed-naked-sauna obsessed Germans offer.

Your belief that Europeans are more socially conservative than Brits is laughable.

Maybe read the bit where OP and others have stated they were sexually assaulted in mixed sauna environments

I was sexually assaulted on a bus. I don't call all people taking public trasport perverted.

Maybe read the bit where OP and others have stated they were sexually assaulted in mixed sauna environments before you throw around ridiculous accusations of `racism'.
Grow up.

So why is the op still going to such saunas if she feels they're so 'perverted'?!

people who have been sexually abused in saunas can either stay out of them (so not triggered) or go to women only sessions.

Exactly!

Why voluntarily go there and then complain that others there are 'perverted'

Your belief that "Europeans" are a homogenous group is laughable.

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

That's actually quite offensive to the locals. Why did you feel the need to break the rules so rudely?

"Endure it every year"
Er, nobody's making you go.
It's clearly not your thing so why put yourself through it?!

I spent a bit of time in Finland. In general, Finnish saunas are single sex only if naked. Immediate family will go in naked together (if it's a private sauna or their spot in the apartment complex's sauna) so children will grow up seeing both parents naked.

In a single sex environment a sauna is always naked and swimsuits in a sauna are seen as unhygienic due to fumes, however if it's a mixed sauna with people other than immediate family then it would be in swimsuits. I went in single sex saunas at my gym and the local pool where nudity was generally required, as well as to a mixed public sauna where swimsuits were required. You do feel much better after a naked sauna, just imagine a bath in a swimsuit vs naked- you feel a lot cleaner afterwards without the swimsuit.

My Finnish friends were horrified at the idea of naked saunas with men who weren't their dad/brother/boyfriend. But the Germans/Swiss I met there found that a bit prudish as almost all saunas there are mixed and naked.

Exactly. I hope if she thinks she can be rude and flout the rules they throw her out every time she tries it on.

Your mindset is perverted.

Germans do like to stare, whatever you are wearing (or not).
DH and his family have a very relaxed attitude to nudity etc, he said that when he was younger it wouldn't be unusual for him to be in the bath/shower, his Mum on the toilet and his sister brushing her teeth all in the same room. Apparently as children they only got dressed to leave the house or garden and then only under protest.
I have managed to make DH a bit more "British" now but its certainly gone a bit the other way as well. I don't walk around naked but if I am getting changed and the towel slips I am fine with it

I love a sauna. I've only been to a sauna once in Germany and I don't think I'd do it again. It was just me (in my costume) and a young man with a huge penis which I think was semi erect. Not comfortable and I just left. Not for me!

perverted ? I'm not sure you know what "light-hearted musings" mean

Shock news item - different cultures have different views!

I was speaking at a population level and in response to OP's claim that Europeans are more socially conservative than Brits. I am amazed this wasn't obvious to you.

Thanks, I don’t mean to generalise too much but it’s definitely noticeable! See I am very relaxed about nakedness at home, particularly around me and my daughters, I would walk between bathroom and bedroom naked. DH started to cover up more once kids got to 4/5. To me that’s totally different to public nudity but I know more relaxed than some.

I don't object to the concept but would feel awkward myself. Fo people speak to you? Not sure I could converse with a naked stranger!😀

I was with you until you indicated that your main dread was an “elephantine” male.
Slim ones would be more acceptable then?
Nice causal fatism OP.

For some reason I find it so much easier to talk to a stranger when we're all naked. I guess it's the equalising effect of nudity (same reason why many business and political meetings were traditionally done in the sauna in Finland)

Im amazed you think brits are considered anything other than super conservative body ashamed prudes! Most European countries I've been to are much more liberal.