I remember my first school shower because my best friend and me were rather reluctant to do so and attempted to dress and leave. We got caught. This was in 1981 and I was only 12. The teacher then forcibly made us both remove all our clothing and literally grabbed the back of both our necks with one hand squeezed on each and frogmarched us into them rather forcefully. I've often wondered if this crossed the line of acceptable treatment.

But my bigger mystery, as a gay man, is how I went through more than 5 years of secondary schooling having to shower naked among 30 or more boys on a weekly basis all year round and never once did it occur to me that I might be gay or have any same sex feeling or sensations towards those I was in close proximity to my own age. Our school gym for PE was always mandated to be barechested but at no point did I have any obvious interest in what I could see around me. It was only when I was about 20 I seemed to realise and then start thinking back about some of those I shared school with.

The question I've always wondered is why such school situations with ample nudity and shirtlessness among many boys didn't make me realsie my own sexuality sooner and I had to wait until I was long gone and 20 years old.

That's a fascinating point you make on your sexuality kind of laying dormant through all your school years and in those everyday situations many of us faced in those days.

Showers seemed to be the strictest rule of the lot in almost every school in those days didn't they. No one escaped, many tried!

I was not especially fond of the PE master at my school in '75 who took the cross country with our shirts all having to come off to do so, and if we looked too clean at the end he had us rolling on the ground to give us something to wash off back in the changing room.

Guest wrote:
That's a fascinating point you make on your sexuality kind of laying dormant through all your school years and in those everyday situations many of us faced in those days.

Showers seemed to be the strictest rule of the lot in almost every school in those days didn't they. No one escaped, many tried!

I was not especially fond of the PE master at my school in '75 who took the cross country with our shirts all having to come off to do so, and if we looked too clean at the end he had us rolling on the ground to give us something to wash off back in the changing room.

I never understood why the PE teachers wanted us to take shirts off for games or even be in the changing rooms with us lads. I do remember a few boys going through puberty were looking at other boys getting undressed indiscreet. There was a lot of sex talk that went on also.

The school showers were out of bounds after a fight broke out years prior I started attending the school.

PE was horrendous there was only football, rugby, swimming or running to pick from the options. I never understood all the rules and laws of rugby, running after a football was a caveman and I couldn't swim no matter how hard I tried.

Cross country was ok but I treated it like a country walk looking at hills, rolling trains, not forgetting the odd ant fight, seeing birds(feathered kind) flying or mating or even seeing frogs having sex was interesting. I never understood why people run through the countryside and do not take notice of the small things. What annoyed me at school was that all the best classes were after school during school.

I was told that fishing was a sport like hiking but was told to shut up when I put my point forward to the PE master.

Daniel wrote:
I remember my first school shower because my best friend and me were rather reluctant to do so and attempted to dress and leave. We got caught. This was in 1981 and I was only 12. The teacher then forcibly made us both remove all our clothing and literally grabbed the back of both our necks with one hand squeezed on each and frogmarched us into them rather forcefully. I've often wondered if this crossed the line of acceptable treatment.

But my bigger mystery, as a gay man, is how I went through more than 5 years of secondary schooling having to shower naked among 30 or more boys on a weekly basis all year round and never once did it occur to me that I might be gay or have any same sex feeling or sensations towards those I was in close proximity to my own age. Our school gym for PE was always mandated to be barechested but at no point did I have any obvious interest in what I could see around me. It was only when I was about 20 I seemed to realise and then start thinking back about some of those I shared school with.

The question I've always wondered is why such school situations with ample nudity and shirtlessness among many boys didn't make me realsie my own sexuality sooner and I had to wait until I was long gone and 20 years old.

I had to re-read this and it did trigger a few flashbacks. I do remember a carertaker and a teacher getting in to a lot of shit for having sexual relations with girls.

I do remember one PE teacher who used to watch lads get undressed and he was no where to be seen when we getting dressed. I hated PE and I saw no point running around so-called football pitch to chase after a ball. It's so primitve and pointless.

Detention was more fun than PE, even then detention was about writing an essay why PE is good. Sounds like a gulag.

What is it about school PE and it's association with being a teenage boy forced into showers that makes the memories of it all flood back in an instant.

When I had my first secondary school PE lesson on a warm September day in 1979 I knew our changing room had showers in it but had no idea if they'd be used or not and all I could think of throughout the lesson was what might happen when it ended. This may sound daft but I spent the whole lesson trying my hardest not to look like I was sweating much. When we got back to change afterwards we just dressed and went off. I was so relieved.

Next lesson and I was more relaxed but came back and could suddenly hear the water going and opened the door to see my best mate standing there full on naked in my face. Instant panic set in. It was one hell of a shock. I so didn't want to do it and did my best to linger but to no avail, "everyone goes in" came the instruction and in I went, half heartedly splashing a bit of water here and there and feeling so damned strange I was in school with no clothes on at all.

I was always surprised that there wasn't much more personal taunting in a situation like a school group shower we all got sent into, shoulder to shoulder, bumping each other, while entirely exposed for all to see how we stacked up.

Never quite grasped why schools used to be so determined to make us all shower so much like this, often when we'd barely perspired coming from a cold unheated winter gymnasium.

I agree with the football comment, a pointless game I loathed having to play. Sometimes forgetting the kit on such days and taking the punishment of doing work at a desk in the library instead was just so much more appealing. Boys were expected to come off the pitch caked in mud on such days over wet winters and boy did we often look such a state that we had to take our boots and other bits of kit off outside before going in to change and shower.

This thread is just an old troll having fun but that's it for now. Pointless and probably intended to be malicious. Closed.