Women breastfeeding in public. Yuk!!!! I have breastfed all of my 3 children, but never in public. Time and place. These womens' excuse is "its normal". Yeah. So is peeing, but I dont do it in public.
One could say that it'd be unhealthy to be ashamed of what you are. Are you saying there's something to be ashamed about having a physically imperfect body?
I've no doubt some would say that. But I don't think people are unhealthy or somehow lacking moral fibre just because they'd prefer a bit of privacy in the locker room.
Huh? Whatever gave you that idea? I think you're just trying to provoke me by putting words in my mouth
I think it is normal to be bashful regarding exposing one's body as we have grown into a very judgmental society in these areas where exposing our bodies is supposed to be more acceptable.
Some of it has to do with natural selection type things - even babies react differently to more "aesthetically pleasing" looks - some of it has to do with outside influences including of course the media.
Catholic, Puritan & "Victorian" ideas come into play to some extent - hence a prevalence (it seems) to be among folks from UK / Ireland and "formerly British colony" areas.
Philosophizing aside (a bit anyway ), my mother was quite natural with us when we were small and even now her displays of modesty have more to do with MY embarrassment than her own. Thinking about it, I wonder if that has something to do with how much easier it was to shower after swimming (yes, naked, yes, among other women) when I arrived than I would ever have expected it to be.
I guess there was something about having to help my mother (who bore 5 children, has yoyo'd between "healthy" and fat and is now in her 60s) with changing dressings and applying salve to her lower belly post-surgery (hysterectomy) to relieve me of some of my own hangups.
I do find it odd to think of some parents not allowing their daughters to change in the company of one another, particularly if neither has hit puberty yet BUT as none of them are of any relation to me, it is not my place to try to change them.
i think that's the important point- some of it has to do with upbringing and some doesn't- and even if it's a bit strange for me to thing about not having my kids change in the same room, exactly peg a, it's not really my family or hangups to challenge... which is what this is all about. everyone has or doesn't have their thing. personally, i am quite comfortable and much happier to be as bare as possible in my own house- i come from a family where we weren't that embarressed to walk around quite freely if we pleased and there was never anything strange or weird going on. that being said, my son doesn't care much if others are naked but he has always been quite modest about himself and prefers to cover up, even in the quick 3 steps from the shower to his bedroom.
Maybe she doesn't care what other people do , just like I don't care about other people breastfeeding their babies (re: your question earlier in this thread).
You seem to be confusing personal preference with censure of the actions of others.
Just because someone chooses to preserve her modesty, it does not follow that she has problems with other people taking their clothes off in public spaces, nor, for that matter, that she should have problems with other people putting suppositories up children's arses.
Nothing to do with moral fibre; rather puritanical and repressed values IMO. Pity the man who's ashamed of his physical form. Modesty has nothing to do with it. I agree about preferences, though. And I don't wish to put words in your mouth but am interested why I or anyone else should be ashamed of what's under their clothes. What next? Accent?
I can't understand why this thread has made it so far - surely the simple and quick solution is if you are uncomfortable with being in the nuddy around other people don't frequent those establishments where it is the norm.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on where you stand), in much of continental Europe it is the norm in gym changing rooms and saunas but it does seem that some places cater for those who wish to keep their kit on for saunas and need a shower curtain to hide their naked bodies.
Nobody is going to change this way of life which has been normal for so many years here so accept it and find an establishment where you feel comfortable.
I sincerely believe that just because I bathe naked in a communal same-sex shower in the gym, I have not somehow compromised my modesty and I resent the suggestion from those few posters on this thread that are trying to establish that link.
Being seriously myopic myself (and, rather riskily, not showering with my specs on), it doesn't matter to me one jot whether I'm naked in the shower with a load of other buff coloured blurs. My only concern is finding my way back to my locker and not out into the foyer - now that would be embarrassing.
nah I don't think you have compromised your modesty, I just wish i had the same confidence to be able to do it myself I am with UM's opinion embarrassment coupled with shyness for me