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Originally Posted by KewlDewd66
Yup, the pubic hair was inevitably an issue. My best buddy and I were the first in our class to spurt out some, so the rest of the guys were looking at us with a degree of envy. Couple of weeks later, two or three other dudes had some hair to show, too, so everyone shrugged with their shoulders, and moved on. But we remembered very clearly not to tease the hairless dudes ever.
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The stages of development were very much on show since 7 - 9th graders all had gym together so it was mostly 12 - 14 year olds but there were a couple who were 11. Add on to that everyone developing at different ages and you had 7th graders with hair and 9th graders without.
The amazing thing is teenage boys are notorious jerks - and there was lots of joking around - but never any real teasing. Somehow even at that age we all remembered the awkwardness of those first showers in 7th grade and it was an unspoken rule that you can make jokes but you can't be mean about it.
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Originally Posted by KewlDewd66
The idea here was that if being naked with your peers of the same gender in the lockers and showers scarred you - YOU had a problem.
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EXACTLY. If you felt it was a big deal that was something you had to get over. Tall / Short, Fat / Thin, Big Dick / Small Dick it was all there and most everyone had some body issue so you just moved on.
And at places like summer camp there would be skinny dipping and the bathroom and showers were the only place there was no supervision so you were always catching someone there hard and quickly turning to face the wall.
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Originally Posted by KewlDewd66
Now, add all the sexting scandals going on to the equation, and you realize that by changing the rules to in favor of the vocal minority with a very strong sense of self-entitlement, the things inevitably got actually much worse for almost everyone.
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They are so concerned with offending anyone they make it worse for everyone. Look at movies like "Airplane" and "Blazing Saddles" - they are classics but would never be made now because they would "offend" too many people. Even the comedian Jerry Seinfeld is saying he will not perform at colleges anymore because political correctness has gone so far they are afraid to laugh at anything.
Sometimes the needs of the many need to outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. (Sorry showing my scifi geek side here)
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Originally Posted by KewlDewd66
Later on, in college, some of the locker rooms, group showers, etc., became occasional hunting grounds. I had no problem in approaching a dude who I thought was checking me out a bit longer than it was usual. A bit of small talk while no one was watching, and most of such encounters ended in my bedroom.  |
By then we were older and (hopefully) more confident. Also in junior high and high school it was a quick shower after gym. At college we lived in the dorm. Back at school you could just wash your pits and be done. At college you had to take a real shower and wash. Guys would walk down the hall to the bathroom in the morning and you would see the tent of morning wood in his sorts, some guys would get hard in the shower. We were guys - it happened. Sometimes it meant something - sometimes it didn't. But we were all used to it and dealt with it.
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Originally Posted by KewlDewd66
Nope, we did not have Grindr. So, we used the resources at hand. Not much time was wasted. No (fake) pictures were exchanged, and no lengthy schedule syncs ever took place.
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It used to be you met someone, got to know him, and then it might move on to sex. Now with the apps the meetings are just for sex. No getting to know them, getting comfortable or even seeing if you are really attracted to each other.
Now I am not knocking sex for sex sake - it can be great fun. But it is loosing the ability for it to become more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KewlDewd66
Most importantly, long before we reached the college age, hardly any guy in my class had any issue with nudity, his body image, etc., at all. The growing pains were simply behind us.
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You talk to guys in their 30's and under and they can't believe it was no big deal for us. They never saw any of their friends naked growing up - if you were swimming or at a sleepover you changed in the bathroom with the door locked. When I was a kid if your buddy got to your house before you were ready you just went ahead and showered and got dressed. He would sit there and you would be talking the whole time time.
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Originally Posted by KewlDewd66
Sure, some dudes were pretty open minded, and very willing to experiment. The others? Well, not so. But the 'scandalous', gossipy element was out of it. We had all learnt NOT to spread the stories and the news from the lockers, so most dudes kept their knowledge of things to themselves, too.
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Yep. You did not talk about Bob getting hard in the shower because you did not want him telling others when it happened to you. There would be some joking around but never real teasing.
Did seeing each other naked "cause" gay sex? Nope. Yeah it happened with some, it didn't happen with others.