![vintage gay men swimming vintage gay men swimming](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8f/1f/31/8f1f3185441a9a833851ed3028599f89.jpg)
Probably reflecting a desire of many immigrants to break away from the social conventions of Britain. With respect to the British settlement of NZ the social space afforded of public nudity was one of several differences with Britain that soon became apparent. I can recall my Grandfather speaking of naked swimming near Christchurch when he was a member of the Home Guard in the Second World War. Echoes of the earlier open era are found in World War One where ANZAC troops at Gallipoli swam naked in the sea, and favourably described in the press reports. Reports printed in the papers of public nudity in the cities was as a rule accompanied by the demand for the authorities to take firm action and put a stop to this nakedness, In Wellington there even was a naked beach scene at Lyall Bay during the weekends in summer of course. At public baths, the sexes were segregated and men and boys swam naked. Nudity in colonial times in NZ is another interesting topic, in those years to about 1910 there was considerable freedom for males to swim naked at public breaches, in rural localities, and at certain locations within cities. Rotorua was naked in 1967, and Hamner Springs clothed in 1969. This was also done away with about the same time. The Government run thermal hot pools at Rotorua and Hamner Springs had nude segregated swimming for many years. Some private primary schools with boarding facilities had nude swimming instruction for boys 5-13. Attitudes to nude swimming were quickly changing at that time. That programme was the last as the building was knocked down later that year.
![vintage gay men swimming vintage gay men swimming](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/retro-pool-boy-26681165.jpg)
Anyway we had been a little irresponsble and had spent the fee we were meant to pay to the Y, so that was that. It was difficult enough wearing a swimming costume : the mind boggled on what would happen being naked. This matter did not appeal to me as I was having a difficult puberty, which none of my friends were having by the way. My friend was really keen on the nude swimming. The pool was in use for a water polo game. We were shown around the facilities by the Matron. The question was asked would I and my close friend like to join in, this is 1967. Her boys were enrolled in the programme, one a little older than me, was one of the instructors. The Matron was a close friend of my mother. I cannot recall if they were nude or not, but probably were on account of them participating in the various games in the pool. The instruction was carried out by older school boys. Swimming instruction and water sports were only part of the programme : there was gym work and various trips around the City. This was overseen by the Matron at the Christchurch YMCA. There was an exception, this being the school holiday programme for boys up to the age of 14/15.
#Vintage gay men swimming update
They’re unlikely to reflect the real world.īut it was certainly a scenario, whether it ever happened in real life or not, that was simple to recreate for the blog.Īn update to my earlier post It was 1967: Naked swimming at YMCA swimming pools in NZ was male only. The colour ones are almost certainly ‘real’ photos, but ‘modelled’ to play on this ‘genre of erotica’ more than anything else. the school involved, where they were located and so on. There’s quite a number of this type of photo around, but note, if you’re doing your own research on the topic, just how poor quality some of the photos are, and without any definite sort of detail, i.e. So some of those photos of nude male swimming teams may just be true, although I don’t really see those photos making it to the school yearbook, do you? This seems to have been a fairly commonplace change in attitudes in once male-only preserves. Wiki calls it ‘a genre of erotica’.įrom what I can gather, nude swimming was present in the YMCA -because the clue’s in the name, Men- but was discontinued when the YMCA began admitting females. CFNM (Clothed female, nude male) is, I would suggest, a bit of a fantasy thing in the internet era. Some readers commented that boys did swim nude, and girls in costumes, but on different days.Īs I wasn’t editing at that point, it was a story that largely passed me by, until I discovered some photographs online today purporting to tell the same story. A couple of years ago, when Trine was editing the blog, she covered a story about nude swimming at the YMCA (in America).