Men shower together in public.
When I was in high school, our shower room was a three walled enclosure with two rows of showers along the opposite walls. I have no idea how the girls’ shower room was set up. Obviously, I had never been inside and I had never asked any of my female friends.
In the MTC, the showers for the elders consisted of a room with two poles running from the floor to the ceiling. At the top of each pole were six showerheads. The elders would choose one of the twelve showerheads to use. It is my understanding that the showers for the sisters consisted of individual stalls.
At the gym at the University of Lethbridge, the set up is similar to the MTC. Again, I haven’t asked any of the women I know at the U of L how it set up. At Mary’s gym, however, the showers for the women are separate stalls.
Why is this? Why are men’s showers communal while women’s showers are separate? I could understand why women’s showers would be separate if they were co-ed showers. Have women always demanded separate showers, or was this something that has always been?
Sure, it would be nice to have my own separate stall, but I have no qualms about sharing a communal shower either. I am comfortable sitting in the steam room or in the shower or even towelling off with other guys around. Mary tells me that women never talk to each other in the shower. I talk to guys all the time—while showering, drying off or even getting dressed.
What is the difference?
5 comments:
I've actually wondered the same thing. And yes, women's showers are always in seperate stalls, even in school. At my women's college locker room we had a choice of shower stalls or the communal pole. The conclusion I came to was that this is because women are culturized to be modest and ashamed of our bodies. The message is that women's bodies visually are powerful sexual stimulants. It doesn't matter if we are only with other women, it's a lifetime of shame making us want to hide. And I think part of that comes from the seperate shower and bathroom stalls. It's institutionalized modesty. The other aspect to it is that 99% of women are ashamed of their bodies because we don't look like models, we're lumpy and out of proportion unlike everyone on tv. Most of us are embarassed to show our bodies to other women because of that. Just my two cents. None of this is scientific.
in my highschool and when I went to Nursing school the showers were communal with one long wall or a room with shower heads placed every so many feet. The gym we go to here also has a woman's communal shower as well as the rec centre where we go to aqua classes or just to swim. I don't think I have ever been to a place where the women's shower were seperate stalls.
The MTC is open to prevent self defilement
JL,
You make a very valid, powerful point. Women—or more precisely, their bodies—have been sexualised in our modern culture. Your assumption intrigues me. If what you say is true than the sexualisation of the female body has not only affected men, it has affected women.
Which brings up another question. If woman does not shower communally because she is afraid others will ridicule her imperfect body, does this mean she compares others' bodies to the imaginary ideal herself?
Also, in recent years the sexualisation of the male body has been on the rise. Should we assume that the same phenomenon will become present among men? My wife was saying the other day that on one of her mailing list, men have said they are uncomfortable showering in public. Could this be why?
Mum,
Your experience brings up further questions. Why do you suppose some female shower rooms are communal, yet some are not? I could see why showers in your high school were communal because it was quite a few years ago. But what of the others? Why are they communal while so many female shower rrooms today are not?
a,
That thought makes some sense, but there are some problems with that.
First, does this mean sister missionaries are free to masturbate? Does it mean that elders are more prone to masturbate than sister missionaries; that elders are less trustworthy than sisters? I am not sure I can answer these questions in the affirmative.
Second, if prevention of masturbation was the cause of communal showers, then why are showers not communal in missionary apartments in the field?
Third, this still does not address why male shower rooms are communal elsewhere.
Its not just showering, I know girls in college who will not even change in front of anyone, not even their roommate. I walk around freely in my bra and underwear and cause a stir in my own apartment (member of the opposite sex are never around, this is BYU after all). I think too a point girls are taught to be ashamed of their own bodies and it is something that they never get over.
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