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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2015 12:46:12 GMT
There is currently a big discussion on nudity in a German internet forum which, admittedly, I started. Generally, it seems to me like people here don't mind being naked in front of others. East-Germans haveabit of a reputation in that direction, but generally, Germans don't seem to mind it, whether it is in public showers or in the sauna (usually mixed). Some people went as far as stating that it was rude to wrap yourself in a towel in the sauna because it would seem like that person thinks they are inferior,not wanting to show their rolls of fat. The code seems to be "I show you my fat belly, you show me your fat thighs/saggy breasts/wrinkly genitalia.
I have always found that odd because I am a very private person in that area. Even my sisters and I haven't seen each other naked in years, probably more than a decade by now. It's not even that I think I'm too fat to be naked, even though I am generally insecure about my body (I have seen plenty of people who are way fatter than me and don'tmind being naked), but that I just don't want to be naked in front of random people.
I'd like to know how people from other countries see that. Isit accepted to be naked in the sauna or public showes etc.? And if so, is it unacceptable for people to then wrap themselves in a towel or hide their nakedness otherwise?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2015 12:51:27 GMT
I have just realized that I posted this in the wrong section. It was supposed to be in "Social Customs". Could any of the moderators move this, please?
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Post by Miisa on Feb 19, 2015 13:26:15 GMT
Moved. Though now it shows up as me having started it? Weird.
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Post by Miisa on Feb 19, 2015 13:29:35 GMT
Someone posted this on a FB group I am in, seems relevant: matadornetwork.com/life/9-american-habits-i-lost-when-i-moved-to-germany/It is much the same as Germany here, people will think you odd and prudish if you insist on wearing a towel in a public sauna. You sit on a towel, but not wrap it around you. But then I had a German in-law visiting once and she insisted on wearing a bathing suit in my sauna, it was just the two of us...
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Post by JoeP on Feb 19, 2015 14:55:10 GMT
Moved. Though now it shows up as me having started it? Weird. It also shows up as an event "This is an event" "This event begins ... 4 minutes ago" Did you have a Moose-style "what does this button do?" moment?
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Post by JoeP on Feb 19, 2015 14:56:55 GMT
Oh. The event icon has disappeared now.
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Post by JoeP on Feb 19, 2015 14:58:48 GMT
And now it's back. Weeeeird.
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Post by Miisa on Feb 19, 2015 15:17:35 GMT
Tried moving it again. It is still an event. *sigh*
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Post by Miisa on Feb 19, 2015 15:22:19 GMT
Kaylee, if you start a new thread I will copy my answer there and delete this thread.
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Nudity?
Feb 19, 2015 16:24:45 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on Feb 19, 2015 16:24:45 GMT
We don't do nudity in Britain.
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Post by Miisa on Feb 19, 2015 16:37:55 GMT
Not true! I have been nude many times in Britain, and was BORN nude there!
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Post by Moose on Feb 19, 2015 17:50:42 GMT
What Juju said I would feel uncomfortable even being in a bathing costume in some else's sauna and there's no way in the known universe I would go naked. That being said I am naked at the moment and usually don't wear clothes around the house
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Post by tangent on Feb 19, 2015 18:59:19 GMT
I found it very odd when I first had a sauna in a German hotel but I got used to it pretty quickly. I much prefer the German ethos that nudity is natural and not sexual.
On the other hand, I would not be at all comfortable with nudity in any other mixed environment. And the towel thing? I find it strange anyone should criticise someone for wearing a towel.
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Post by ProdigalAlan on Feb 19, 2015 20:04:29 GMT
Under normal circumstances I have no problems with being naked. I wouldn't want to wear anything in a sauna or wrap a towel around me, it would make me feel as if I were trapping the sweat and dirt in and not getting rid of it. That having been said I'm not a big fan of saunas. I haven't had one for a good 20 years.
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Nudity?
Feb 19, 2015 20:21:09 GMT
via mobile
jayme likes this
Post by juju on Feb 19, 2015 20:21:09 GMT
That being said I am naked at the moment and usually don't wear clothes around the house Might that be why you're so cold...?
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Post by Moose on Feb 19, 2015 20:23:12 GMT
Naw I am cold cos my heating does not work If it is colder than tihs I weara dressing gown. Please note to anyone who has sat on my chairs that I do nto sit naked on THEM Am sitting on my bed
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Post by Miisa on Feb 19, 2015 21:23:25 GMT
And the towel thing? I find it strange anyone should criticise someone for wearing a towel. Like Alan said, it is partially a hygiene thing, but also it is just more like... perhaps like seeing people wearing surgical masks in public. For us in Europe that is generally weird and a little insulting for some reason, whereas in Asia it is considered perfectly normal. You'd be unlikely to be openly chastised by most people for wearing a towel in the sauna, but they would secretly wonder what your problem is, and what on earth you are hiding that they haven't seen before. My son is now 16 and comes to the sauna with me and his sister (when he has the time from his busy, busy super-social life, that is). Is that odd, weird? Not thought so in my culture, as just the fact of being naked has nothing to do with sexuality.
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Post by Moose on Feb 19, 2015 23:15:50 GMT
In the UK it would seem weird, as Joe has maybe said (I do not know; I have never raised the subject with him obviously ) but having spent years with a Finn I know that it is perfectly normal there and that Antti would have no problem saunaing with his mum or other females that he was not in a sexual relationship with. Maybe we're just too prudish.
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Post by JoeP on Feb 19, 2015 23:23:08 GMT
I've heard of families (in Britain) being comfortably naked around each other, but I do think it's pretty rare here.
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Post by Moose on Feb 19, 2015 23:29:01 GMT
Yeah .. I've never seen my siblings or mum naked, at least since siblings and I were kids. As children my brother and I used to bathe with my dad but not after the age of six or so
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Post by juju on Feb 19, 2015 23:40:31 GMT
My sons have grown up seeing lots of non sexual nudity in the form of life drawings and life model photos etc, but I can't imagine being naked with them in a sauna or something. They'd die of embarrassment.
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Post by Moose on Feb 19, 2015 23:43:56 GMT
Heh yeah I wss just imagining being naked in a sauna with my sixteen year old nephew...I think we would both want to sink through the floor :)But that's just a cultural construct I guess
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Post by jayme on Feb 20, 2015 0:00:18 GMT
We don't do nude here. We just do naked and nekkid. They are all very different things. One time I was at art camp, and we were all shaking our heads because this weird lady would, every morning, step outside of her cabin nude, and get dressed just outside of the entrance. We thought she was crazy at first, but she was just German.
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Post by Moose on Feb 20, 2015 0:02:21 GMT
ROFL!
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Post by Kye on Feb 20, 2015 2:19:17 GMT
In my house, there's not much problem with nudity. One of my daughters regularly strips down to the buff whenever she gets home and the other is very casual about walking around naked. I take baths with the door open and my girls are fine with coming in. But when my son was living with me, I started closing the bathroom door when he was about 14. I wouldn't have any problem with a naked sauna, but don't have much opportunity to take them. I don't think I'd like to be naked with a mixed group of strangers, but then I was naked with about 4000 people in downtown Montreal about 15 years ago for a Spenser Tunick photo shoot.
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Nudity?
Feb 20, 2015 9:16:28 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on Feb 20, 2015 9:16:28 GMT
Yeah it would be different if I had girls. I've bathed my mother in the last couple of years after she had an operation. I can't imagine being comfortable with one of my sons doing that when I'm older.
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Post by JoeP on Feb 20, 2015 14:19:35 GMT
That's one of the situations where it would be so much better to be body-comfortable. When people (old or otherwise) find it difficult to move, it would be so much less distressing if the thought of other people seeing you naked wasn't such an issue.
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Post by juju on Feb 20, 2015 15:07:35 GMT
I'd rather be bathed by a nurse or carer than one of my sons. I imagine that would be completely different if I had daughters.
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Post by Alvamiga on Feb 20, 2015 17:27:49 GMT
I've never had a problem with medical types or family seeing things, but I felt uncomfortable for a long time round the time I went to school because of the attitudes at that age. I think the last time I saw my mum topless was when she was changing about 10 years ago. There was an "EEEK!" moment in my head, just because it was not directly expected, but I didn't feel like my eyeballs were going to bleed or anything!
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Post by spaceflower on Feb 20, 2015 18:43:44 GMT
Though I'm Swedish I don't like to show myself naked in front of strangers. Of course I've been to the sauna sometimes but I don't feel comfortable when there are other women there. But I certainly don't cover myself with a towel. I'm naked in the shower room.
But small children should not have to wear bating suits, they bathe au naturel. They should not be forced to use bating suits until they ask for it themselves.
I don't walk around naked in the house either. What if someone rang the door bell?
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