Male prudishness risks body image problems in the future

Submitted by Hansolo

The growing prudishness infesting male spaces is becoming a problem.

We’ve had some great stories and experiences on the blog submitted by visitors in the theme of the locker room and communal showers and I thought now would be a great opportunity to raise this important issue.

When I was a teenager in the late 90’s it was the norm to get changed in front of other guys in college. It was normal to have a shower after a game or a PE lesson with your classmates. It was not unexpected that there would be big dicks swinging around and secretly admired by all, or small ones being discreetly mocked out of earshot of the poor soul. Nor was it unusual to see the odd stiffy rising from the groin of a friend.

Back then it wasn’t at all sexual for most of us, it was a right of passage, an opportunity to compare, an uncomfortable and perhaps embarrassing necessity of life.

Later, after these awkward years of discovery and comparison it became the norm to see the same thing in locker rooms at gyms all over the country. No matter where you went there were open shower rooms where guys just let it all hang out without shame or embarrassment. Why was it easier then than in those teen years? Because by this time we all know what “average” meant, we knew that every guy was different and every cock was unique, we had learned that although we all want a 9 incher, most guys don’t have anything near that and we’re not “small” after all.

Even if you didn’t go into locker rooms and showers after those teen and college years you still checked out other cocks at the urinals. Whether you’re gay, straight, bi or a little bit curious we all look and there is no point in any man denying it.

I’m reminded of footballer Jamie Redknapp saying on an episode of A League of their Own that he checks out other guys in the showers. For him it was normal. Even though the other guys on the panel mocked him, they all knew he was telling the truth. All guys look, whether it’s for curiosity or horniness – or a mix of both.

Indeed, for many of us it is now sexual, and that’s perhaps why we’re seeing an infestation of walls and dividers going up. Are guys just more paranoid about who might be checking out their junk now that sexuality is a more commonly discussed subject?

Even if that is the case, why the hell does it matter if another guy is getting off on checking you out? Do we now assume to take control of others thoughts? What about someone having a fetish for feet and seeing you walking barefoot at the beach? Are you going to wear socks with your sandals because you can’t bear the thought of someone wanking thinking about your naked feet later?

It’s nonsense, clearly, but this prudishness being imposed on spaces where men have traditionally been allowed the freedom to let it all hang out – and get a good look too – is inevitably going to create problems over body image in the future.

[bloketoysad]

Think about this for a few moments… the only places most men get to see other cocks is in porn, and in these male spaces. If we then start putting barriers up in those male spaces then the only place they will be seeing other guys dicks is in porn.

Porn is not a healthy representation of normal body image.

Porn is great to have a wank over, but we all know that 99% of men do not conform to that stereotypical image of the muscled and handsome man with the 8 inch cock.

So it has to be asked what we’re creating for society when we start becoming Victorian in our attitudes to nudity. We’re not just talking about the younger men who will now miss out on the chance to compare themselves to anyone but porn stars, we’re talking about young men who will become older men who then start to think that their cock is not normal, that they’re smaller than average, that they’re somehow less of a man. Perhaps this is why paranoia about penises is more prevalent in America than in most of Europe?

We are becoming more American in our prudishness when it comes to these male spaces. What were once open showers in gyms and sporting venues are being converted into cubicles. Dividers are going up between urinals. Two gyms I have been a member of over the last ten years have both refitted their locker rooms and showers to become isolation chambers where not a penis is seen from entrance to exit.

For those who support male shame in these spaces and like to be secluded and hide away your junk, ask yourself why that is. Are you paranoid about what another man might fantasize about when they see you? If you are, would you consider that anyone else has any claim or control over what you think, and do your thoughts about anyone else have any bearing on them? Why does it matter to you if another guy gets turned on seeing you naked?

Now think about the consequences of this prudishness and consider that you might be a little prudish because you were encouraged to be by exactly this way of thinking.

Guys who spent a lot of time in these places – sportsmen, athletes, active men with a lot of experience of being naked around each other – they generally don’t have any of these hang-ups. Rugby players don’t give a fuck, footballers don’t seem to care, guys who have been going to the gym since the 90’s don’t seem to have any shame about their dick.

What seems like an inconsequential thing can create more problems in the future, and while it might be a sexual interest for many guys there is a genuine risk that we’re creating a generation of prudes who have a distorted image of the male form. Just as women have had to endure decades of being told that they’re not womanly enough when compared to the rake thin freaks on magazine covers, men are now being subjected to the same kind of body image problem through a creeping prudishness that risks robbing us of our sexual, physical, personal confidence.

Tear down those dividers, be proud of the male form, and don’t give a fuck if someone is getting off on seeing your dick.