Conference moira::naturism

    Jay,
    
    	Yes, you ARE showing your age.  I'm still just a youngin' (but
    sometimes feel much older).
    
    	In the days that nudity was required in order to swim at the
    "Y", was it a naturist type of enviroment ?  I mean, was it co-ed?
    Naturist environment to me, means more than one person, and in the
    company of mixed sex.
    
    Regards,
    Darrell
    

        As a bit of an aside, when I was a student at the University
    of Maryland a couple of decades ago, the men's phys. ed. swim
    classes were all in the nude.  I would always hear stories about
    women "accidentally" entering the pool enclosure (I didn't participate
    because I exclusively ran track.)  [As an even further aside, I
    was a part of the last freshman class that was REQUIRED to take
    ROTC.]  As for the women, I understood that they wore "transparent"
    one-piece bathing [tank] suits.  I also heard about how great the 
    competition among men was to see who could find an excuse to get
    into *their* pool enclosure (mostly maintenance and laborer types.)
                            
    Frederick
    

    In the "old days", wasn't it the case that the YMCA was for men
    and the YWCA was for women?  I'm not old enough to remember such
    segregation myself, but I assume there is SOME significance to their
    names and the fact that there are two separate organizations.
    Young Men's Christian Association (if I remember what it stood
    for...) doesn't really seem to fit anymore, since people of any
    age, gender, or religious persuasion are welcomed.  Maybe they should
    rename it from the "Y" to the "A".  :-)
    
    A continuation on .3's aside: I've heard that the same was true at
    RPI (where I go to school) at that time.  Wearing textiles in the
    pool was forbidden because the fibers supposedly came loose and
    clogged the filters.  Gym coaches were said to regularly chase out
    the girls who were hiding in/under the stands to watch.
    
    In these days of separate changing rooms and individual shower stalls,
    even non-coed nudity is becoming rare.  Feh.
    
              Mark  "MyTH"

    
    	Oh YES !  I almost forgot !  You're right, YM - short for "Young
    Men's" and YW - short for "Young Women's", (I think I remember my
    Grandfather saying something about that! :-) , just kidding. )
    Perhaps they may be classified as two separate organizations, but 
    both operate under one facility in each community, since the name 
    of the "Y" is really called "YM/YWCA".
    
    	Any time I have ever been to the "Y" in my area however, there
    has always been both men and women using the facility at the same
    time, (they were textiled),  the only nudity I saw was in the
    men's change room. 
    
    	It's kind of funny.  My hat's off to the Montreal "Y", since
    during naturist activities, both men and women can use either
    change room !  :-)
    
        And as an aside like all the other notes, when I went to school
    there were no scheduled (approved) nude activities of any sort 
    (unless of course you were taking a shower after gym class).  We 
    made our own fun though, and on several occassions after gym class
    the girls came over to shower with us !  It was a great introduction
    to naturism, (as well as perhaps some other activities that are on the
    minds of inquisitive teenagers).  The guys raided the girls locker-room 
    once, and were all expelled for a week.  It was a nice break from school !


    Darrell
    

    When I used to swim at the Pittsburgh YMCA, they had a split schedule.
    Mornings and late afternoons were coed, and suits were required.
    Mid-day (from about 10:30 to 3:30, very roughly), the pool was all
    male, and suits were optional.  Interestingly, it was mostly the
    older men who swam nude, though some of younger men (like me) would
    too.  I don't understand why people would bother with the trouble
    of a wet bathing suit under those circumstances.  After all, they
    showered nude in a typical gym-style mass shower.
    
    Since then, I understand they've built a new Y, with the pool visible
    through windows from the street.  I suppose that arrangement is good
    for attracting new members, but it means they couldn't rent their
    pool out to a naturist group if they wanted to.
    
       Gary

    
    
    Quite a few years ago, I recall that suits were optional also at
    the Boy's Club pool. Any time that was 'male only' was also suits
    optional. Don't know if its still that way.
    
    ed

    RE: RPI
    
    Back about 5 or 6 years ago, there was a movement to designate one
    time period (like Friday night after 10 pm) a week at the old pool
    at Rensselaer for clothing-optional swimming.  Nothing ever came
    of the idea but it seemed that alot of students were for the idea.
    
    Does anyone know if the idea was ever resurrected?
    
    B.
    

This issue came up recently, and I thought there was a larger
discussion here, but apparently not.  So I'll ask:  Are there any
Y's (or other clubs) in the MA/NH area that still have clothing 
optional pool hours (such as discussed in the preceding few notes)?

   Gary