Burnley Grammar School

I see a few people have been mentioning Litesome supporters. I still have an "antique" one! It is made of nylon (like the swim version, I suspect, but with a wider waistband). It actually says it's a "golf" model on the back label. I had no idea they were recommended for golf too!

Hi David G,thank you for you reply,I attended secondary school from 1965 to 1970 in the midlands.
Like you we just wore shorts for dance and P.E,but we weren't allowed to wear pumps.

I started at an all boys school in 1988 shortly before my 9th birthday.

Though officially our kit was vest, shorts, trainers the reality was different. We were bare chested indoors and outside. Our PE teachers were all ex Army and didn't hesitate in enforcing a stripped to the waist regime.

It wasn't a warm September when we started and it wasn't long before we were out on the field exercising when the rain came down. Obviously with no vest on it made for quite a tough session but our teacher started to lecture us about the merits of being stripped to the waist! It was warmer in the gym but that only made you sweat quicker and by the halfway point in the lesson the whole class had sweat running down them.

The Head had a novel idea for punishment, you were handed over over to one of the PE teachers in our own time, where anything could happen from running up and down flights of stairs until you were told to stop or you physically couldn't move, then it was freezing shower afterwards, to remedial fitness, including laps of the field, which due to the size of the grounds was never popular amongst the boys or as a friend and I got once to shovel grit into the large bunkers for the winter. Each was done with you baring your upper body and make you "man up"

Helen, you've mentioned lads showing chest hair, a good few of my friends showed their chests off and they said it was a little weird during the first lesson but never bothered them after.

Hi Andrea,
It was girls who had started to mature physically that changed into leotards. I think that it was wrong that girls and boys had to change together in the classroom when we’d reached the age of 10/11. The school should have been designed with a separate girls and boys changing room.

We should not have been allowed to wear the grey shorts that we’d gone to school in, boys should have changed into PE shorts. Most boys were happy to be shirtless for PE and it meant less washing for our mums too.

Dave, Toby: my first jockstraps were Litesom. A bit over-engineered in some ways, and although I once saw a "swim jock" by Litesome, I was never able to get hold of one for myself.

James Hi, as a matter of interest, can I ask what years you went to school? I was in the senior school from 1961-66 in the north of England with a very similar experience to yours, in that boys were bare chested in shorts & pumps only & the girls were wearing much more. Our lessons were separate, to the girls, but occasionally we had lessons together. I don't think it bothered us boys much - but we didn't have a choice anyway.
I seem to recall it was more dance lessons if we were together.

Hi Toby,
Yes I remember the Litesome jockstraps very well and I still have a couple from my school / college days.
It was the first jockstrap that I bought along with some shorts for running when I was 15/16 years old, wearing it felt quite strange at first but after a while I got used to it and felt very grown up I have worn jocks ever since.

Toby.

Hi. Yes, I remember the Litesome jock. My schooldays were in the late 60's / 70's and I only wore a Jock when I later went to college.
If you would like to contact me please feel free.
Michael

Helen,
For outdoor PE and games we could wear PE skirts or culottes and a long sleeved top, but not tracksuit bottoms.
In fact were weren't even allowed to wear tights with our school uniform, just ankle socks in summer and long socks in winter!

With regard to going shirtless in the summer, I was a bit of a tomboy and would sometimes take my shirt of like the boys in the hot summer holidays. The last year I was able to do this was the year we left primary school (ages 11).
By the following summer I had to make sure I was wearing a swimsuit top underneath if I wanted to take my T shirt off.

John,
Was it mainly girls who had started to mature who changed into leotards, or was it younger girls too?

Hi guys
Any of you remember the Litesome jockstrap?

Hi Helen,thank you for your comments,I found it particularly
hard to strip to the waist for our sporting activities,especially when we shared the gym with girls.
There wouldn't have been any allowances made for boys for their age or whether they had hairy chests,it was a strict'shorts only rule'for all boys.
Even boys who were shy and self-conscious soon got used to this rule and wore just skimpy shorts, where girls were allowed to be more adequately attired.

Hi Ben & Matt, I wasn't against boys showing a hairy chest, I just thought it may be hard for those who were reluctant to strip to the waist. Ben, may I ask what were about the other activities you did topless and were there many in your group who were in the same boat. Matt, I'd be interested to read your experiences too.

Hi Helen, I'm slightly curious as to why you think maybe boys with chest hair might have been exempted from going topless in PE! Certainly it didn't make any difference at my school - all of us boys were expected to strip to the waist regardless for shirts and skins games, or sometimes for other activities. My chest hair began to appear when I was 15 and I was aware, as we all were, that girls would be watching closely when I was a skin and commenting on my body. If anything I think it was an incentive for us to work harder in PE as we wanted to impress the girls!

To Helen,

Why did you think that boys with hairy chests should not have had to strip to the waist?

Andrea,
At Primary School the girls did PE in vest and knickers and undressed in the classroom at the same times as boys did. A few girls went to girl’s toilets and changed into leotards. Some girls did PE barefoot but most changed into pumps.

Hi Andrea, we wore an uncomfortable bright yellow aertex top with black skirt. We were allowed tracksuit bottoms for cross country running during the winter or if we were playing netball on the school yard which had both basketball and netball courts painted on. We played a boys v girls basketball match once a year outside in either spring /summer. Part of the fun was making boys go topless. I did envy the boys going topless for PE, it just looked totally natural for them to be. I didn't begin to show until I was nearly 16 and could have played as a skin though my ponytail may have given me away. I was initially surprised when those with hairy chests were expected to strip and go topless too but it was all just part of being at school.

Helen,
What did you girls wear at secondary school.
For indoor PE we wore gym knickers and polo shirts. It was an all girls school, so no boys around!

John,
What did the girls wear for PE at your primary school?
At mine boys and girls got changed in the same classroom, stripping down to underwear, before putting on T shirts and shorts or PE skirts. We all wore pumps too.
The only exception to the changing arrangements were that in the final year, a few girls who had started to wear bras were allowed to change in the toilets.

George, Although our school stipulated the boys wear vests, the PE teachers didn't hesitate to make them strip and show their upper bodies off. A hairy chest didn't make any difference to the teachers, the boys were expected to strip regardless.
I never objected to seeing boys topless, I think the majority were happy to go topless indoors or outside.

Sorry to respond four years late, but I just recently discovered this Website.

On February 25, 2015, Curious asked why it was so difficult to find newspaper clippings proving that boys at one time
were required to attend swim class nude.

He was referring to British schools, but the same thing was going on at about the same time in the United States, and the same question has been asked in the United States. A standard reply to that question is an article on page 12 of
The Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press on Thursday, October 31, 1940. The article announced swimming classes which were meeting at a local school.

At 8:30, the girls met wearing swim suits. This was illustrated with a photo of a class of very decently clad young ladies. At 10:30, the boys met "minus everything except their dignity." This was illustrated with a photo of a full-length, rear view of an outstanding member of the class, standing on the diving board. The article identified the boy by name and address.

I wonder what his classmates said when he returned to school on Friday, November 1.

George,
At Primary School until age 11 boys went to school wearing grey shorts as part of the school uniform. We undressed for PE in the classroom and stripped to the waist in the presence of the girls and kept the same shorts on that we’d gone to school in, we took off our outdoor shoes and changed into pumps. Then we walked down the corridors to the school hall which also served as the gym.

Claire, I appreciate your message of June 26.
I have often wondered how women and girls felt about not being allowed to go topless.
I don't know how it is in the UK, but here in the United States, women and girls can wear short shorts just about anywhere and any time.
It is legal for men to wear short shorts, but we would get ridiculed.
Whenever I see a short shorted girl with a long shorted boy, I seethe with indignance at the girl for flaunting her privileged status at her poor oppressed brother.
Whenever I see a short shorted woman with a long shorted man, I seethe with indignance at the woman for flaunting her privileged status at her poor oppressed mate.
I imagine that you felt somewhat the same way when you saw your half-naked male classmates.

Ben, check out the Voy Forums.
That site contains dozens of messages from veterans of nude swimming in the United States, which seems to have happened at about the same time.
There were public schools, private schools, and Red Cross centers where nude boys attended attended swim class along with swim suited girls.
And the swim suited girls weren't always very lady-like.
Nor were the girls always very lady-like when attending nude swim galas--only we don't call them "galas," we call them "meets."

John, when you stripped in front of the girls, did you put on gym shorts?
Or did you go down the hallway wearing only underwear?

Graham - I agree with you completely. Fifty years or so ago when I was at school most boys were very happy to do without shirts whenever they could get away with it both in p.e. and out of school.
I never took part in any physical demonstrations for parents etc dressed like that but we did run cross country all through the year dressed like the boy's in K's photo except that our shorts were white and shorter. We left the school grounds through the rear gate and ran along a residential street to get to the open parkland nearby. Similarly, we ran along another residential street on the way back to get to the front gates - all dressed in just shorts whatever the weather. That was just the way things were - we thought nothing of it and got on with it. I wonder what has made boys so shy of their bodies now - it doesn't seem healthy or natural.

I know a lot of water has flowed under the metaphorical bridge since my schooldays, but I still find the current angst associaed with being topless in a public situation a bit difficult to comprehend. PE classes were topless for sost of my school life, and I don't remember anyone complaining at the idea or feeling embarrassed by not wearing a shirt. It was how it was done back in those days. In fact my memory is that most kids were only too keen to get as many clothes off as was decent when the sun was shining, and not just when taking part in any form of physical activity. Shorts were de rigeur in my home for the summer months, and I needed little parental encouragement to leave my shirt off when out in the sunshine at any time of the year, both when playing out in the garden and when we went for family walks in the fields near where we lived.

Hi Shin,

I am from the U.K but I am currently studying in Japan because my dad got a job there. My school is exactly like yours as we have to perform calisthenics shirtless during the annual sports day.

I am not sure if its a cultural thing but my local Japanese classmates were equally stunned and shocked as I was when we found out we have to do it shirtless. All the boys in my school including me hated being shirtless too, I guess being the only white guy made me stand out more which makes the whole thing worse.

Here is a pic my mom took last year during my sports day I am the only white guy in the pic.

https://ibb.co/2vphxR1

Jack,

It makes no difference if your made to go topless either indoors or out on the school playing field it could be unpleasant especially outside.

I did a TA selection weekend. We were told to bring a vest (absolutely no t-shirt) shorts and trainers for physical exercise.

Unfortunately the weather was cold and very wet all week. It didn't change for the weekend so it was obvious it would be tough.

In the gym we were each given either a red or white numbered armband for identification, mine was white no 17, these also represented our teams once we'd tied these to our arms we were ordered told to run to the front of the gym, drop our vests and run back.

Our selection group had lads aged from 23 to 28 and a good number had some level of chest hair and going topless was a bit of a shock to some, and then the session really started. I remember glancing at the large clock which showed we'd only been going for 15mins and I had started to show sweat due to the intensity of the workout. It's one of the hardest gym sessions I ever had.

The afternoon session was done outside and the white team were told to strip down while the reds kept their vests on which given the conditions they were rather smug about ... until a heavy downpour hit. Although their vests were completely soaked the PTIs ensured those lads kept them on until the end.

We also did football games in vests and skins. At half time teams would swap around so those in vests would strip and vice versa. Basketball matches were done with everyone topless but the armbands made it easy to pick out teammates.

I would be interested to know what age you were when you were tied out in the rain. and what else you were made to do, for example sports
you played. Did your military school allow you to wear a shirt or vest for exercise or were you always bare chested and how did you cope with sweating up all the time. Your upper body must have been well defined when you left?

I note the comment from Maltamon from Allentown in Pennsylvania dated 28 June 2018. I have a keen interest in gender discrimination and how it affected boys in the 1970's.

End dates for nude swimming at some schools can be documented by people who were there. Figuring out when nude swimming began at a school is much more difficult, because the earliest participants would be well over 100 years old by now.

Usually, it was the date the pool was built—which varied from school building to school building within the same district. Such decisions were usually made by the local school board, and applied to all schools in the district that had pools at that particular time. So far, we know the precise beginning and end dates at only nine schools—mostly latecomers built in the 1960s.

Pennsylvania
Allentown
Allentown/William Allen HS 1940 (when pool built) -1970
Butler
Butler Junior High 1962-65
Erie
Cathedral Prep HS mid-1970s
Philadelphia
La Salle College HS 1970s
Pittsburgh
several junior highs 1960s
junior high ended 1981
Peabody HS 1959-74
South Hills HS late-1960s

I wonder if you have anymore information on this Maltamon?

Please Help illustrate Lists - if you know of more school pools in the Allentown area.