Hesketh Fletcher Gym Team

No problem at all John, I guessed that was what had happened!
Thanks for your comments. It's very interesting to read the different perspective from those of you who grew up when shirtless PE for boys was clearly the norm rather than a rarity!

On the way home from primary school, we saw boys at the local grammar school out running in shorts and plimsolls. Even in winter they still ran stripped to the waist.

Later on I went to the school, and soon got a detention. Reporting after school, we were told to get stripped off to only our shorts/plimsolls, and had to run the school cross country course, then back in the gym in shorts only for a workout.

I soon realised that was how boys were punished ! I was yet to discover that after 3 detentions, boys got the cane.

There's definitely some logic to the idea of a standard policy on boys' PE kit so that everyone knows what to expect and gets used to it. I'm sure that would have made a difference to me growing up as I found it difficult to cope when I first experienced barechested PE.
The problem, I think, was that I just hadn't experienced it until I was 14. PE kit was T-shirt and shorts in primary school and middle school (which were mixed), then vest and shorts for my first two years in senior school (boys only). After that we were split into sets for PE instead of forms, with larger groups of boys and therefore more teams required for sports in the gym. So I was shocked to be told my team were 'skins' and had to take our vests off. I felt very awkward and exposed - like many boys of that age I was self conscious about my physique (or lack of!).
No doubt it wouldn't have seemed such a big deal if I'd been used to barechested PE - and also if it had been the same kit for every boy. To my horror, the teacher announced that teams would stay the same for the first few lessons! So next time I was a skin again and felt exposed and embarrassed all over again, seeing most of the other boys in full kit while I wore just shorts.
I appreciate that to some of you this must sound like a fuss over nothing, and of course it became much more bearable as time went on. But I think it's better for boys to deal with this stuff before they reach those tricky teenage years.

Sam,
Please accept my apologies for the last published comments, something went wrong and I thought that I’d posted it from myself ‘John’. I intended to address my comments to you, I clearly did not check carefully enough before I clicked on ‘submit’.

I agree with you that it was unfair if all boys were not treated the same. I still believe that your PE teacher was right and that lads do not need to wear tops for PE. My brother and I were used to wearing only shorts for PE at Primary School so by the time we went to Secondary School we were quite happy going bare chested for PE. There were some lads who’d been to different Primary Schools that had allowed them to wear tops for PE and they complained about being made to strip to the waist. After the first few PE lessons they were no longer bothered about not wearing tops.

Girls are not the same as boys, for swimming lessons at co-ed schools girls are expected to wear a full swimming costume and boys will normally be shirtless unless they are swimming outdoors and require sun protection that a specialist fabric swim top may provide.

So I don’t think that ‘gender discrimination’ should prevent a shorts only policy for boys indoor PE. If a national policy of shorts only for boys indoor PE kit was adopted it would be fair to all boys and would help them to gain confidence and worry less about their body image.

John, as a 12 year-old boy I certainly didn't think he was right! Like many of my classmates I was uneasy at having to do PE with no top. And it seemed unfair that boys with different PE teachers weren't made to do the same. For instance, my brother - who was in a different year - used to tease me if he'd seen my class out running in just our shorts and trainers!
And with hindsight? Yes, I think my teacher's policy did me good because ultimately it played a part in making me into a physically fitter and more confident young man. But I'm sure schools wouldn't be able to introduce that kind of rule now on the grounds of gender discrimination.

Sam, do you think that your teacher was right making all lads strip to the waist for PE. Do you think that it should have been school policy?. I think it was so beneficial for myself and other lads that it should have been a national policy.

Hi Claire, I had a similar experience to your brother at school (about 25 years ago). Although shirtless PE kit for boys wasn't school policy, the teacher who took my class for PE made us all do it stripped to our shorts, no exceptions. It was quite a shock at first and there were one or two protests but it made no difference. In his view there was no need for boys to wear shirts for exercise and that was that. In some ways it meant we worked harder in PE as you wanted to have a better body, or more muscles than your mates.

Hi John, it's sad the way things have become. Something so normal is frowned upon. Doing sports stripped off was so common. I feel it also helped boys identify with themselves too without mixing their heads up.

Re the episode of Vera, I did not see it. However, I do not suppose that in this day and age TV cannot show boys bare-chested. It they did I suppose for politically correct reasons their faces would be pixillated

Claire, you are absolutely right. When I was at school in 1970s/80s it was common practice for boys to be stripped to the waist for PE. Some teachers that I know said that in the late 1980s due to campaigns from some parent groups; schools started to allow boys to wear vests or t shirts for PE.

Hi Frank, my brother had a hard time with a PE teacher who insisted on all boys exercise stripped to the waist throughout his time at school for everything physical and in all weathers even laps of the field in the pouring rain. Just recently an episode of "Vera" showed a group of boys doing a PE run on the beach in vests, being topless would been more realistic.

Thanks Clare for picking up on the comment I made about WW2.I have a sullen regret that we didn't have a sterner regime at my secondary school and have a stripped to the waist policy for P.E. Cross Country also.

Frank, good point about WW2. I'm sure those young men would have been stripped to the waist for their military PT. It's my view lads joining any of the Services should strip for PT. It makes it easier for them to toughen up.

I like the contributions on this site because the views are more varied.It is a sobering thought that most of these fine gymnasts would be conscripted five years later!WW2 etc. I was interested particularly in the field of school medicals.Mine came up in 1974 when I was forteen.It was after the Easter holidays.Like the customs at the airport I was chosen at random from the queue to strip down to bare in a room by the library and be examined by a physician,I had the hernia test and the rubber gloves finger inserted into my anal passage causing me to yell with the discomfort,like an earlier respondent mentioned I was aroused by the the experience.I years later read that it was a natural response to artificial stimulation! I had been terrified that I was homosexual with the 'being felt' experience!

During our indoor PE lessons we were made to sweat. Being made to strip to the waist made it easy to see who was putting the effort in. If you weren't sweating at the end then remedial session outdoors and laps of the field awaited.

Roy I endorse what stated earlier,adolescents release a lot of adrenalin and it is excreted through the skin.Not showering after PE or Games means the oil can block pores causing spots to form particularly on the back of a student.Most of us looked forward to a shower after Gym exercise.We got so used to this compulsory regime before we returned to the classroom situation.

As many have said it is completely unhygienic to go straight from a PE lesson to a class without showering first.

hi Ross

Yes it was a surprise! We all had full indoor PE kit with us, t-shirts, gym pants and plimsolls. So to find out only at that first lesson that we'd be doing it in our knickers and no tops was a shock! Outdoors we had PE kit, though if we forgot it we'd have to run laps of the field in our pants!

I seem to have endured more school medicals than many.as I had one on starting school another on moving to junior school and another on leaving that school.
In secondary school I had one when receiving the BCG jab another after finishing my O Level year and the last one after finishing my A levels.
I can only really remember the last ones as we lined up in groups of three outside the MI room stripped to the waist and on entering the room we stripped naked and went forward for the examination which involved the usual including the genitals. This gave me an erection which lasted while I was trying to get dressed!
As I had to pass the lads waiting their turn I noticed that by then they had erections as well!!

Hello Kirsty,

Interesting comments there. It must have been a real surprise for you. What were you expecting to wear for PE? In the other two lessons a week were these outside? Do you have to do these in knickers only?

Hi Kirsty,

I seem to recollect a couple other women saying something similar about 18 months ago. I imagine it must have been quite a shock and quite embarrassing, especially for those girls who had started to develop?
I was still flat chested at the start of what would now be year 7, but started to wear a bra at the start of year 8.

Did your PE teacher say why this was the rule?
Our indoor PE kit was navy blue gym knickers and a white polo shirt. Far from making anyone go topless, our PE teacher told several girls that they should start to wear a bra under their polo shirt.

There are mostly men commenting on this, but I see a few women too. I went to a girls school from age 11 onwards and PE there was pretty strict. In UII and LIV (which I think are now called years seven and eight, age 11-13) we did PE every day, and that meant gymnastics indoors, which we did three times a week. When we were in the gym, we didn't wear PE kit, which was a shock when we first started. Our gym mistress was very clear that first lesson, when she came into the changing room and told us piece by piece to undress. Eventually we were all left standing in just our pants, at which point she ordered us to line up in alphabetical order. I was wondering what would happen next then she told us to file into the gym! Only when we were there did she make explicit that we would do all our lessons dressed this way.

In the 1960's we always had to shower after PE and thought nothing of being naked in the communal showers

Sterling, agree absolutely, and why should showers be optional after indoor PE? I can't believe the amount of kit required on that list! We wore just a pair of shorts with nothing on underneath, no shirt, and plimsolls without socks.Many had to do it in bare feet. We wore this kit in the gym and outside,including cross country runs. In the gym we were worked hard and made to sweat profusely so that we needed and looked forward to washing ourselves thoroughly in the open showers together afterwards.

Jonas, Why Is It 'terrible' to expect Students to maintain an acceptable level of Personal Hygiene?

Is it acceptable to subject Teachers to the Smell of 30+ Post Workout Sweaty Teenagers in a confined space?

I think Not!

Not a surprise. When I was at school those boys who did not want to shower tended to miss a lot of PE with conditions/illnesses/injuries and have a note from their parents, or do the towel dance when changing.

What happens/happened for you in your school?

I think it is terrible that showers are still compulsory for outdoor lessons in some schools.

P.E. Equipment

Plain black shorts with school crest (2 pairs are advised, but this is optional).
Black sweatshirt with school crest.
Black polo shirt with school crest.
A black long sleeved /or legging-style base layer may be worn under the regulation kit during the colder months (this period is at the discretion of the teachers)
White ankle sports socks.
Black football socks for hockey and cross-country.
Towel for shower taken after every outdoor lesson, optional for indoor lesson.
Trainers.
Football boots
http://www.blue-coat.oldham.sch.uk/uniform-regulations/

Having read about the experiences of people going through medical exams notwithstanding any embarrassment, I think nothing compares with the fear & trepidation when the school dentist came to carry out examinations. The prodding of teeth with a hook and then the inevitable letter coming to parents summoning you to the school dentist which was a really painful experience. No care or compassion. Especially if there was an extraction

Andrea - although my Mum came with me she didn't actually come into the actual medical itself