Because I'm finding it hard to wrap my mind around

[SonshineLearner]

Gosh.. I'm so ultra conservative freaky modest it's not funny. AND, I don't want my children to be showing their whole bodies... but... swimming mixed gender is just that!! Swimming!!! Sperm don't swim through the water and get anyone pregnant... (i'm sure there's some story that I'll now hear :) I don't want my children to hide behind a curtain like showing something is going to make boys sin. Boys sin on their own, if they don't get themselves under control. I mean... as long as you aren't purposely shoving their bodies in front of the boys. (I do want my children to wear very modest clothing, but not skirts and drapes like I have seen on the other thread)

 

:)

[KidsHappen]

Oh yeah, I didn't think you were implying it is strictly a European thing. I was really just try to reinforce to myself that I'm not a freak for being what many consider to be immodest. There are actually whole groups of people who share my immodesty! I am being assimilated into the culture around me, though. It has been a long time since I shed any clothing in public. Course, it has also been a long time since I've been diving.

 

Not a drop of modesty in my house. It has been almost all girls all the time so we didn't think anything of running around the house in our altogether. Bathroom doors were never closed. As the girls got a little older, hubby starting getting a little uncomfortable and insisted that we wear something so we moved up to t-shirts and panties. Then we had an unrelated male move in and we had to get fully dressed to get up and go to the bathroom or go get a drink at night and close the doors when we went to the bathroom. No more running from the bathroom to the bedroom in a towel. What a pain! Somehow, we managed to avoid any akward run ins but now that we are back to all girls most of the time, I see relaxed battle dress coming back in to style.

[nmoira]

(and hi Moira, it's me Diane, your "secret stalker", in case you hadn't figured that out ;))

Whoa... I hadn't. :tongue_smilie:

 

Not so secret now. :lol:

[danybug]

I can't imagine being limited like that on a normal basis!

 

The only instance I have ever personally encountered this was going to a christian weekly sleep away camp when I was younger and we had separated swim times and had to wear proper coverage to and from the pool. And it is still like that now. They want to limit the temptation, which I can respect.

[teamturner]

I went to camp *somewhere in the Texas Hill Country* and we couldn't swim together. Kind of a pain!! We had to almost fully dress to get to and from the pool and they tried to time it so that the girls and boys didn't pass each other. We also had to wear jeans all summer. Texas ----August----Miserable!!! Plus this was the 80's remember how TIGHT we wore our Jordaches?????

 

UGH...

 

Lara

 

I think I went to this same camp! :tongue_smilie: Was it on the Frio River?

[Tess in the Burbs]

we have a neighborhood pool...how would we separate?

 

We do wear modest suits though....and I don't think I would feel comfortable swimming in someone's personal pool with their dh near or with a woman near my dh.

[TrixieB]

I know Muslim countries often have separate pools for men and women. I'm not sure how this works in the US?

At least one of the pools here rents out the pool during a time that it is normally closed, for a Muslim women's swim time. The women cover the pool windows during the swim time. Any private group can rent the pool during certain "closed" hours.

[Lara in Colo]

I think I went to this same camp! :tongue_smilie: Was it on the Frio River?

 

 

I don't remember a river, but it was called 'Camp Pearl Wheat'

 

 

I also went to the Brady June Camp in Brady Texas with Brother Grimes (loved that one--the FOOD)

 

Ahh good times...

 

Lara

[Nestof3]

I voted "no" because we do limit mixed swimming. We live near the beach, so we will go to the "north end" later in the day when it's not crowded. We'll go jet-skiiing because you can get out in the open and be sort of alone. We don't go to community pools or pool parties.

 

I have no problems with the concept of mixed swimming. I have a problem with people wearing what equates to undergarments in my opinion. When I do swim, I wear swimming trunks and a top that is like the top of a one-piece with a layer on top that prevents cling.

 

Regardless of how the times change, my husband and I still believe that the amount shown in bathing suits crosses the line.

 

I have been lenient when the boys are young so that they can take swimming lessons and such.

 

For some reason, our opinion on this bothers people. I don't know why. There are a lot of things that are deemed acceptable now in our society that we don't participate in. I would love to find a women's gym that has a pool.

[Crimson Wife]

I would be offended if people assumed my boys were perverts just because they are boys.

 

I certainly don't think all teen & young adult males are perverts. It's just that there are enough "bad apples" to make me personally feel uncomfortable swimming or exercising when there are lots of them around even when I'm wearing relatively modest attire.

 

I'm sure your boys have the manners not to go ogling or making rude comments towards women who are clearly not interested in the attention. :)

[DianeW88]

I've never heard of unmixed swimming... interesting question!

 

:iagree: Never heard of it either. We all swim together....boys, girls, men, women.....and even the occasional dog or two.

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[DianeW88]

And kind of off topic, but this conversation reminds me of that Seinfeld episode when Jerry had the nudist girlfriend. Not all naked is good naked. Not all naked is sexy naked.

 

AMEN!! Some naked is actually "anti-sexy". :ack2: We've spent quite a bit of time on the beaches of Europe and I've seen more people that I wished were in full body bathing suits than not! Along that same line, we have a "Vitamin Water" ad that hangs on the wall in my (co-ed) gym. "Spandex: It's a privlege, not a right." :lol:

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[Lara in Colo]

I can understand the viewpoint of keeping people from temptation, however, I'd rather teach my children to have a stronger moral backbone and see people as people, not temptation. People find ways to give in to temptation even in a completely non tempting place (stories of Pastors being immoral). Sort of like teaching children to be colorblind with their friends, can't we guide them to be genderblind first until they get to know the person and the largest s*x organ is engaged (the brain)?

 

Lara

[nono]

I live at the Jersey shore, so I get my share of beach time in the summer. Yes, our genders mix while swimming. We have plenty of very conservative folks showing up at the beach. (People I know personally).

 

One thing I've noticed recently is Muslims wearing full-length wet suits to swim. The ladies use small head scarves too. I think this is a great solution -- using something common to the environment to meet their level of modesty. (A lot of surfers, even in the summer are in full-length wetsuits...)

[weddell]

We have two pools in town, a large one that teens frequent and a smaller one more for kids. Our town has large populations of both Jewish and Muslim people (some conservative, some not). We mostly go to the pool during parent-tot swim when it is mostly moms and kids. Some of the women wear full body suits with long skirts and some wear bikinis. We are all adults and no one cares. I really love this pool because everyone is comfortable and no one thinks about what anyone else is wearing or is looking at anyone else. They do have separate sex swim times one night each week (e.g. tuesday night is female only, wednesday night is male only).