Talk:Bathing machine

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One question about the origin of bathing machines: did they come into being because people became more modest, and couldn't bathe out in the open any more? Or was there an upsurge in the interest in bathing? -- ESP 05:04 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)


 * If I remember correctly it was an increased interest in bathing in the open. The article also fails to mention that the main reason for using a bathing machine was for use in beaches where it was shallow for a long way out. The use was mainly so that you wouldn't have to walk a long distance. // Liftarn
 * A bit of both, I think. Both an increase in interest in bathing per se - prior to this bathing for pleasure or for curative reasons was not common; if you needed to go into the sea (as a boatman, for example) you did but it wasn't an activity in and of itself, plus ideas of modesty gaining ground. Tonywalton 22:15, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

It's an interesting question. This article http://www.jasa.net.au/seaside/Bathing.htm from the Jane Austen Society gives a very different impression from the first sentence of the Wikipedia article (which doesn't have a reference, unfortunately). According the Jane Austen Society paper, the health craze for sea bathing meant that women were joining men in the water. Since men always swam naked, it seems the bathing machines were a solution to prevent the women from seeing naked men, and men continued to swim naked until 1860, well into the Victorian era. So it wasn't really about modesty in dress (since the men in any case had none) but modesty in segregation of the sexes - a morality much older than Victorian. I'd like to (or for someone else to) think of a way to incorporate this into the article. 65.92.126.136 21:22, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Queen Victoria's own bathing machine still exists at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

Request for references
Hi, I am working to encourage implementation of the goals of the Verifiability policy. Part of that is to make sure articles cite their sources. This is particularly important for featured articles, since they are a prominent part of Wikipedia. The Fact and Reference Check Project has more information. Thank you, and please leave me a message when you have added a few references to the article. - Taxman 19:13, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)

I saw one in a movie
I saw one in the movie "the Ghost and Mrs. Muir" which was set in the year 1901. My company and I made guesses as to what it was and it's specific use. so this article helped to understand that particular scene in the movie. It also helps in understanding a later scene when a portrait of Mrs. Muir in her "bathing costume" was discussed. Captjacktar —Preceding unsigned comment added by Captjacktar (talk • contribs) 05:07, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Victorian morality
I removed the uncited phrase "without violating Victorian notions of modesty" because bathing machines existed well before the Victorian age. A better phrase, if a source is found, might be "in keeping with the then-accepted standards of respectability". I also rewrote parts to match what the sources support, including a sourced mention that men sometimes bathed nude. -84user (talk) 11:53, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

There was a grammatical error in the introduction, so I edited it to be grammatically correct. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.198.153.129 (talk) 06:43, 15 July 2010 (UTC)