Talk:Nudity in sport

The Spartan Tradition
Why did the Spartans begin this tradition of excercising naked? I'm sure I read some story where the Spartans started this tradition after a group of Spartan javalin throwers were defeated by a woman who had been admitted to the competition because she had disguised herself as a man; this humiliated the other competitors, who introduced this practice to keep women out of male-only sporting events. Other sources cite a story that some Greek runner tripping over his loincloth as the origin of this tradition. I think these different stories behind this practice should be included in the article, but I don't feel my information is complete enough to merit inclusion. Can someone help out with this? --L33tminion 19:39, Oct 31, 2004 (UTC)
 * I have also heard that the nudity rule in the Olympic games started as a woman beated their male concurrents. --Error (talk) 21:47, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

The Naked Olympics says that the Spartans coerced the Athenians into holding the games in the nude. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 13:38, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Removed image
I removed Image:Brasil01.jpg because it is at best tangentially related to the topic. That is, its subjects are sportswomen, and they are nude, but they are not playing any sport in the nude, so the connection is marginal. (The image is also a probable copyright infringement.) &#8212;Charles P. (Mirv) 22:12, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)


 * I don't have an opinion on this specific image. I reverted its deletion only because the original deletor was engaged in a wholesale bowldlerisation campaign. If you're concerned about legal issues associated with this specific image, you might wish to review the contributions of its submittor (User:Registering a free account), many of whose contributions are similar. -- John Fader 23:35, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Nudity sinful
Can someone cite something that backs up "When Christianity in the fourth century became the state religion, gladiatorial games were soon abandoned, and the concept of nudity as 'sinful' took over." I find it hard to believe that the reason for the cessation of the gladiatorial games was that nudity was considered sinful. This seems like a serious factual or POV problem. Notthe9 05:59, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It didn't say that's the reason, just that the two happened at the same time. One could even say it was the cessation of the games that allowed the concept. On another note, should this article incorporate information on the "Shirts and Skins" phenomenon?
 * On the latter point- yes, it probably should... provided someone out there actually understands it. -FZ 18:06, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

Incorrect picture label?
The caption for the picture of the nekkid wimmin does not match what is on the info page for the picture. I’ll leave it to someone who’s fully awake to fix it. -Ahruman 23:39, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

naked female sumo?
sorry if this is the wrong place for this, but i was wondering what the source was for this information. my google skills seem to fail me here.

Sport vs recreation
There is a lot of information on this page that would be best moved to an article about clothes free recreation than in a sport related article. Sports are competive, recreation is a broader topic.Dandelion1 20:47, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Article is currently a sausage festival
Surely there are some pictures of women that could be added. 4.89.242.235 21:57, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Bob Feller and Joe DiMaggio photos
I don't think the captions are correct. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the early to mid part of the 20th century wasn't there signs posted on the locker room saying No Women, Children or Reporters Allowed? Because it says this in some documentaries and movies I've seen. Perhaps their friends did it as a joke? Or for a women's magazine? 156.34.208.175 00:08, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Even if properly researched, publicly released material is not unlikely to be (self-)censored to present standards; yet if nude photos of a celebrity were taken and publicized illicitly, a hefty damage claim would have been likely, and/or criminal pursuit. Fastifex 13:36, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Since naked sports are no longer mainstream since before the invention of photography, I imagine better illustrations will be very hard to find (except in the more pornographic circuit, which is dubious as proof of any reality) except from the lockerroom - or non-photographic arts, there's an idea Fastifex 13:36, 11 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Why are there so many shower pictures on a sports page? This seems really unbalanced and unnecessary. Think sports!!! User:Dandelion (talk|contribs) 16:02, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Merger?
Most of the considerations in Naked hiking apply just as well to naked sport, or even to nudity in public in general; practically nothing specific is said on hiking as such, even various links etc. are non-specific. The material may therefore be better used here, both as general considerations and as a section called something like Sports and recreational hiking in open air. Fastifex 13:36, 11 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I disagree. There needs to be a Nudity in recreation for non-competivie physical activities like hiking, biking, swimming.... User:Dandelion (talk|contribs). There is a quite a bit of material that could be in such an article. 03:50, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I am strongly against merging everything to do with naked activities under nudity in sport. I do not regard my hiking as sport.  The web garners it's strength from links to related material, not by having everything under one big umbrella.

Don't merge - use sensible links instead.

Title change?
I think that Athletic nudity is a more intuitive title for this topic. Any comments? Haiduc 01:31, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't see an advantage, and it may lead to confusion whether it's restricted to Athletics (track and field) proper. Fastifex 10:07, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Shower pictures?
As someone stated earlier on this talk-page about pictures of naked non-sporting athletes: "they are nude, but they are not playing any sport in the nude, so the connection is marginal." I mean... duh, people are most commonly naked while showering :) Though one could create a brand new article of Nudity in showers. So what I propose is to replace these images with more relevant ones (if there are any). 85.225.25.168 20:52, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Right, the images aren't relevant to "nudity in sport" and their inclusion does not support any concept or fact mentioned in the body of the article. If someone had a picture of an actor using a toilet off-screen during the production of a film, would the image belong in an article on "nudity in American film"? Of course not. Along those lines, a picture of a naked, non-sporting athlete doesn't contribute anything to "Nudity in sport." BAKirken 06:18, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Nazis revered the FKK?
It was my understanding that the Nazis outlawed naturist organisations, and were usually very conservative in their views on naturism. Anyone got a reference for this? Esseh 19:26, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Sporting anecdotes
"A group from the southern U.S., having been invited in the 1950s to participate in a university students' swimming competition in Stockholm, was surprised to find at their arrival at the (indoor) swimming pool that their swimming trunks were out of place; they had to swim stark naked like their Swedish colleagues.

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, The German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) swimming team applied to compete nude as that was the way that they were used to training. The Olympic Committee refused the application"

Source? This sounds suspiciously like urban mythology to me, along the lines of "aren't those Scandinavians / East Europeans just totally wacky?" The second one in particular sounds like a Borat style hoax. 217.155.20.163 (talk) 19:28, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Wearing of shoes
A person wearing shoes cannot be considered as real nude. What is the opinion toward wearing shoes in nudity sports? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.46.234.128 (talk) 10:38, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

There aren't any nudist police determining how is or isn't a real nudist. Wearing shoes when otherwise nude is pretty well accepted. Nudist resorts usually allow shoes (see here for an example: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doreen-orion/love-at-a-nudist-rv-park_b_106851.html). Here's another nudist resort that encourages wearing shoes when playing sports: http://cafnat.org/faq.html. Also see the articles on Clothing-optional bike rides and Nude hiking. Many of the people in the photos in these two articles are wearing shoes. I'm removing the section on shoes; concern about shoe wearers not being "real nudists" seems misguided. "Real nudists" dp wear shoes when the situation warrants it. Hiking, biking and playing sports are prime examples of situations that do warrant shoes.70.249.215.137 (talk) 02:36, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

HA HA HA. THis page is so full of crap!
Please remove it completely. US swimmers had to swim naked like their Swedish colleagues. That's the biggest load of crap I've heard! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.164.246 (talk) 03:22, 9 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I was just going to remark on that. For instance, in YMCAs of the era nudity was obligatory in the swimming pools. (It was, of course, a male-only organization at the time.) 192.91.147.34 (talk) 03:49, 13 January 2011 (UTC)
 * It might still be obligatory. In 1965, I was obliged to learn to swim. My uncle took me to Baltimore's men's-only YMCA (where he exercised all the time) to learn. Nude swimming was not only permitted -- it was required. No one ever explained -- uh -- why, but I believe it was the desire to keep lint and other detritus out of the water. I haven't been there in over 40 years (and the only person I might have asked passed on last year), but I wouldn't be surprised if nude swimming were still required. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 13:33, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Nudity in Germany
I am an American who has spent prolonged periods of his 64 years in Germany and in the United States. In comparing American and German attitudes and conventions regarding nudity, Germans are more relaxed than Americans. In the early 1970s I was a resident at a student dormitory in Cologne, Germany. The showers and the toilets were shared by male and female residents. While teaching in Tübingen I was part of a sauna club made up of young men and women, and there was no hesitancy in stripping naked for the sauna and the cooling off and resting. This was also the case at the neighborhood saunas, where everyone from toddlers to grandparents would drop all clothing. In is now 2011, and I am now living in Cologne again. I have joined a fitness club with two saunas, a steam room, a resting area, and a shower room. Although swimmers wear bathing wear, nobody goes into the sauna/steamroom/shower/resting areas with clothing on -- at most a towel around the waist when moving from one area to the next. It is the most natural thing in the world for them to do. I cannot imagine it in the United States. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.143.66.254 (talk) 16:28, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Public Nudity in Sparta
"Unlike other Greeks, Spartans also sometimes went naked casually, such as in the public city area." I assume the writer means adults (rather than toddlers). This is new to me. No citation is given. In 300, Frank Miller (a presumably heterosexual artist), shows the king of Sparta and his entourage frontally nude in public. I'd assumed this was Miller's invention, a way for the king to show his bravery by being nude (in the sense of "defenseless"). Did this ever occur? WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 13:47, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

This article could be deleted
As others have mentioned in prior years, if the definition of sport is "a competitive physical activity" then almost all of the content in this article should be moved to Nude recreation if its not already there. If nudists keep score playing tennis or volleyball occasionally, its still recreation, not sports. Only the ancient Greeks had organized completions nude, which is mentioned in Ancient Olympics.

A possible exception is the brief period when "boys" (up to college) were required to be nude in indoor pools. The items above about this are true, since from the origin of indoor pools until the end of male-only facilities under Title IX, male nudity was justified by either (1) when suits were made from natural fibers, loose threads would clog the pump filters or (2) wet suits not laundered each day would harbor germs. Vitage 20th century However, this was for classes/training, not actual competition, since there would be female spectators.--WriterArtistDC (talk) 03:24, 29 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Sport is a form of recreation. So much else has been merged into the Nude recreation article it makes little sense to keep this one separate. —VeryRarelyStable (talk) 00:01, 13 December 2019 (UTC)