Nude swimming in US indoor pools was common for men and boys from the late 1880s until the early 1970s, but rare for women and girls. For much of that time period, indoor pool use was primarily for physical education or athletic competition, not recreation. Male nude swimming had been customary in natural bodies of water, which was not viewed as a social problem until the 18th century. When the tradition of skinny-dipping in secluded spots had become more visible with urbanization, indoor pools were first built in the 19th century in part to address this issue by moving male swimming indoors.[1]: 1 For the first decades of the 20th century, male nude swimming was associated with a trope of the "old swimming hole"[2] as representing childhood innocence and adult masculinity. In their own classes, nudity was rare for girls based upon an assumption of modesty, but might include young children. Prepubescent boys might be nude in mixed-gender settings, including the presence of female staff,[3][4] public competitions,[5] and open houses for families.[6]
The primary reason given for nudity by officials was for public health, swimming pools being prone to contamination by water-borne diseases. During the early developmental stages of filtration and chlorination, behavioral measures were also needed to keep the water clean. Because indoor pools were generally male only, the health of swimmers could be monitored most easily by forbidding swimsuits, which often were a source of contamination, while female swimmers wore suits that were more hygienic. As the 20th century continued, more indoor pools were built by local governments, schools and the YMCA, primarily in northern states, to provide year-round swimming as a sport. As with other physical education activities, swimming was gender-segregated. Although aware of the same issues of hygiene, swimming pools in Canada and the United Kingdom more often made nudity for men and boys optional rather than mandatory.
Male nude swimming in the US remained a common practice in the Midwest and Northeast through the 1950s, but declined in the 1960s due to technological and social changes. After the passage of Title IX in 1972, requiring gender equality in physical education, most schools found mixed-gender use of swimming pools to be the easiest means of compliance. A generation later, nude swimming in public pools as a widespread practice was forgotten, and in the 21st century sometimes denied having existed.
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