Naked History Reenactment

This is an historically based fantasy. This is about wholesome nudity, not sexual conquests. Don't bother reading if you're convinced that this is fake history, because you refuse to do your homework to see if there is something you don't know about.

Up into the 1960's in America, some college swim teams had the men swim naked and the women with suits. Swim meets would be open to all visitors, where the men swimmers would stay naked. Now the fantasy, as told by John.

I always love how many Millennials and Gen Z people think that us Baby Boomers always acted like we do today (at least how they feel we act). Well, my story should give you a different perspective the next time you want to say, "OK, Boomer".

It was 1975 and I was in my Sophomore year at a small private upstate NY college. This college always was for both men and women. At the time it was for the rich kids whose old money families wanted them to make connections with other old money families. I was the third generation of my family to attend this college - yes, we are "old money", which shouldn't be confused with "very wealthy".

My grandfather and father graduated from this college. They both were on the co-ed swim team, so naturally I wanted to be on it. At the time my sister was a senior at our college - but she didn't like competitive swimming and wasn't on our swim team.

The men and women on our swim team felt more like brothers and sisters, vs. potential romantic or sexual partners. In fact, each sex acted as a "wing person" for the other. For us men, the women swimmers were like family to us - so we wanted to make sure they didn't fall for guys who we knew were jerks. The same was true with the women swimmers toward us men.

Our swim suits, especially when wet, left little to the imagination regarding our bodies. Besides, we were young and in great shape - we were comfortable with and loved our own bodies and the bodies of the opposite sex.

I took a New York State history course the Fall semester of my sophomore year. This was the second class I had with my professor, Miss Jones. She was in her early 30's and our college was lucky to have her. Oh, she had a little crush on me. Nothing unprofessional, though.

Miss Jones stood up to us the first day of our course and shared that not only would we learn about the history of New York, but that we each would add to the understanding of that history. Half of our grade would be from writing our own detailed papers on an aspect of New York history that wasn't already covered to death in academia. Back in 1975, without the Internet, it required a lot of research in the library to come up with a rarely covered aspect of New York history. It was even harder to come up with a new bit of history - one we don't know about - for our papers.

In my one-on-one session with Miss Jones to determine what to write about with my paper. She had a big smile and leaned into me when we were talking. She dismissed my two ideas for a paper. Without any judgment or apology, she said they were covered to death.

Then Miss Jones said, "John, you should look at an aspect of college athletics from the early 20th century that applied either throughout the state or in areas of the state."

I asked, "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Sorry, I can't do your work for you. Besides, I just gave you help that I haven't given the other students." Miss Jones said.

After a pause, Miss Jones added, "Go to our archives, and focus on the athletic aspects of it."

I knew that Miss Jones helped me more than she helped her other students because of her crush on me. I rationalized that it was OK, because it happens all the time in academia and in the real world.

Truth be told, I had a little bit of a crush on Miss Jones. She was attractive, great to talk with, and had a free spirit vibe. She wore her hair down and subverted the dress code for female professors by blending bohemian counterculture elements with the bold, body-hugging attire of second-wave feminism. Did I tell you that I loved history?!

The next day I was in a windowless, old and rundown brick building next to the maintenance building on the edge of our campus. It was the archives, with three floors and hundreds of metal racks with dated boxes of newspapers, pictures, college papers, and research published by our professors. On the second floor, I grabbed the boxes for 1925, the year my grandfather graduated from our college. I used an old wooden dolly to bring those boxes to one of the large metal standing tables in the middle of this archive warehouse.

The second box I went through was full of black and white photographs taken on campus that year. Many were pictures that were used in the student paper and yearbook. In the middle of that second box, I came upon pictures of the sports teams.

I was in for a shock when I came upon the picture of my grandfather's swim team. The men and woman were posing for their team picture in two lines facing the pool with smiles on their faces. The women were standing behind and above the men, on the first level of those watching our swim meets. They had their one-piece suits but didn't have their bathing caps. Their hair was done up, many in the style of that era. The men were standing in front of them, on the pool deck. All of these men were naked! Both the women and the men looked like this was the most natural thing to them. I had my history to write a paper on!

I spent a few days researching male nudity in college swim meets in that era before meeting with Miss Jones to determine if it would be a subject I could get an A+ on. I loved history and always wanted to receive an A+ in all my classes.

My meeting with Miss Jones.

I handed the picture to Miss Jones and said, "This is what I think will be a great New York State history paper."

Miss Jones showed no shock when she looked at my grandfather's swim team picture, with the naked men.

She said, "First, thank you for treating me like a professional by showing me this picture. I think this is a great historical subject that, frankly, has been buried for prudish reasons. It's now the 70's, where this subject should see the light of day."

I said, "I'm glad to hear you say that, Miss Jones. I think I can write the ultimate story of this historical topic. What would you suggest so that I receive an A+ on it?"

A smile came across Miss Jones' face as she said, "Well, my suggestion depends on you and the other men on your team. You should do a living history reenactment. But it has to add to the understanding of how such nudity was viewed by the athletes and those who attended these swim meets."

I said, "Well, I'm used to being naked in front of women, as are most of the guys on my team."

Miss Jones' was almost giddy as she said, "Great! My family has a foundation that can give you money for this reenactment. The women would need to wear wool swimsuits from that era."

I'll skip all the research I did, including interviewing men and women who participated in or watched these swim meets where the men were naked. And I'll skip how I got most of my swim team to participate in this reenactment, and how we mentally prepped for it so that it was if we really were back in 1925. And we I had to prep our fans so that they acted like the fans back in 1925. They would be part of the reenactment - unlike with Revolutionary and Civil War reenactments, where those watching it are just spectators. Let's jump to this living history reenactment.

That afternoon of this event, us guys were naked in the men's locker room when Miss Jones walked in.

She said, "All you men should feel proud to help bring to life an important time in our history, related to how human sexuality actually regressed for decades."

Miss Jones pulled out her camera to take pictures of us where our penises weren't shown.

"I will be taking a lot of pictures like this for the school paper, my family's foundation, and for John's research project." Said Miss Jones.

Some of the pictures she took of me clearly showed my full frontal nudity - the whole crush thing she had on me. I was fine with that, as long as it would enable me to get an A+.

We walked out to the pool, with the reserved applause of the standing room only gallery. The women already were waiting for us - they all acted like us men were naked every swim meet. This would be an exhibition swim meet, as none of the other college swim teams wanted to participate in this reenactment.

Us men and the women team members all jumped into the pool, as we always do just before our swim meets start. None of us bothered drying ourselves off when we got out of the pool.

The women's 1925-styled suits fully clung to their breasts, hips, ass cracks, and private areas. We even could tell which ones had full bushes, as women didn't shave down there in the 1970's. The first female athlete who wore such a suit in the early 1920's was arrested for indecent exposure. But society quickly accepted such female suits if it meant that they could swim faster. This was the first chip in the wall with the strict modesty mores for woman at that time. Yes, I included this in my research study.

To this day, I love the feeling of swimming naked in pools, lakes, and the ocean. I discovered this preference during our living history rehearsals. And the women loved how innocently hot they looked in their clingy swimsuits.

The gallery fans had to be at least 18-years old to attend. Only Miss Jones and another living-history-trained photographer (paid for by Miss Jones' family foundation) were allowed to take pictures. The gallery was full of male and female students, professors, administrators, family members, and even people from our town.

Our reenactment "undress" rehearsals - three of them - eliminated any erections by us guys, or leering and laughter by the women. Later, every participating swim team member (one guy and one woman didn't participate) said that they wished we could do this at all of our meets.

At the end of our exhibition meet, I asked all our swim team members if they would want to copy the picture of the team from 1925. They all just nodded their heads, so that they would stay in character for the living history.

Miss Jones was professional when I told her to take a picture of the team that matched the one from 1925, the one with my naked grandfather. She had that picture seared in her brain, so she knew how to pose us. She spent about five minutes posing each of us. She positioned each man and woman with her hands, while her camera was on a strap around her neck. She positioned me with her hands on my hips and even my ass.

After the team picture, one of the women swimmers, Janet, approached me.

"John, is it OK if us women shower with you guys in your locker room?" asked Janet.

Without even asking the guys, I said, "Of course! You don't need to take your suits off if you don't want to."

Janet said, "Only Sloane might keep her suit on."

After all, we were family. When the women walked into the men's shower, we didn't need to act to stay in character. It turns out that Sloane's suit was off within a minute.

Us men loved seeing our women friends with great bodies lathering up and rinsing off in the shower. And Janet told me that the women felt the same way when watching us guys in the shower.

Without any of us realizing, Miss Jones was watching us from just outside the large shower room. looking in.

She said, "If the women would go to one end of the shower for just a minute, I would like to get a picture of the men showering."

Soon, we were back showering together. Interestingly, we weren't talking about our reenactment or us all being naked in the shower. Instead, we were talking about our upcoming swim meet.

Every five years, our swim team would have a reunion. They have felt more like family reunions than a college reunion. Each team reunion is held at resorts that allow nudity. When each of us got married over the years, it was a deal breaker if we weren't allowed by our future spouses to attend these naked reunions. At our ten year reunion, Miss Jones started joining us. Yes, she was naked most of the time.

All but two of our spouses regularly attend these naked reunions. I'm convinced that we stayed in good shape over the years, because of these reunions. All of us, including our spouses view ourselves as family and acted like we did in that first shower together decades ago.

I'm now 70 years old and retired. I love when younger people assume I'm uptight and a prude because of my age. Sometimes I'll share this story with them - but I find it funny how they make such wrong assumptions about us. I guess they weren't taught in college how sexually free my generation was.

Each living team member still has that picture where us men were nude. And this picture is in the 1975 archives in the still rundown brick building on the edge of the campus, next to the maintenance building. There also is my paper and the national living history award I received. And of course there are all the pictures from that day, including all the full frontal nudes shots of me and the team picture with the women and the naked men.

My grandson is the fifth generation of my family to attend our family college. My wife told him to check out the swim team in the 1975 archives. I love my wife!