Proper Campsite Attire

[SctDad 10]

SMT224

 

Tell the young boy that can't keep his pants up, "if you need help keeping you pants up I have one of a couple ways you can do it. Use your belt, I have duct tape, or I can get the staple gun."

[Mr. Boyce 13]

Is there a movement to ban the summer shirtless look for males?

 

I was discussing this recently with a female friend who gets pretty disgusted at the shirtless look.

 

But when it's hot and I have to mow my lawn, it's what I would like to do, except, as I get older, I have more aesthetic reasons for not baring my chest to the neighborhood. I'm being considerate, I suppose. I suppose I also don't want to see myself so post-buff.

 

But when I was younger, heck, going shirtless and shoeless in the summertime was part of the good stuff of summer.

[RobbyC 0]

I don't think the guys going shirtless around camp was inappropriate at all. As several others said, I always saw going around shirtless as part of the fun summer camp experience.  I am glad to see that most commenters here felt the same way, although I wonder how this has changed over the last 7 years. It does seem to me that I am seeing an increasing condemnation of guys going shirtless in a variety of contexts. Believe it or not, I actually came across a blog post recently that addressed this issue (which is how I wound up stumbling upon this old thread in the first place, looking into the issue after reading the blog post someone had shared).
http://shirtlessfreedom.blogspot.com/2017/05/summer-camp.html
I do hope that we can retain the sort of innocence that I saw when I was younger and more active in scouting, both as a youth and later as a leader. I think that telling young boys that it is "inappropriate" to take off their shirts around camp sends entirely the wrong message.

As to the boys who wanted to sit around the campfire in their boxers, I really don't even see anything wrong with that, either. It is not that strange. I recall similar activities in my dorm in college. The guys just kind of said, "Hey, let's watch a movie in our boxers." and we went, "Yea, that's cool." So, yea, I guess it was planned, but it was not weird or anything. It was a bonding experience.

Besides, don't a lot of camps still have communal showers? Or am I showing my age? (I mean, they did when I went to camp...) It is clearly appropriate to be nude in the shower, so why would it be so inappropriate for the same guys to take off their shirts in front of each other in a casual setting around camp?

[fred johnson 936]

As to the boys who wanted to sit around the campfire in their boxers, ....

 

Yeah, but scout camp is now co-ed with leaders.  As long as the boxers are defined as underwear, it's not okay.  Now if the boxers are board shorts or a swim suit, then it's okay.  It's a silly distinction, but as in all things there needs to be some threshold and an over-the-line position.

[Stosh 3452]

The neighbor friend of my sister had her mother come over for a visit.  This neighbor was born in Norway herself but now lived in the US.  Sis and her friend both live on the lake and when mom saw it she wanted to go swimming.  My sister started back to her house to get her swim suit when she noticed that both mom and daughter were already in the lake so Sis followed suit without a suit.

 

Only in America do we have over-sexed prudes. 

[desertrat77 1144]

Very true, Stosh. 

 

On an unrelated note, it was enlightening, as well as sad, to look at the names associated with the previous posts in this thread.   Some no longer post, for one reason or another.  I hope they are well.  Others are no longer with us, may they rest in peace.

[JasonG172 244]

Yea the co-ed not just leaders but also staff (crews) kind of hinder some of the boys running around shirtless.  Picked up my son Sunday from camp and when I got there was glad to see him walking around camp with just his shorts and shoes on.

[CalicoPenn 729]

 I recall similar activities in my dorm in college. The guys just kind of said, "Hey, let's watch a movie in our boxers." and we went, "Yea, that's cool." So, yea, I guess it was planned, but it was not weird or anything. It was a bonding experience.

 

 

Ummm - yeah, Robby - sorry to say - that's just a little weird.

[Col. Flagg 909]

Ummm - yeah, Robby - sorry to say - that's just a little weird.

 

Robby, do you like gladiator movies?