Here in Finland it’s normal to be naked around family members whether male or female in certain situations like the sauna but it’s weird walking naked around the house. I asked r/askmiddleeast and they were shocked that I have seen my mom naked.
Edit: to clarify yes for adults to be naked around each other
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Very wierd here , if you’re over 5 your mom and dad shouldn’t see you naked and you shouldn’t see your parents naked either .
No, it’s not, unless you’re a baby. The last time my parents saw me naked was when they used to wash me and I don’t thing I’ve ever seen them naked. Of course there’s nudist beaches, but I’ve never heard of any family going to such a place, it’s always among friends.
Definitely not. Last time I saw my parents or other family members naked was when I was a child – and that’s a guess as I cannot recall when I have seen them naked.
I don’t think there is a setting in Italy equivalent to sauna in Finland where it’s expected and accepted for family members to be naked around each other, it just depends on the family. I think the most common situation is that it’s accepted to be naked around your same sex parent/child/sibling if there’s a specific reason to do it, but I also have a male friend who told me that he’s never seen his father naked and my mom has absolutely no issues being naked in front of me, so it’s not a universal rule.
As an adult? No, I would say not. We don’t really have a “naked in the sauna” tradition here either, so I can’t think of any scenario where it would be natural for me to see my family members naked. Nudist beaches exist of course, but most people aren’t comfortable with that.
Edit: Oh I forgot, we are typically naked in public showers though, so seeing other people of the same sex showering naked in the locker room at e.g. school, the gym, the pool etc. is quite common. But never with people of the opposite sex. And we never really look at anyone around us in those scenarios either, so I can’t say I would notice anything in particular about anyone.
As a rule of thumb no, you wouldn’t typically wander around a family house naked, but nudity isn’t astonishing between the same genders – my sister-in-law and I, for instance, get changed together at swimming pools or before nights out or whatever, and dudes share locker rooms whether they’re related or not I guess. So maybe it’s the concept of opposite genders seeing each other naked that’s uncomfortable??
The Finnish mentality sounds much healthier imo, nudity isn’t inherently sexual and it’s probably even healthy to see normal naked bodies in every stage of their existence.
I think it might vary a lot between families and communities even within Sweden to be honest.
I grew up with a Finnish-like sauna culture, and would also go skinny-dipping with family friends and extended family, so I saw both adults and other kids naked in those contexts regardless of sex. We’re pretty relaxed within my family as well, not in the sense that we’ll always be nude but my parents might walk naked to and from the bathroom (including when me and my brothers are home), and it’s not necessarily weird for someone to be brushing their teeth while someone else steps out of the shower. Not all of my friends have these same experiences though, even if I don’t think people in general would be shocked that I’ve seen my parents naked.
In Germany I imagine it depends a lot on the family. My parents have a sauna in their house and we will all use it naked, and in general when I grew up, being naked wasn’t seen as a big deal at home. We wouldn’t walk around naked all day on purpose, but walking back from the shower to get dressed in your room, or asking if you could quickly get something from the bathroom while someone else was in the shower was totally normal even when we were all adults or today when I’m home visiting.
I remember it being normal as a child growing up, but not so much after a certain age like 7-8.
Unless you’re dating someone or accidentally stumble upon someone naked it’s highly unlikely you’ll see anyone naked.
Kids don’t shower after PE because they’re usually no showers, in gyms it’s a no-no to walk around naked and showers are individual etc.
Yes it would be strange because I never had a reason to be naked around them as we don’t really go to saunas for example.
Now if you do sports being naked around strangers is perfectly normal. I played handball in Bosnia for 6 years and right now in Germany I play tennis and go once a week to badminton or floorball with my friends/colleagues and we shower everytime after. I have been naked around them and I’ve seen naked strangers more than I can count. When you do something a lot of times, it becomes perfectly normal. Sometimes there are 20 dudes showering at the same time. Overall in Germany people are very much relaxed when it comes to this.
Now that you mention the ME. Sometimes an Iraqi friend comes with us and he never showers after sports and it is a little bit…hmm how should I say, unhygienic as we stay for a drink afterwards. Twice he was asked why he doesn’t shower and his response was “it is not normal to be naked in public in Iraq”
I probably wrote more than I should.
Tldr: family members: never had a reason to be naked around them but it would be strange.
Strangers: if you do sports, perfectly normal.
I would say for most it’s a no for opposite gender family members but most families are perfectly fine being naked around other same gender family members. My family are quite private so I refuse to be around any of them naked but my partners family is fine being naked around even the opposite sex family members. Yeah that was a massive shock when first getting to know them haha.
No, that would be weird.
Tbh from reading comments here and I know someone that lived in Finland there are a lot of things that are normal in Finland and seen as weird in Portugal and vice versa.
Not that surprising since both countries are on opposite corners of Europe.
I get changed in front of my daughter all the time. I’m not hiding my natural body away like it’s shameful. I think once she becomes self-conscious about her own body we’ll have more privacy boundaries. I like privacy when I shower and shit, my daughter respects that. She’s 6. I don’t want her to ever feel ashamed for being naked, be it in a woman’s public bath, a kids swimming pool, a beach…it isn’t weird to see your family naked. I just think past a certain age kids want to be more private. They don’t want to see their dad’s dick?!
It’s normal in some cultures to have male and female public baths. You clean yourself before immersing into a public bath. I live in the UK where this culture isn’t regular. A lot of people would find this behaviour gross. I don’t.
A funny story though, our daughter asked her dad why his ‘willy’ looks darker than the rest of his body!! Because it doesn’t get a sun tan my dear…
That really depends on the family. In many families going to a sauna naturally evolves to going only with the same sex family memebers at some point. Probably more common to have sauna sex separated in a family than not.
I think not very normal. I haven’t seen my family members naked since I’ve been an adult. But I do think, that if I ever were to go for a hike now with other male family members, and spontaneously decide to go for a swim in a lake, we wouldn’t care much.
When I was little, my father used to walk naked through the house between shower and bedroom, and we didn’t lock the bathroom door.
But would I by my own volition visit a sauna with my family? Probably not.
In NL it really depends on the family you grew up in. I’ve never seen my dad naked, he also stopped with seeing me in a state of undress after i entered puberty (i’m a girl). My mom and i don’t really make it an issue and we see each other undressed semi regularly.
I’ve seen, in situations like in pools, that the parents of the other kids also just get changed with the kids in the same room.
IMO, it teaches kids that nudity isn’t to be shamed and that it isn’t inherently sexual to be naked.
I can’t speak for Belgium in general, as being naked around family members isn’t really a common conversation topic or anything, but in my own family it’s sort of normal. Like, I’m a young man in my twenties living with my father now, and when I need something from the bathroom while he’s in the bathtub or drying himself off, I’m just going to go inside and grab what I need, or when I need to ask him something urgently, I’m going to open the door and ask him directly. It’s the same thing with my mum when I’m popping around for a visit, maybe even more relaxed. She has seen me naked all throughout my childhood and vice versa, so I don’t really see the point of hiding myself away now.
When my older sister and I were growing up, we also saw each other naked once in a while as we had to share a bathroom. No big deal. In fact, we sort of had a habit at home of sitting on the toilet with the door wide open so we could have a better view of the TV in the kitchen/dining room and apparently she’s still doing it now that she’s living with her boyfriend, or so I’ve heard, because he thought it was kind of strange haha.
Kind of, but not really. I never really thought about that. I always thought it was rude as a kid. When I went to the swimming pool with my parents, I hid myself with the towel. So did they, to make me feel comfortable
Depends on the person? My mom (Spain) is completely comfortable wandering around naked and coming into the bathroom to poop while I’m brushing my hair or teeth. My boyfriend (Poland) removes his clothes as if they were covered by fire ants the moment he enters the house when we are alone, leaves the boxers on if his son or ex are around, but still leaves the shower naked and changes clothes in front of his son when the son’s mom is not around (the man really seems to have a tragic allergy to clothes). Poops in private, pees in front of me, and busts into the bathroom while I’m using it regardless of what I’m doing in there. I (Spain) am never naked around the house except for sleeping and would rather stick my head in a sack full of vipers than poop or pee in front of people.
Normal-ish between same sex family members – you wouldn’t mind stripping off in the same room but you’d still make some effort to face away from one another in that situation – not as comfortable as finns maybe! same sex relatives will probably at some point get changed in the same room for some reason, or end up in communal showers at a swimming pool. I saw my mother naked as a kid/teenager a fair amount because we showered and went to the gym together.
It would be considered pretty strange to see your adult opposite sex siblings naked though! a scenario to be actively avoided at all costs in fact.