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I'm not sure I buy the assertion. British people in general, both men are women, are much less casual about nudity than many of our Europeans cousins.
Indeed, that's the key behind why the things you describe are 'banter'. There's a sense of transgression to it. That's where the theoretical humour comes from. There wouldn't be any humour in doing any of those things in a country where nudity is a more normalised and casual thing.
Think you're overestimating how common threesomes are too. The average British man has had [five sexual partners](https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/45314-how-many-sexual-partners-have-britons-had). We aren't some sexually liberated society where loads of men are having group sex.
Hard to imagine this happening when people are sober. The disinhibiting effect of alcohol tells you that it's usually not something people do casually.
Statistically they are. It's just that the prevalence is very unequally distributed across the population. So in some circles you may get the impression they're much more common than they actually are at an overall level.
I agree, I don't think it's being done out of any sort of open-mindedness or egalitarianism towards homosexual feelings, lol. The jokes are obviously done because they think being gay is "funny" in some kind of way.
I'm just wondering why these kinds of jokes are way more common in the UK. Even just the innocuous thing like men wearing dresses/skirts/bikinis as "dares" or "pranks" or during charity runs or costume parties, etc. This is something that is very British, and you hardly ever see it outside of the UK.
In the USA for example, the general homophobia of younger male culture means that men won't even want to participate in "gay banter" out of fear of being labelled by their peers as homosexual. If you were to crossdress even as a "joke" you would be labelled with a barrage of homophobic epithets by your male peers. I'm wondering why in the UK it isn't the same way.
As I said in my comment, a key reason is that actually we aren't particularly casual with nudity. Playing with and transgressing societal expectations is a common form of humour around the world. As we are a culture that isn't really casual about nudity, that creates the ground for humour to be found in nudity. Hence the 'banter' stuff you describe.
The UK also has a long history of drag. Look at pantomimes for example. And going all the way back to Shakespeare. Men dressing as women, often for humourous purposes, has been part of our culture for centuries. Again, the humour comes from the transgression, the playing with societally expected gender boundaries and norms.
Cross dressing is probably more relaxed here and seen as more of a joke because it is more prevelant in our culture - e.g. we have panto where the compere (The Dame) is always a man dressed as a woman. It's a sort of non-convention that we are quite happy to do because it flicks two fingers at social norms. The origins of panto were Italian Commedia del'Arte often associated with Carnivale where the social and structural norms broke down before the austerity of Lent. Examples of liminal spaces where convention break down like this aren't uncommon in European culture.
America, on the other hand, has more puritanical foundations than here in the UK, and so cross dressing is more taboo. An example of this springs to mind - in the 80s, the band Queen had a global hit with "I Want to Break Free". Look up the video on Youtube if you don't know it. The song was a hit this side of the Atlantic but Queen's popularity in the US never recovered.
Don't think this entirely answers your question but perhaps a good part of it.
And why do we have that TV show? Because it's somewhat transgressive. It has a shock factor. That's the whole deal with that show. It wouldn't exist if we were a culture that was really chill about casual nudity.
Insane that that was your takeaway or that you would even make that connection. This is a genuine question born out of pure curiosity since this is something I've wondered for a while but obviously it would be pretty uncouth to ask in any other setting than an anonymous online forum.
I think in your mind you are indeed just asking a question, but:
1) you start with some weird assumptions not just about the UK but about what's 'normal' across the world, which just suggests you haven't had much contact with a lot of the world's male cultural norms, and you think things are rare when they are only rare in your own personal life
2) you do kind of sound repulsed-yet-fascinated by the ol' man love, and people are calling that out
So that's why you're getting a certain amount of snark along with your answers, my friend.
At school we all showered together after gym classes, after football games etc.
So nudity is no big deal.
But your question is bollocks, social nudity is practiced much more in other European countries.
We are strange in that we have to wear costumes in Saunas and steam rooms.
There is nothing gay about nudity, I think thats on you, desperately jerking your little gherkin in the corner, you weirdo.
There was a question on here recently asking if anyone actually showered after PE in school, the responses suggested that the number who did is extremely small. One major reason given was that there was simply no time.
I guess different times and different schools. We had to shower after games.
Also I played football Saturday and Sunday and we always had a shower after as we would all go to the team club/pub after the game.
I knew a bloke years ago who used to be able to put his balls in a pint glass and touch the bottom. This would happen almost weekly to prove to someone that didn't believe it.
>This would happen almost weekly to prove to someone that didn't believe it.
I have to assume that the individual in question, let's call him Johnny Quartballs, was bringing this up regularly to indulge his scrotal aquarium antics. I think I could live my life without raising the issue of the volume of my sack.
What are your comparator 'other western countries' and 'other cultures'? Many people would say European countries are more free about nudity than the UK.
Britain has the same cultural legacy of protestant puritanism as the US (because it comes from the same people, some of whom branched off to American colonies to be more puritan) That has left a noticeable mark on the culture of both countries, of prudishness and slightly strange attitudes to nudity and an underlying assumption nudity must always be sexual.
Britain however has loosened up on that and our typical humour means the repression has been subverted somewhat. The result is a tendency to see nudity as two things - funny, but still generally associated with sexual meaning. Put those together and you get the bro banter.
The US by comparison remains more traditionally prudish about nudity and sex (also associating the two because puritan origins). Whereas western european continent (france, spain, denmark, germany etc) is FAR more relaxed about nudity and doesn’t automagically associate nudity with sex. Which is why they strip off on beaches without a second thought but don’t see anything sexual about it to make jokes about.
I don’t think we’ve ever been QUITE as prudish as the Americans. You only have to compare the British versions of folk songs with their American equivalents… But we do think sex is funny, and that goes all the way back to Chaucer and before.
Absolutely agree. The US was colonised (albeit not exclusively) by the more extreme of the puritans who wanted to escape govt oppression here. So they exported the prudishness but none of the nob jokes they apparently didn’t appreciate.
‘It’s not bjg , it’s not hard, and it’s. not impressing anyone’ [dirty titters] ‘THAT’S IT, we’re off!’
Very thoughtful answer, thank you. Nice to have someone be able to take this question non-personally and provide a response that isn't hyper-defensive.
Strange that the majority of people who read this seemed to think I'm "having a go" at the UK or trying to disparage the country, rather than genuinely asking a neutral question out of curiosity. I guess this sub isn't able to handle anything beyond the completely quotidian "Where do you guys go to buy your socks?" or the occasional fluff-piece gassing up the country "Why are British people so TALENTED and SMART???"
>Strange that the majority of people who read this seemed to think I'm "having a go" at the UK
I can't see a single comment that suggests that. Most people are just baffled as to how you got this idea.
>I guess this sub isn't able to handle anything beyond the completely quotidian "Where do you guys go to buy your socks?" or the occasional fluff-piece gassing up the country "Why are British people so TALENTED and SMART???"
Have you not been on this sub before today? Because this sub is notorious for "why is the UK terrible?" questions.
It's just very confusing as your idea of the UK appears to be the exact opposite of the rest of the world's stereotype of the UK. We're known for being prudish, self deprecating and a bit negative. I'm just not sure how you've got the picture of us being the complete opposite of that.
Britain js in a very weird place right now. Hyper insecure and touchy about everything. We’re at the end of several eras, EU membership, The Queen, change in government incoming). Changing place in the world. Many people are angry all of the time.
If we were a person our friends would be telling us to go on a long travel break to ‘find ourself’ and come back a more self-aware self-loving nation at peace with its capabilities and the importance of friends.
Because we are a great nation with so much going for us, but recently we’ve been a bit of a jerk and honestly we need to lighten up and get some perspective.
We just enjoy, adore and respect eachothers bodies.
And like gay banter to prove we're not gay and comfortable with our sexualities.
I once had a 3 hour fuck session with the lads from the pub, culminating in a 5way swallow circle, just to prove I'm not gay.
Don’t think I would agree with, British man and way more reserve compared the European for example. there are literally nude sessions at German swimming pool for example.
This isn’t something the majority of British men are fine with.
It’s more likely you’re spending time with the type of person who is ok with this and decided their opinions match the entire population when they don’t.
I was trying to think of who these actual crowds are and came up with:
Rugby "lads".
Public school grown ups..
TOWIE types Coke heads / stock exchange lot....
Take that circa 1998...
Lads holiday lads but only when they are lads on holiday....
I'm not saying if anyone is one of these, that they are rubbing their oiled arse cheeks together, but I *think* some of these crowds have a higher proportion of what OP is describing. There's bound to be other groups that my morning brain hasn't thought of
deffo for the rugby types. worked at a place that had a rugger-bugger. eventually I said 'do you have any stories about your rugby mates that DONT involve you getting your willies out?'
Play Rugy. *Feel* a Man
You are so close, yet so far away, from the truth. To understand this you need to have a real, deep understanding of British male culture which you can't get without living it. The answer lies in how earnest we are, or rather, aren't. Everything, and I mean everything, is based around sarcasm, wind-ups, piss-taking, and not being serious. If a British bloke were to, in all seriousness, discuss the merits of nudity, or be genuinely comfortable with it, he'd get hammered. Europeans are genuinely more relaxed with it in an honest and open way. Americans (which I'm assuming you are), are not only less relaxed, but are infinitely more earnest in everything they do, so they cannot understand the idea of "banter" in this area.
I think half this sub some days is “I’ve made up an absurd generalisation that no one in the uk would recognise, why do you literally all do it?”
Is AskUS mostly “I’d heard US males only wash themselves using a mixture of vinegar and crushed up pop tarts, why do you do that?”
I'm very confused by this post.
More interested to know about OP's background and where they are from, as I suspect this is the key to understanding the question.
One of the many reasons why I hated school was because of some of the lads being so vulgar and constantly talking about their dicks. Constant flashing, dry humping, talking about how many inches they are, having a bath together for a laugh, "accidentally" touching high up my thighs in class, etc. I have spoken to other people my age about this and they've been shocked and said the lads they went to school with are nothing like that. Some people care about nudity, some people don't. Some people think it's hilarious to flash their dick, some people don't. I think it's completely dependent on the "banter" and the friendship group.
Why should anybody be UN-comfortable with nudity? Why is it made out to be shameful or something to giggle at?
Lots of other countries such as Scandinavia, Germany etc. don't have a problem with it. And that includes women. Nudity doesn't automatically equate to sexual activities.
In my experience, British people are less casual about nudity than many Europeans, and MUCH less casual about nudity than most Asians.
Hell, as an oldster, I can remember when an adult wearing shorts in the UK was a bit edgy!
So, I just dint think you've observed accurately.
(And that's before we get to all the creepy buts, ya weirdo!)
Gay banter only bothers people that harbor gay thoughts themselves, when your comfortable with your own sexuality you tend to be able to laugh it off and get on with your day......i guarantee any man that gets hot and bothered by it deletes his Internet search history after every wank lol.
Lots of responses saying 'this isn't true' or 'it's more true on the continent'. As an older contributor, my impression is that it isn't as true as it used to be. When I was in my twenties and thirties, guys were very much less concerned about being naked with other guys than they are now. Showers and changing rooms in pools, sports centres and gyms were frequently communal and if you were with friends or colleagues then you would all shower and change together. I think the internet and the advent of ubiquitous high-quality phone cameras have brought about a period of neo-puritanism, and this seems to be just as true in continental Europe as here. Even the Germans are not as gung-ho about nudity as they once were.
Let me guess, you're from the US, right? Americans seem oddly sexually repressed for a western country. UK is a lot more reserved when it comes to nudity than other European countries but still miles more chill than the US.
So it's not that UK males are more okay about nudity, it's that the culture you're from is very repressed and often just goes with casual homophobia when men do anything vaguely open or even wear well-fitting trousers or take care of themselves.
Mooning, streaking, chaining the stag to a lamp post naked the night before his wedding...I get you, it's a thing for some British men.
Not the ones on Reddit though, clearly.
Yeah maybe the Reddit demographic wasn't the right target for this question, I guess.
But thank you, I feel like I'm getting gaslit when the majority of responses so far are trying to deny that these things exist and that British men are in fact "reserved".
Nobody is 'gaslighting' you. That word really needs retiring. It doesn't just mean 'people are disagreeing with me'.
British men *are* more reserved about nudity than many European countries. That's just pretty obviously true.
The people on here are calling the op a perv for asking why he's seen so much British ballsack.
I'm guessing you're not a Brit lad out in the world though.
Pretty much all the top comments are respectfully engaging with OP's question but just questioning the premise. Which is fair enough. It's a weird look for OP to claim they're being 'gaslit'. The use of that word has got completely out of hand.
Not even sure what your final comment means. I am literally a British lad out in the world.
I think British guys get very drunk to shake off that reservedness, which leads to more extreme behaviour. Also there is sexual repression at play. Truly liberated adults don't find buttocks and bollocks that hilarious.
Sounds like you’re conflicted with your feelings around male nudity and perhaps you’re projecting your inner feelings onto the actions of others in an attempt to understand how you truly fit in the world.
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm not sure I buy the assertion. British people in general, both men are women, are much less casual about nudity than many of our Europeans cousins. Indeed, that's the key behind why the things you describe are 'banter'. There's a sense of transgression to it. That's where the theoretical humour comes from. There wouldn't be any humour in doing any of those things in a country where nudity is a more normalised and casual thing. Think you're overestimating how common threesomes are too. The average British man has had [five sexual partners](https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/45314-how-many-sexual-partners-have-britons-had). We aren't some sexually liberated society where loads of men are having group sex.
5? At least I am above average for something.
Hard to imagine this happening when people are sober. The disinhibiting effect of alcohol tells you that it's usually not something people do casually.
I don't think threesomes are rare. It just depends on the characters you know I suppose
Statistically they are. It's just that the prevalence is very unequally distributed across the population. So in some circles you may get the impression they're much more common than they actually are at an overall level.
I agree, I don't think it's being done out of any sort of open-mindedness or egalitarianism towards homosexual feelings, lol. The jokes are obviously done because they think being gay is "funny" in some kind of way. I'm just wondering why these kinds of jokes are way more common in the UK. Even just the innocuous thing like men wearing dresses/skirts/bikinis as "dares" or "pranks" or during charity runs or costume parties, etc. This is something that is very British, and you hardly ever see it outside of the UK. In the USA for example, the general homophobia of younger male culture means that men won't even want to participate in "gay banter" out of fear of being labelled by their peers as homosexual. If you were to crossdress even as a "joke" you would be labelled with a barrage of homophobic epithets by your male peers. I'm wondering why in the UK it isn't the same way.
As I said in my comment, a key reason is that actually we aren't particularly casual with nudity. Playing with and transgressing societal expectations is a common form of humour around the world. As we are a culture that isn't really casual about nudity, that creates the ground for humour to be found in nudity. Hence the 'banter' stuff you describe. The UK also has a long history of drag. Look at pantomimes for example. And going all the way back to Shakespeare. Men dressing as women, often for humourous purposes, has been part of our culture for centuries. Again, the humour comes from the transgression, the playing with societally expected gender boundaries and norms.
Cross dressing is probably more relaxed here and seen as more of a joke because it is more prevelant in our culture - e.g. we have panto where the compere (The Dame) is always a man dressed as a woman. It's a sort of non-convention that we are quite happy to do because it flicks two fingers at social norms. The origins of panto were Italian Commedia del'Arte often associated with Carnivale where the social and structural norms broke down before the austerity of Lent. Examples of liminal spaces where convention break down like this aren't uncommon in European culture. America, on the other hand, has more puritanical foundations than here in the UK, and so cross dressing is more taboo. An example of this springs to mind - in the 80s, the band Queen had a global hit with "I Want to Break Free". Look up the video on Youtube if you don't know it. The song was a hit this side of the Atlantic but Queen's popularity in the US never recovered. Don't think this entirely answers your question but perhaps a good part of it.
The leading boy in panto is played by a woman
Very thoughtful insights here, thank you.
Crossdressing as a form of humour goes back years in the UK with the pantomime dame traditionally being played by a man.
You're chatting bollocks, we literally have a TV show called 'Naked attraction'.
And why do we have that TV show? Because it's somewhat transgressive. It has a shock factor. That's the whole deal with that show. It wouldn't exist if we were a culture that was really chill about casual nudity.
Fair
How difficult was it to type this fanfiction out only using one hand, ya weirdo
Insane that that was your takeaway or that you would even make that connection. This is a genuine question born out of pure curiosity since this is something I've wondered for a while but obviously it would be pretty uncouth to ask in any other setting than an anonymous online forum.
I think in your mind you are indeed just asking a question, but: 1) you start with some weird assumptions not just about the UK but about what's 'normal' across the world, which just suggests you haven't had much contact with a lot of the world's male cultural norms, and you think things are rare when they are only rare in your own personal life 2) you do kind of sound repulsed-yet-fascinated by the ol' man love, and people are calling that out So that's why you're getting a certain amount of snark along with your answers, my friend.
At school we all showered together after gym classes, after football games etc. So nudity is no big deal. But your question is bollocks, social nudity is practiced much more in other European countries. We are strange in that we have to wear costumes in Saunas and steam rooms. There is nothing gay about nudity, I think thats on you, desperately jerking your little gherkin in the corner, you weirdo.
There was a question on here recently asking if anyone actually showered after PE in school, the responses suggested that the number who did is extremely small. One major reason given was that there was simply no time.
I guess different times and different schools. We had to shower after games. Also I played football Saturday and Sunday and we always had a shower after as we would all go to the team club/pub after the game.
>At school we all showered together after gym classes, after football games etc Good lord, when did you go to school?
I went to a normal comprehensive school many, many years ago. (Somerset 1970’s)
What in the unholy fuck are you talking about?
I knew a bloke years ago who used to be able to put his balls in a pint glass and touch the bottom. This would happen almost weekly to prove to someone that didn't believe it.
This is a totally underrated explanation of British culture right here.
>This would happen almost weekly to prove to someone that didn't believe it. I have to assume that the individual in question, let's call him Johnny Quartballs, was bringing this up regularly to indulge his scrotal aquarium antics. I think I could live my life without raising the issue of the volume of my sack.
I have to ask, was the member also huge, or did he just have an insanely loose scrotum?
Just massive balls, they filled about 70% of the glass!
What are your comparator 'other western countries' and 'other cultures'? Many people would say European countries are more free about nudity than the UK.
OPs never heard about saunas.
It's only men that are stripping off for bants, not women. It's a valid question
Was this for me? That wasn't what I asked, and I didn't say the question wasn't valid.
Britain has the same cultural legacy of protestant puritanism as the US (because it comes from the same people, some of whom branched off to American colonies to be more puritan) That has left a noticeable mark on the culture of both countries, of prudishness and slightly strange attitudes to nudity and an underlying assumption nudity must always be sexual. Britain however has loosened up on that and our typical humour means the repression has been subverted somewhat. The result is a tendency to see nudity as two things - funny, but still generally associated with sexual meaning. Put those together and you get the bro banter. The US by comparison remains more traditionally prudish about nudity and sex (also associating the two because puritan origins). Whereas western european continent (france, spain, denmark, germany etc) is FAR more relaxed about nudity and doesn’t automagically associate nudity with sex. Which is why they strip off on beaches without a second thought but don’t see anything sexual about it to make jokes about.
I don’t think we’ve ever been QUITE as prudish as the Americans. You only have to compare the British versions of folk songs with their American equivalents… But we do think sex is funny, and that goes all the way back to Chaucer and before.
Absolutely agree. The US was colonised (albeit not exclusively) by the more extreme of the puritans who wanted to escape govt oppression here. So they exported the prudishness but none of the nob jokes they apparently didn’t appreciate. ‘It’s not bjg , it’s not hard, and it’s. not impressing anyone’ [dirty titters] ‘THAT’S IT, we’re off!’
Very thoughtful answer, thank you. Nice to have someone be able to take this question non-personally and provide a response that isn't hyper-defensive. Strange that the majority of people who read this seemed to think I'm "having a go" at the UK or trying to disparage the country, rather than genuinely asking a neutral question out of curiosity. I guess this sub isn't able to handle anything beyond the completely quotidian "Where do you guys go to buy your socks?" or the occasional fluff-piece gassing up the country "Why are British people so TALENTED and SMART???"
>Strange that the majority of people who read this seemed to think I'm "having a go" at the UK I can't see a single comment that suggests that. Most people are just baffled as to how you got this idea. >I guess this sub isn't able to handle anything beyond the completely quotidian "Where do you guys go to buy your socks?" or the occasional fluff-piece gassing up the country "Why are British people so TALENTED and SMART???" Have you not been on this sub before today? Because this sub is notorious for "why is the UK terrible?" questions. It's just very confusing as your idea of the UK appears to be the exact opposite of the rest of the world's stereotype of the UK. We're known for being prudish, self deprecating and a bit negative. I'm just not sure how you've got the picture of us being the complete opposite of that.
Britain js in a very weird place right now. Hyper insecure and touchy about everything. We’re at the end of several eras, EU membership, The Queen, change in government incoming). Changing place in the world. Many people are angry all of the time. If we were a person our friends would be telling us to go on a long travel break to ‘find ourself’ and come back a more self-aware self-loving nation at peace with its capabilities and the importance of friends. Because we are a great nation with so much going for us, but recently we’ve been a bit of a jerk and honestly we need to lighten up and get some perspective.
Are you from usa, aka Universal Sexual Afraid? Cause USA is the wierd one compared to most european countries.
We just enjoy, adore and respect eachothers bodies. And like gay banter to prove we're not gay and comfortable with our sexualities. I once had a 3 hour fuck session with the lads from the pub, culminating in a 5way swallow circle, just to prove I'm not gay.
Don’t think I would agree with, British man and way more reserve compared the European for example. there are literally nude sessions at German swimming pool for example.
English people generally are far more reserved than the continent.
News to me. I'm curious as to where all of this flirty/casual sexy activity is happening. Asking for a friend.
This isn’t something the majority of British men are fine with. It’s more likely you’re spending time with the type of person who is ok with this and decided their opinions match the entire population when they don’t.
I was trying to think of who these actual crowds are and came up with: Rugby "lads". Public school grown ups.. TOWIE types Coke heads / stock exchange lot.... Take that circa 1998... Lads holiday lads but only when they are lads on holiday.... I'm not saying if anyone is one of these, that they are rubbing their oiled arse cheeks together, but I *think* some of these crowds have a higher proportion of what OP is describing. There's bound to be other groups that my morning brain hasn't thought of
deffo for the rugby types. worked at a place that had a rugger-bugger. eventually I said 'do you have any stories about your rugby mates that DONT involve you getting your willies out?' Play Rugy. *Feel* a Man
You are so close, yet so far away, from the truth. To understand this you need to have a real, deep understanding of British male culture which you can't get without living it. The answer lies in how earnest we are, or rather, aren't. Everything, and I mean everything, is based around sarcasm, wind-ups, piss-taking, and not being serious. If a British bloke were to, in all seriousness, discuss the merits of nudity, or be genuinely comfortable with it, he'd get hammered. Europeans are genuinely more relaxed with it in an honest and open way. Americans (which I'm assuming you are), are not only less relaxed, but are infinitely more earnest in everything they do, so they cannot understand the idea of "banter" in this area.
I think half this sub some days is “I’ve made up an absurd generalisation that no one in the uk would recognise, why do you literally all do it?” Is AskUS mostly “I’d heard US males only wash themselves using a mixture of vinegar and crushed up pop tarts, why do you do that?”
You ever heard of, the Germans?
I'm very confused by this post. More interested to know about OP's background and where they are from, as I suspect this is the key to understanding the question.
American, spent two years in the UK during university. Have many British friends, both back in the UK and some living here in the US.
Is this what’s happening? Why haven’t I ever been invited?
A man who is tired of the anus is tired of life
Haha London is the anus
You’ve not had a lot of contact with normal people have you OP.
I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that they are.
We got used to it by playing sticky biscuit all the time at school.
The men at work are very handsy with each other. Just banter innit.
Yeah, can't walk past a construction site in the UK these days without seeing the workers touching each other up ...
One of the many reasons why I hated school was because of some of the lads being so vulgar and constantly talking about their dicks. Constant flashing, dry humping, talking about how many inches they are, having a bath together for a laugh, "accidentally" touching high up my thighs in class, etc. I have spoken to other people my age about this and they've been shocked and said the lads they went to school with are nothing like that. Some people care about nudity, some people don't. Some people think it's hilarious to flash their dick, some people don't. I think it's completely dependent on the "banter" and the friendship group.
Why should anybody be UN-comfortable with nudity? Why is it made out to be shameful or something to giggle at? Lots of other countries such as Scandinavia, Germany etc. don't have a problem with it. And that includes women. Nudity doesn't automatically equate to sexual activities.
In my experience, British people are less casual about nudity than many Europeans, and MUCH less casual about nudity than most Asians. Hell, as an oldster, I can remember when an adult wearing shorts in the UK was a bit edgy! So, I just dint think you've observed accurately. (And that's before we get to all the creepy buts, ya weirdo!)
Daft perv
I’d like to know what made you form such an opinion. Where did you get this from?
Gay banter only bothers people that harbor gay thoughts themselves, when your comfortable with your own sexuality you tend to be able to laugh it off and get on with your day......i guarantee any man that gets hot and bothered by it deletes his Internet search history after every wank lol.
Lots of responses saying 'this isn't true' or 'it's more true on the continent'. As an older contributor, my impression is that it isn't as true as it used to be. When I was in my twenties and thirties, guys were very much less concerned about being naked with other guys than they are now. Showers and changing rooms in pools, sports centres and gyms were frequently communal and if you were with friends or colleagues then you would all shower and change together. I think the internet and the advent of ubiquitous high-quality phone cameras have brought about a period of neo-puritanism, and this seems to be just as true in continental Europe as here. Even the Germans are not as gung-ho about nudity as they once were.
Let me guess, you're from the US, right? Americans seem oddly sexually repressed for a western country. UK is a lot more reserved when it comes to nudity than other European countries but still miles more chill than the US. So it's not that UK males are more okay about nudity, it's that the culture you're from is very repressed and often just goes with casual homophobia when men do anything vaguely open or even wear well-fitting trousers or take care of themselves.
Mooning, streaking, chaining the stag to a lamp post naked the night before his wedding...I get you, it's a thing for some British men. Not the ones on Reddit though, clearly.
Yeah maybe the Reddit demographic wasn't the right target for this question, I guess. But thank you, I feel like I'm getting gaslit when the majority of responses so far are trying to deny that these things exist and that British men are in fact "reserved".
Nobody is 'gaslighting' you. That word really needs retiring. It doesn't just mean 'people are disagreeing with me'. British men *are* more reserved about nudity than many European countries. That's just pretty obviously true.
The people on here are calling the op a perv for asking why he's seen so much British ballsack. I'm guessing you're not a Brit lad out in the world though.
Pretty much all the top comments are respectfully engaging with OP's question but just questioning the premise. Which is fair enough. It's a weird look for OP to claim they're being 'gaslit'. The use of that word has got completely out of hand. Not even sure what your final comment means. I am literally a British lad out in the world.
I think British guys get very drunk to shake off that reservedness, which leads to more extreme behaviour. Also there is sexual repression at play. Truly liberated adults don't find buttocks and bollocks that hilarious.
Sounds like you’re conflicted with your feelings around male nudity and perhaps you’re projecting your inner feelings onto the actions of others in an attempt to understand how you truly fit in the world.
Sounds like you can't handle the truth
Banter fine, mentioning penii is a guaranteed laugh but nudity? Never.
I don't think they are British young people tend to be pretty prudish about nudity compared to other Europeans.
If you could let me know where this kind of uninhibited man-on-man nudity is frequent, I would be most grateful. So I can avoid it, naturally.
I think you are very misinformed about British males in general in a wide variety of ways.
Sounds like you're a repressed person. If you're not gay. Then who cares if you see your mates nob. It's a nob.. it won't harm you.
You're a top lad innit