u/ErickSilva2013

Instead of focusing only on why communal showers are disappearing, maybe it’s worth asking what value they might still have and where they actually make sense today in our current society perspective.

A lot of the discussion frames them as outdated or unnecessary, but from a practical standpoint, that’s not always true.

As has been mentioned in this sub some times, communal showers can be more efficient. When a group finishes an activity at the same time, shared spaces allow for faster flow, less waiting and fewer bottlenecks. They’re also easier to maintain and clean, which directly impacts costs.

But the value isn’t only logistical.

In team-based environments, like sports, these spaces support interaction in a way segmented layouts don’t. After a game or training session, being in the same open space makes it easier to talk, decompress, celebrate wins or process losses together. There’s a natural bonding that happens, not forced, but enabled by the environment. Maybe if this mindset becomes more widely accepted, communal showers will still have a place in those contexts.

It also makes me wonder how this is handled in modern athletic environments. Locker rooms are still designed as shared spaces, but what about the showers? Are new stadiums and training facilities still being built with communal layouts, or has privacy taken over there too?

There are also cultural contexts where communal bathing is still very much alive. Japanese onsens, Russian banyas, Turkish hammams and many European sauna traditions treat shared nudity as normal, focusing more on routine, relaxation and collective experience.

Still in this wellness sphere, another angle is the rise of urban spa culture, spaces that often preserve some form of communal nudity in a context centered on relaxation and decompression. They seem to be among the few places where this kind of shared experience still feels natural.

At the same time, I wonder if they’ll follow the same path as locker rooms. As they grow, will “modern” versions start prioritizing privacy and luxury until communal elements fade? We already see mixed-gender spa spaces that are fully compartmentalized. Could that influence other environments as well?

So maybe communal showers don’t need to exist everywhere, but still make sense in specific contexts where their practical and social aspects are actually used. That said, I’d personally love if they were more common. Part of the appeal is their casual nature, being able to share that space with people you already know, not just in niche environments. There’s something about that everyday vulnerability that creates a different kind of connection.

I’m also curious about something: in theory, offering both options sounds ideal. But would it actually work? Or would social norms and fear of judgment push most people toward private stalls anyway?

And if so, wouldn’t that lead to complaints like “why keep an empty open space if everyone is waiting in line?”, eventually pushing communal areas out?

Personally, I value these spaces a lot. I enjoy social nudity and how it makes me feel more confident and present, like I’m fully occupying my space in a more authentic way. There’s also a sense of belonging that feels increasingly rare.

It also makes me wonder: instead of trying to push against the current, would it be possible to create a parallel one? Maybe by making spaces like urban spas more popular and spreading ideas like hadaka no tsukiai (裸の付き合い), where shared vulnerability is part of social connection. Could that mindset become more accepted over time?

Communal showers may not be the norm anymore and might continue to decline, but I do think these spaces still have a place. I’m just curious what that place will look like going forward, given the direction society seems to be heading.

Curious to hear what you all think.

I’ve been thinking lately, trying to understand the core of the decline of communal showers, the open ones with no dividers and I ended up with a few reflections.

In the past, these spaces were common out of necessity. Less infrastructure, limited access to water and less private space made shared environments more efficient. As economic and technological conditions improved, privacy stopped being a luxury and became the standard.

You can see this clearly in everyday life. If you go further back, houses didn’t even have bathrooms. Over time, things evolved: homes gained bathrooms, then more rooms, more bathrooms and often each child has their own space. In some cases, even a private bathroom inside the bedroom. Many people grow up without ever having to share intimate spaces, so communal nudity no longer feels natural.

At the same time, there’s been a cultural shift in how the body is perceived. The growing emphasis on autonomy and consent gave more weight to individual discomfort. What used to be accepted is now more likely to be questioned, especially because choice is now part of the equation, along with a stronger awareness of ideas like “my body, my rules.”

That said, it’s worth acknowledging that these spaces had their own benefits, such as practicality, efficiency and even a certain normalization of the human body and group coexistence. The point is that these benefits now carry less weight than the discomfort they can cause for some people.

Institutions followed this shift. Schools, gyms and clubs started prioritizing environments with less ambiguity, both for risk management and reputation. The market reinforces this as well: privacy sells, it becomes a feature, so new projects are designed with that expectation in mind.

New generations have also grown up with more control over their own exposure. Even in a culture saturated with body imagery, that exposure is chosen, edited and contextualized. This builds the habit of only showing your body when you want to and under specific conditions. In physical spaces, this translates into the expectation of being able to choose when, where and how your body is exposed, avoiding situations where exposure feels imposed.

In parenting, there are signs in some contexts of a tendency to avoid discomfort or embarrassment as much as possible. Parents and institutions intervene more, trying to shield children from those experiences. It’s not simply weakness, but a different approach. Still, it can reduce tolerance for environments that involve vulnerability or exposure, like communal nudity.

In the end, the dominant logic has shifted. Instead of imposing a single standard, society now values offering options and accommodating different comfort levels.

So communal showers aren’t necessarily “worse,” but they’ve become less compatible with today’s context. They still have practical and even social advantages and remain more common in specific settings like sports teams, military facilities, older buildings and cultures where communal nudity is more normalized. Still, they’ve lost ground to a model more aligned with individual choice, privacy and control. And on top of that, there are also recent cultural trends reinforcing this rejection, such as growing conservative attitudes toward the body and exposure.

Personally, it makes me a bit sad. I enjoy social nudity and how it makes me feel more confident, more present, like I’m fully occupying my space in a more authentic way. There’s also a sense of belonging there. And being gay, I can’t ignore that there’s an underlying erotic layer to the experience, even though I don’t sexualize the moment while I’m actually in it. It just feels good for me.

What do you all think about this? Does it make sense?