So I'm at the Y putting my stuff in a locker before a workout and I find myself sandwiched between two women who have no problem just letting it all hangout. I know its the ladies locker room and I have no problem with people changing in front of others but to be 2 feet from a stranger reaching in the vicinity of my locker and walking and admiring yourself naked in a mirror that was very close to me seemed a bit much. I looked ahead but I'm the type who fumbles and drops things when I'm uncomfortable so needless to say it took longer for me to get my Ipod and other gear and make my exit. What do you think?

Well I hope you don't feel uncomfortable. After all, they are perfectly fine with being naked in a locker room, right? Now, if they were jumping up on the sinks playing air guitar and using hair dryers as microphones that might startle me

Some people are content being naked and some people aren't. I've been a gym-goer for about 5 years now and like to have a towel wrapped around me when I'm doing my thing. I'm just not comfortable walking around in my birthday suit. Even in the steam rooms.

Just pretend they aren't there and focus on what you're doing and don't get too freaked out unless someone asks you to check a mole or something

Being the very fat, naked woman in a locker room makes me nervous. But, so does the paranoid, try-to-keep-everything-covered-while-changeing dance.

I feel there's no way to "win" in the situation - I'm either doing the try-to-keep-it-covered-while-changing dance wondering if everyone else is thinking "why's she trying so hard to cover it up, it's not like anyone wants it), or just trying to act nonchalant wondering if they're thinking "Gosh, put THAT away already").

And the same goes for speed. Taking my time, my brain hears (GAWD, hurry up already, how long are you going to make us look at it and pretend we're not looking). And if I hurry, my brain hears (Geez, what's she so afraid of?).

If there are private cubicles, I use them. I still feel weird (because I feel like I'm announcing that I'm embarassed). If there isn't I just do the best I can and regardless remind myself that for the most part, I'm worrying about it more than anyone else is.

Although, hearing that someone IS noticing and uncomfortable with nudity other than their own, it's made me kind of paranoid again.

So how much nudity and how many seconds of nudity are socially acceptable, and does it vary with how good you look nude?

(I mean this all sort of humorously, as I find it funny that I worry about such silly things).

Haha, in Korea they have these public baths (like spas) where you pretty much show up, separate by sex and spend the next hour or so naked soaking in various tubs. I'm too chicken to go, I do not like my naked body.

That said, I agree with Kaplods, that "dance" of trying to stay covered while changing is indeed silly! So I've taken to NOT doing that but trying nonchalantly but quickly change without covering myself up. I don't feel the need to strip totally, rub lotion on, dry my hair, and THEN put clothes back on.

The older I get, I've found I've become more comfortable with my own nudity and other people's nudity. Maybe if you just think what exactly about women changing near you bothers you so much? I felt like the more I went to the gym and the more I saw other women with good or not-so-good bodies just casually changing like it's no big deal, the more I started to believe it really is no big deal.

Try to remember, people are too wrapped up in themselves to notice your naked body. Trust me, I traipse around nude as well, but I'm usually really busy getting ready for work after my workout, I don't notice anyone there!

No worries, I get embarrassed too. Even though I have no problem with the idea of other women walking around naked near me, it's still a strange situation, and one that we as Americans aren't really used to (except maybe people that are around it a lot).

Honestly it really doesn't bother me at all. I mean if someone is being really show-offish about it I would kind of roll my eyes, but it wouldn't embarrass me.

Bottom line for me is that we've all got the same equipment in various shapes and sizes. I just don't see much to be embarrassed about.

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I really don't pay attention to anyone else in the locker room, unless I run into a friend. I do tend to "hang out" nude after I shower as I tend to stay warm and if I get dressed, I end up sweating all over again. But if I'm going straight home, I usually just get out of my sweaty stuff, into some sweats and shower at home. We have a nice big locker room since our gym remodeled last year. You can be pretty private without tying up a toilet stall (no changing rooms per se) and without being obvious.

I always go in a toilet stall to change. I just can't bring myself to get naked out in the locker room part. I know it's silly since we all are the same under our clothes, but I just don't want to be bent over pulling up my panties and some skinny pretty thing turn the corner and get a big full moon! But I don't want to put my butt to the wall cause then there are my less than perky boobs flopping around and the most obviously private part out there for show. It's no win for me!

I'm with you. I just don't want to see another women, even a beautiful super model type, naked! Whatever happened to modesty? I mean, it's fine to be comfortable with your body, that's great, I wish I was... But to walk around a room full of strangers naked... That's just awkward to me.

Oh, I was thinking too...I think I'm more comfortable with nudity because I see naked people everyday. I help them bathe and change thier attends and put salve on and so on...so I'm pretty desensitized I guess you could say.

Also, I think the female form is captivatingly gorgeous. We're lucky creatures!

Modesty is just another word for institutionalized shame. Nobody has ever answered the question "Why do you think we need to be modest" satisfactorily (that I've heard, anyway) without referencing a deity and a religion that not everyone believes in.

I understand we have social conventions around nudity, of course. But locker rooms are one of the "acceptable" places to be nude, so I'd say just let them do their thing - no matter how "overly"-comfortable they are - and do yours regardless.

I'm not always the most comfortable being seen nude, because I have body image issues like many of us do, but honestly, I'd say most women in a locker room aren't even watching each other that much. Nothing to worry about, if you look at it that way.

It's been a while since I've been in my 20's - (I'm 42, but figure I have the emotional maturity of a 12 year old - so does that average me out to 27?)

I mention age, because I think my shyness and self-consciousness about my body has dramatically waned over the years. Mostly for practical reasons, it gets very tiresome to play the mental mindgames. And if you're going to the gym frequently, it just gets old. Plus, I think that fear just doesn't hold up over time. You either get rid of the fear, or you start avoiding the object of your fear.

Since I'm not willing to give up swimming (I could LIVE in the water, I really could), I have to face the locker room on a regular basis. Finally, I got to the point that I had to make the change in my head. I'm not saying the thoughts I describe above never enter my head, but I am better at chasing them away and just doing what I need to do. When I start to worry about what everyone else in the locker room might be thinking about my big, giant naked butt I joke to myself that if someone stares and is blinded or traumatized by the gruesome sight - it was their own fault for not shielding their eyes.

Nudity-phobia is a bit of an American thing (I've heard that even in Muslim countries where women are supposed to cover up nearly completely in public, that women among themselves have less concern over nudity than the typical american woman).

I don't think it's either wrong or right to feel comfortable with nudity - our own or somebody else's. I do think we tend to make a bigger deal of it than in many cultures. I mean, I think it is ridiculous when you hear mothers frequently say to one another in recommending an R-rated movies for relatively young children "oh, it's fine for the kids to watch, there's no sex in it just blood, gore, and violence."

Yikes, it scares me to think that axe murder is fine for a ten year old to watch, but not a glimpse of boobie.

What you say makes perfect sense while I'm sitting here fully clothed on the couch. But when I'm at the gym I just can't be positive. I've tried changing out in the locker room once after a swim and when another person came in I grabbed all my clothes and ran to the toilet stalls apologizing the whole way. Then I cried while I was getting dressed, I was so embarrassed. I know it's just a self-esteem thing. I mean, I can walk around my house completely naked with no shame at all. It's not that I hate being naked, I just don't want other women to see me naked. Bleh..

Thats always been a bit too much for me too ..