More history:
IN the 1920s, schools and Young Men’s Christian Associations (YMCAs) built swimming pools for purposes of physical fitness and swimming instruction. Pool chlorination was not available, and there were concerns about disease. In addition, fibers from cotton and wool swimsuits could clog pool filters.[29] Nude swimming allowed for swimmers to be visually inspected to check for open wounds or other signs of infectious disease.[30] In 1926, the American Public Health Association (APHA) standards handbook recommended that indoor swimming pools used by men adopt nude bathing policies and that indoor swimming pools used by women require swimsuits “of the simplest type”.[29] Swimming policies at American high schools and junior high schools were influenced by APHA guidelines.[29] From 1926 until 1962, every edition of the guidelines recommended nude swimming for males.[31] School swimming classes were sex-segregated.[31] For a time, swimming trunks were not permitted in YMCA pools.[32] The October 16, 1950 Life magazine had a large illustration of boys swimming together in the indoor pool of New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois; the caption did not mention they were naked.[33]
Nude female swimming was not allowed in most schools, both for modesty reasons and because it would be awkward to accommodate menstruating girls. The Detroit public schools briefly allowed nude female swimming in 1947; this policy was revoked after three weeks due to protests from parents.[34]
New developments like pool chlorination, improved pool filtration, and nylon swimsuits led the APHA to abandon its recommendation of nude pool swimming for males in 1962.[29] However, the custom of enforced nude swimming for males did not immediately cease. In 1961, parents and students in Menasha, Wisconsin asked the school board to give boys permission to wear swim trunks to swimming practice. The board voted down the petition on the grounds that buying swim trunks would be expensive and that nude swimming built men’s character; one board member asserted that ”‘this experience is a good one for later life, for example the armed services, where the disregard for privacy is real and serious’”.[30]
During the 1970s, cultural and legal changes led to the gradual abandonment of enforced nude male swimming in schools. there was a growing backlash against enforced nude male swimming.[29]