Social Standards

Last week I went to a water park with some friends. We spent half the day, walking around in our swimsuits, surrounded by a bunch of other people walking around in their swimsuits. The longer we were there, the more obvious it became to me that there is a real separation between what is considered "decent" in normal public places, and the magical world that is connected to water activities. It is, not only completely socially acceptable for people to take off most of their clothes and wear what would normally be covered only by underwear, but it is expected. I'm not sure if it was more disturbing to be seeing more of all the total stranger's bodies, or the exposed skin of someone I have to interact with again. For example, I now know that one of my friends has a good-sized mole on the back of her leg, just below the underwear line. I would not know this, if we weren't walking around, in broad daylight, wearing brightly colored, spandex underwear... oh, I mean swimsuits.

I recognize that this is a widely held social standard, but stay with me for a minute. Imagine that you were home, and you had house guests over. You go change clothes in your bedroom, but they didn't know and accidentally step in to find you there in your underwear. Apologies and embarrassment would likely follow. Now, imagine those same house guests, join you to go swimming. Everyone takes of just as much clothing, if not more, and suddenly it's okay?

I suppose this is just the tip of the iceberg though. For example, why is it okay for men to expose themselves while urinating in a public restroom, but the toilets are separated by thin little walls? I'm not saying that all social standards should be abandoned, nor am I saying that we need to go back to the days of swimming fully clothed. I suppose I'm not really sure what my conclusion is... just that people are strange and the larger the group, the more odd they become.