Where the Boys Are
Revised 3/19/24 for text changes
Nudist and gay magazines from the 1950’s and 60’s were mined for images of
male nudes. These were glibly presented as examples of organized nude male swimming. A selection of these is presented here as illustrations of this form of fakery. Some have been flagrantly labeled with contrived captions to give the impression that they are swim team photos. However, they all share some characteristics that rat them out for what they are.
Another category of bogus pictures comes from the previously-cited recent Euro naturist (INF) swim competitions. All of these were originally color shots, but some have been dumbed down to grey scale for the sake of deception.
We’ll start with an obvious attempt to mislead.
These pictures were taken at the same event probably minutes apart, since the guy in the middle is still in his pose. Note that in the closely cropped first image, there is a nude adult male behind the row of boys. In the second shot there is a nude girl and a nude woman in the line tattling on the forger – definitely a nudist family venue. Nice try.
This is a pretty typical image from nudist magazines. I call these pageant shots. They were posed shots of groups taken during themed events of some type where there was general participation by the denizens of the nudist retreat. Sometimes these were beauty contests. This picture has been cropped, so the full scope of the setting including the nature of the thematic backdrop is not clear.
As an aside, look at the blonde boy in the center of the frame, then look at the dark haired guy on his left. Now slide up to images 1 and 2 and note the two central figures there. I submit that they are the same to boys in all three photos. The first two pictures were probably taken a year or two after image 3 when the boys had matured and filled out.
On another matter, this image contains metadata indicating the it was run through Windows Photo editor on May 19, 2018. Having said that, it is not clear what was altered. The data may relate just to the cropping or perhaps it was de-colorized.
The closely cropped greyscale version could be taken as a vintage swim team photo. The obvious youth of the subjects suggests high schoolers. Too, there is an assortment of haircuts, which makes it difficult to date. But the second, colored version adds a guy who appears somewhat older and more physically developed, exploding the impression of the first version. Frosting on the cake is that the new guy has a spiky hairdo that was in style around 2010.That dating also explains the shaved pubes. By the way, all of the visible penises are uncut, which argues for a non-American setting.
‘Nuff said. Another attempt at falsification foiled.
By the way, the Windows Photo Editor was brought to bear on the image 4 on June 25, 2020. It was probably the cropping and decolorization. Probably the same guy who cropped image 3 putting his time to good use during Covid lockdown.
The subsequent pictures are more typical of the gay oriented nudist images.
Here we are on the gay side of vintage nudism. The typical characteristic of these types of pictures is the full-frontal presentation of genitalia. No one is standing with his gear behind the head of the guy in front. Everything is prominently displayed. Remember how the LIFE pictures would include buttocks, but no penises. The candid shots that we accepted as real, treat the male parts casually – some in, some out.
Our friend the McIntosh man was using his Photoshop app on this image on May 1, 2014. Can’t figure what he found to change.
The fake caption attempts cover for the fact that it has been a long time since any of these guys had been in high school. The guy on the right with the receding hairline and soft waistline makes it awkward. Sorry, no sale.
On March 15, 2014 the Photoshop guy with the Mac ministered to this shot. The caption may be his handiwork.
No matter. They remembered to keep their legs spread for the picture.
This is was Photoshopped by the Mac guy on October 13, 2015.
The same faker got to this one on April 9, 2012, using his Mac to Photoshop it.
A McIntosh user used Photo shop on this image on May 19, 2013.
Photoshopped on a Mac on October 15, 2013.
No matter which side of the plate you bat from, your “gay-dar’ must be going off. One blog correspondent suggested that this was a YMCA candid. As I have mentioned before, the open secret was that when the Y was single gender, there was an undercurrent of gay activity throughout its history. That makes it plausible that this was taken at the Y, but its intent is questionable. The older boy (although he seems to be wearing a wedding ring) is good looking in an almost feminine way. Both boys’ penises are not totally relaxed, suggesting nascent excitement. Both take care to be sure their apparatuses are fully displayed. A fine addition to any gay-themed publication.
On a more contemporary note, there are the swim meets held under the auspices of the International Naturist Federation (INF) and their national affiliates throughout Europe. These have been blogged without attribution as examples of the practice we are studying. Some have received the infamous grey scale treatment. Check’em out.
This was apparently de-colorized on October 19, 2014 by a Mac user in Photoshop.
This is apparently the same event as depicted in INF 3. It was passed through Picasa, an obsolete photo editor app on Christmas Eve 2014. I wonder what Santa brought him.
Based on the signage, I think this is from a Dutch event.
It should be noted that these events were mixed gender. The female participants were studiously filtered out to effectuate the fraud. In fairness I have the impression from the preponderance of images that male participation outstrips (no pun intended) female.
The INF images can be recognized because in many not only the competitors, but also some of the officials and bystanders are nude. This was not usually the case for institutional nude male swimming competitions in American schools and clubs in the 1920’s through the 1970’s.
There is yet another category of public nude swimming that is foisted off as vintage nude male swimming: recent casual nudist club swims. These are typically held one night a week/month/quarter in a rented facility. There were also accounts of men only swim sessions held at various colleges on designated nights.
The Macintosh man Photoshopped this one on October 15, 2013.
I found the original video from which this was shot was taken. Everything was as is seen here EXCEPT the video was in color. For what it’s worth, the label on the video suggested that the guys were in the military.
On July 15, 2010 this photo was altered by someone using Paint.NET, which I understand to be a free photo editing app.
The next series of eight images are out-takes from a video. The event seems organized but not officiated. The guy with the whistle in image 31 was apparently in charge. In the video, he is shown waving a sheaf of papers and giving directions (image 26). The males in these shots are of fairly uniform age but do not seem to have the physical development of competitive swimmers. That’s made clear from the action captured on the video. I conclude (like in the three preceding photos) it is a private swim club event. I can’t make out any of the text on the wall to help with identification.
This frame passed through Windows Photo Editor on December 1, 2020.
Ditto for this one.
One more entry in this category …
This one frame was lifted from a mosaic of 12 images of this one event. The res is so low, that there is no point to including all of the frames here. This one was selected because the greyscale counterfeit (above) has a widespread presence on the internet. With regard to the event itself, it is taking place in a modern facility, indicating that it is not from our period of interest. Note that the previous eight image series took place in an older style venue. Otherwise, all of the comments made concerning that picture series apply to this one.
This concludes our treatment of the “other” nudist swim photos. For our next posting we will return to the unattributed images that may or may not be genuine examples of the photo documentation of institutionalized nude male swimming.
Historical Nude Male Swimming Images 