– Usually we take some paper and wash ourselves in the sink. We put on extra deodorant and change clothes. Vilde Susann Hansen (15) says so. She has just started in class 10b at Ørnes school, and has completed her first gym class this year. Neither she nor any of the others in her class shower after gym class. Neither do the boys. They find it uncomfortable. – We don’t say anything to each other, but there is body pressure. At least I feel that, she says. They also want a curtain for the showers so that no one can take sneaky pictures. It has happened, even though there is a ban on mobile phones. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news Some have reached puberty further than others. They are shy. Some are also ashamed of the underwear they wear, they say. – But it has always been uncomfortable to show yourself naked in front of others as a teenager. What is the difference between gym classes 10 years ago and today? – Social media, the girls answer in unison. They don’t like the idea of their bodies being compared to those they see on social media. – Is it okay that it is like that? Should it be like that? – No… We want to shower, we don’t want to smell sweat until the next hour, says Vilde Hansen. The girls demonstrate how close they must stand to each other if they were all to shower at the same time. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news Want their own booths Even though they have mobile phones banned in the changing room, they don’t feel safe. – We want booths. Nothing fancy, says Vilde Wassvik. While no one in the class showers after gym class, they also live in an internet society where there is greater openness, tolerance and information flow than ever before. Body positivity has become an important word. – But if you think it’s stupid that it’s like that, can’t you try to set a good example? – We could do it, but I still think many people would not want to shower, says Hansen. – We have become so used to doing it this way. Things we did in 4th grade, such as running in and out of the shower, are not as easy anymore, Wassvik points out. – But couldn’t you just say “sharpen yourselves”? That you have to practice a little? – Yes, you could probably say that… But it is not certain that everyone wants to, she replies. – This is about people’s personal things. And that should not be interfered with. Vilde Wassvik and Vilde Susann Hansen have fixed themselves after gym class. Changed clothes, washed a bit, put on deodorant. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news Better before? In 2017, a national study looked at, among other things, the students’ experience of the shower and changing room situation in connection with physical education. Almost 90 per cent of the students answered that they think it is fine to shower after gym class (external link). One of the central researchers behind the study was Professor Kjersti Mordal Moen at the Department of Sports and Physical Education at the University of the Interior. – It has been a few years since this study was carried out. Do you think the result would have been the same today? – It is clear that the world is moving forward and changing. So one cannot say with certainty that things would look the same if we had carried out a similar survey today. But the study shows that most students handle this with the changing room situation and showering in an okay way, she says and adds: – But then we also find that some are afraid of being photographed, bullied and teased in the changing room. And that’s not okay. Professor Kjersti Mordal Moen at the Department of Sports and Physical Education at Høgskolen i Innlandet. Photo: ANNE NÆSHEIM / news Safe adults One of the findings in the survey was that the teachers were not sufficiently present. She believes it is a paradox that the children are left to fend for themselves at their most vulnerable. – And then I don’t mean that the teachers should stand guard in the changing room. But that they should be present in the sense that they are nearby should something happen, and that the students should feel secure that they have an adult who has and takes responsibility. – It is clear that if the teacher just leaves the gymnasium and goes to the next lesson, and the students are actually alone in the building, then it is easy to understand that it can be unsafe. She believes that the school must provide a safe framework, structure and ban on mobile phones, not high dividing walls. – It is difficult, because nudity is private, but if we are not going to be able to expose ourselves to each other in a safe setting, then we lose something. – Is it now so dangerous to build stalls? What does it actually do? – I think it is a declaration of bankruptcy if we are to go that way, because I believe that we can learn a lot from being in a diversity, also in situations where we are a little vulnerable and also partly naked, and that the school can be an important arena for learning to respect each other. And it has transfer value to other settings in life. The tenth graders played volleyball and cannonball in their first gym class after the summer. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news Problem at several schools news has made a round of calls to random secondary schools in the country and received confirmation that the shower debate is not unique to Ørnes in Nordland. In Bergen at Ortun upper secondary school, they have recently refurbished the swimming pool. – Now we have some cubicles, and some dividers between the showers. The young people want this, says Mona Fåberg, who is the principal at the school. At Rosenborg secondary school in Trondheim, principal Siv Mari Forsmark experiences the same. – We still don’t have shower walls in the changing room, and I’m working hard to get that in place. Because it is something the student council brings up several times a year that they miss. They have tried a mobile phone-free zone, adults present and preventive measures, she says. – They don’t shower in open landscapes anymore, so it remains to be seen whether they will shower when we get the walls installed. – Getting a little smelly Jonas André Ødegård Grytvik (15) and Fillip Lekpaitoon Schultz-Kolberg (15) in class 10b at Ørnes school in the entrance to the boys’ cloakroom. The boys don’t shower after the gym either. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news Jonas André Ødegård Grytvik (15) and Fillip Lekpaitoon Schultz-Kolberg (15) open the door for news to the boys’ wardrobe. – Do you have a shower? – No. After regular gym, I don’t think any guys shower. Of course there will be some smell in the classrooms, says Filip. – Isn’t that disgusting..? – We understand that people find it uncomfortable to shower. We don’t smell it anymore, says Jonas. They put on deodorant, change their T-shirts and stuff like that. – We don’t think it’s that dangerous to show the body, but it can be uncomfortable to show off certain body parts. People can talk about it, spread rumors and the like, says Jonas. – What can you do then? – Become like the bodies we see online. – A good solution, don’t you think? – No. Do not quite know. You should stick to the body you have. Be happy with it. Hairy legs, nasty sweat smell or a few kilos too much? And what if you are gay or trans? A beautiful film about identity, acceptance and loneliness.
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No one in the class showers after gym class – wants their own stalls – news Nordland
