First of all, I want to apologize to all Austrians reading this for the use of the word "exhibitionism". You will surely understand that by no means do I mean it in any offensive way - on the contrary, some part of me admires this culture of yours and, after three and a half years living here, I am closer than ever to embracing it. You will surely understand that, in all this time, I have somehow come to understand it - how it works and how it came about. Therefore, you will also understand that I feel now I have enough knowledge to write about it - not independently, but in comparison to the Romanian pudicity*.
This being said, here I go. Damn, do you people like to be naked. Like, a lot. Like, wherever it is acceptable to have less than two pieces of fabric on. Regardless of the number, gender, or attitude of the people around you. And you don't hurry to put your pieces of fabric back on, either.
In Austria saunas are almost always mixed and everyone is naked. The sauna showers are mixed and everyone is naked there too. Because you are supposed to be naked in the sauna, it's unsanitary to have a bathing suit on, and the towel is too hot. Luckily, the changing rooms are separated. Or unluckily. Because it makes women feel even more comfortable in Eve's clothing: as if it were not enough that there is one common shower room, with several shower heads and no doors, and all women wash themselves together - they all walk around naked, too. Talk about "make yourself at home": going to the shower naked, coming out of the shower naked (now that's something I don't do even at home - it's cold out there after you've had warm/hot water on you for at least a few minutes!), putting on body lotion naked. Making human interaction naked: while changing for the gym it has happened to me at least twice to be trapped between two naked women having a casual conversation. Neither of them showed any hint of intention to put their clothes on - the conversation about yesterday's meal and how fast kids grow up was way too catchy.
Here is how it works in Romania: there are not many mixed saunas (I don't dare to make any clear affirmation on that, since my experience with Romanian saunas is limited). In the women sauna, women wear bathing suits (eww, gross, I know) or towels. In the locker rooms, women change one piece of clothing at a time and the showers are separate and have doors - if not, they are very rarely used by more than one person at a time. Why, I remember how us girls changed outfit for gym class in highschool: you would not see many of us standing up while changing pants, so as not to let the others see our panties. Everything was done sitting, crunched, and as fast as possible. Of course there were those girls that would compare breasts in the toilet mirror and show each other their latest bikini wax, but that was done in groups of two to four and always when no one could see (and yet, everyone would hear about it eventually, because, duh, highschool).
Let me tell you why we are like that. Because, growing up, we have been told that our private parts are ours alone, and it's shameful to show them around. You would never walk around half naked as a kid at home, nor would your parents (for that I am grateful though). I remember being around 18 and wearing only a long T-shirt at home in summer, and my grandma frowning and scolding me that it is too short to walk around in when there is a man in the house (my dad). Romanians have a huge sense of shame in that sense, and I am convinced it all comes from growing up with our parents constantly pointing their finger at us saying "That is shameful!", "You should be ashamed of yourself!", "How shameful! Everyone will laugh at you!" This applies also to when we would cry in public, fall down, pee ourselves, or whatever it is that babies/toddlers do that is not socially acceptable grown-up behaviour.
Let me tell you why (I suppose) you, Austrians, are not like that. Because your parents were more free = relaxed, and you grew up like that. Because it was not a shame for you to be naked, and possibly neither was it for your parents. It was not a shame to do stupid things when you were small, and - oh my! - it was even alright for you to crawl on the floor in the street, put your hands in dirt and then in your mouth or whatever it is that babies/toddlers do because they are babies/toddlers**.
So you see, I now understand the difference. I have come a long way from desperately asking my Austrian friends why this is normal, and what is wrong with me, to accepting it as a cultural difference, or whatever the politically correct term for that is. I am not ready to start a conversation with a woman in the gym while I am naked and she is bent over, rubbing her breasts with body lotion, and I might never be. Also, I have a feeling my towel will stay on in the sauna at least until I am old enough not to care about my hanging everything. But I now understand why you are naked and I am not, and I'm okay with that.
* and it is beautiful that what is called "pudoare" in Romanian and comes from the French "pudebonderie", something quite moderate for us, is translated into German as "übertriebene Schamhaftigkeit"!
** maybe also because you had washing machines and Pampers diapers, which were veeery limited to us until 1990 or so
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