Can confirm re: Germany. It’s often explicitly framed as a hygiene issue. That said, there are saunas where you may wear stuff, it’s usually designated. Plus you have “women only days” in a good number of public saunas.
In Russia it’s also common to eat dried fish and drink beer/sometimes vodka in the room next to the sauna.
True! But dried fish is very common as a beer snack in Russia, so it’s a bit of a default.
Sometimes there are also men-only days. Tho they kinda suck.
Woman only day:
- Start with a sparkling wine
- Get a few skincare things for the sauna
- Nice smelling infusion
- A bit of after-care program in the water
Man only day:
- We put FUCKING BEER on the hot stone and add some BBQ scent. FUCK YEAH, MANLY.
I wish man only days where also a bit more “care” focused instead :(
In Germany it’s often framed as a hygiene issue, because that’s easier to sell to randos. The real issue it that it’s uncomfortable to be nude when there are clothed people all around you. And the sauna itself is more comfortable when nude.
It’s kina like a prisoners delemma, where the pareto solution is when everyone else is nude, and the nash-equlibrium is when everyone is clothed. Because of this, some people will want to defect (i.e. wear clothes), so we need to apply outside pressure to enforce the pareto-efficient solution (i.e. by asking people to remove their clothes).
Hmmm, in my experience the discomfort goes away quickly and you stop caring about your own or other people’s genitalia, or lack thereof, in plain view. But I appreciate the game theory approach 😺 Given the nonrationality of many social things, I’d wager that it’s just a convention whose true meaning matters less than the fact that “it is the way it is”.
The restaurant in my local Therme is in the Sauna area. Of course it’s not a naked restaurant, but a “wear a bathrobe or get something to wear” restaurant. But let me tell you: it’s really weird that there are people with clothes on around you in that restaurant. Not uncomfortable, but weird. And the sauna is a place to relax, so I really think it’s better that everyone has to be naked so that nobody can feel uncomfortable. For most people it might not matter, but for some people it does matter.
