User: desolé

I'm gay and 18, and I must say that you do sound rather attractive.

However, I hope that you don't mind being shirtless in public — like, you're walking down the road on a hot day, and you feel hot so you just take your shirt off. Or you're doing some sort of sport in the park with friends on a hot day, and you feel hot and sweaty, so without any hesitation at all, you just pull your shirt off, totally unconcerned that your muscular chest would be fully exposed to your friends and anyone else present. Or you'd even generally be shirtless beforehand in such circumstances, in order to prevent yourself from getting into an undesirable hot and sweaty situation. Then even better, hopefully you'd remain barechested afterwards, not feeling the need to put your shirt back on assuming it was still hot enough.

Seriously though, I really love seeing fit guys my own age shirtless outside in public, especially if they're doing some sort of physical activity — I find it really attractive, for some reason, so maybe straight girls do as well. Hey, if you manage to get a girl to go out with you, why not conveniently find an excuse to casually and naturally bare your chest in front of her? — confidently pulling it off as you walk/sit-down outside, making some 'ooh, it's so hot' noises in the process. ;)

(Sorry for fantasising at your expense!)

Just of interest, in what country does the author of this poll live?

I think that there are many factors to be taken into account rather than simply the decade and whether the school was co-ed or mixed. For example, I think that the location can make a very significant difference, both in terms of climate and of the mainstream attitudes to male shirtlessness in the area.

Also, I imagine that whether or not uniforms are the norm in the said education system are also a major factor. Here in England, we all wear school uniforms; it's not so much that 'thou shalt not be shirtless in the classroom' as that it would be considered incorrect school uniform — it's taken for grated that pupils wear the school's uniform, which is seldom explicitly questioned or challenged. So, although I couldn't care less in principle if some boys wanted to be shirtless in the classroom, I'm not sure if it would be appropriate in the context of a system which involves school uniform. Perhaps the headteacher could give a 'shirts are optional' notice on particularly hot days, similar to how we sometimes have 'no tie' days for the same reason.

Okay... but do you have any comments or responses to what has been addressed thus far?

Thank you! ^_^

Come to think of it, he wouldn't necessarily have to have always done it for him to view it as appropriate attire for the situation. He may have been an occasional 'bare-chester' (i.e. only when it's very hot) who simply discovered that it was hot enough and more comfortable for him to do without a shirt all the time during the summer where he lives, so that's what he's done.

Another possibility... they may have recently moved to an area where male shirtlessness is more common than where they'd lived before and he does it to fit in. Or maybe his group of friends have just progressively become more and more shirtless as per the 'chain reaction' effect and wishing to follow suit.

I think that where you live can make a large difference to how one sees this situation, since shirtlessness receives different levels of acceptability in different places. In England (where I live), it isn't hot enough for one to be shirtless outside for the whole summer, but during the weeks when it is, one sees people walking around shirtless all the time and no-one bats an eyelid. Since you've made a poll about the summer in December, and since this is an English language website, I'm guessing that you live in an English-speaking country in the southern hemisphere — Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, perhaps?

Just wondering... has your 11-year-old always generally been shirtless for most of the summer (i.e. he's been brought up to do this or lives in a society where this is the norm and thus wouldn't think of doing any different), or is this a new craze which has started this year? If he has a six pack at 11, he must be physically very mature for his age and he can't have had it for very long. I'd wonder if his recently developed muscles are like a new toy which he wants people to see as much as possible. I don't see anything particularly wrong with that though.

Ultimately, it depends on how hot it is during the summer where you live, and whether or not it is the norm for boys (at least his age) to bare their chests in public. Not that I'm saying that people should conform to society, but it should give an indication as to whether it's attention-seeking behaviour, a passing clothing (or the lack of it) phase which children can often go through, or just what he perceives as being normal and suitable dress for the given situation.