Ivy League Posture Photos
In the 1940s through 1960s, certain Ivy League colleges such as Yale and Princeton and some of their Seven Sisters counterparts such as Vassar, Smith, and Mt. Holyoke took nude photos of incoming freshmen, supposedly for the purpose of detecting any problems with their posture. Actually, the pseudo-scientists who were behind the scheme were using the photos for far more troubling purposes such as eugenic studies, now completely discredited. For more info, click here to see my first post on this topic.
Here are three more posture photos taken at Yale that I had the opportunity to acquire. I could not confirm that these three men have passed away, so for privacy reasons, as is my practice for men who may still be alive, I have concealed their names and only use their initials.
This is Yale freshman D.R. on October 12, 1953.
An article in the Journal of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation described how in spring, 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to produce "PhotoMetric" posture photos like this showing front, rear, side and top views.
Note the strange pins stuck to his back and chest. These pins were prominently referred to in a New York Times article about the Ivy League posture photos and are absent in non-Ivy League posture photos.
This is Yale freshman W.Y. on October 23, 1958.
These guys were not given a choice about being photographed naked. They were told to show up at the gymnasium on a certain date and time, told to strip, and then the strange pins were attached to their back and chest, supposedly for later analysis to detect posture issues.
This is Yale freshman J.W. on November 13, 1958.
In that era, guys were routinely naked around each other in locker rooms and in swimming pools when women weren't present. The students would not have balked at being asked to strip for a posture examination, or even being photographed naked, since they were told that it was part of the posture exam.
Andrew Letendre, who was a Yale freshman in 1953, later recalled:
"Neither I nor any of my classmates questioned it. Just like the 'poor little lambs,' we went along with it. Our fear of challenging Yale’s authority so early in our career trumped our feelings of embarrassment and the blatant invasion of our privacy."
My guess is that, if they are still alive, these guys would be happy for people to see what they looked like as fresh young 18-year-olds.
11 comments:
These pictures, to me, always had a sort of "Josef Mengele" air about them. Even as a homo, I never found them sexy in any way.
Gee, even though the reasoning was questionable, I still appreciate their asses.
Damn! These boys have some balls! Literally and figuratively!
So was there any ‘segregation’ for the boys? Or was it kind of production line- like say the draft physical’s
Nice!
I wish we all stayed so fresh. My posture is terrible, Murial.
It was like a production line. In an article in the Yale Alumni Magazine, Andrew Letendre, class of 1958, described the process: "we were sent back to the lockers, told to disrobe, and then led naked to a nondescript door. As we waited in line, we were approached by either bursary boys or graduate students, whose job it was to tape thin black metal rods along our backs and chests as well as strategic points on our hips." The students were then moved one by one into a room where the photo was taken.
Nice bush on #3-Dee Exx. I wrote an essay about this research-ask Jerry for my address
I have to agree, who or whom at these Ivy League universities dreamt this shit up. And don't tell me these were for anatomical studies. Why wonder
higher education is under attack. These "educators" must have thought the students were lemmings for the picking. Probably jack off material for select administrators, benefactors, educators and alumni. This should have been called out then ! So much for the so called Ivy League.
-Rj in the IE
they look too medical.
There is definitely an erotic element to these posture photos. I mean, hundreds and hundreds of good-looking male college students report to a gym building, and for the next hour or so, they are required to go through a process completely nude. Many clothed assistants got to observe the nude students close up, especially the ones who attached all those metal pins. Good work, if you can get it.
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