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Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 10

 Ivy League Posture Photos

As I wrote last time, Yale started taking nude photos of incoming freshmen in 1919 as part of a program to detect and correct posture problems.  The Yale photos have erroneously been associated with William Sheldon, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Nazi-like eugenic theories who used Harvard nude posture photos to illustrate his theory of somatypes.  But, as far as I can tell, the Yale photos are not connected to Sheldon's work.

Here are four more posture photos taken at Yale that I had the opportunity to acquire.  For privacy reasons, I redact the names of men who might still be alive.  However, all four of these men have passed away, so their names are not redacted.

This is Yale freshman Alan F. Hockstader on Oct. 6, 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.

This is Yale freshman Peter Jackson on Oct. 12, 1953.

This is Yale freshman Stephen O. Jackson on Oct. 14, 1953.

Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest.  The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis.  Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.

This is Yale freshman John Leo Hurley, Jr. on Oct. 16, 1953.

Were these photos an invasion of privacy for the students?  By today's standards, yes.  By the standards of the day, not so much.  In that era, guys were routinely naked around each other in locker rooms and in swimming pools when women weren't present.  Being asked to strip and even being photographed naked as part of a posture examination would not seem too outrageous, since the staff conducting this was all-male (and remember that Yale was an all-male school).

13 comments:

Xersex said...

very interesting!

Treeclimber said...

Not sure bout anyone else- but I don’t see any problems with these guys- they are pretty much perfect to me 😉

Stardog12 said...

Did you find fort Sheridan photos

whkattk said...

These stances are similar to standing at "attention" rather than a relaxed posture. Was that the intent?

Gerald said...

Maybe it is just my mindset, but I find it very difficult to believe that the photographer and those conducting this study didn’t get enjoyment from seeing all of those nice penises.

SickoRicko said...

I always like their asses, and I think the reasoning for the photos was legitimate.

Unashamed Male said...

@Stardog - I have 35 Army posture photos from Fort Sheridan, and I will publish them in the future, but probably not any time soon. Be patient!

Unashamed Male said...

@whkattk - Yes, Pat, that was the intent. The students were told to stand in that position so that their posture could be evaluated.

Paul Walrus said...

I wonder where and how these pics keep getting leaked...
Hofstadter died in 2020

whkattk said...

@Paul Walrus - I believe they are part of an online archive.

Paul Walrus said...

Some show up but 1918, to 1953 there are a lot that are still to be unearthed.

Anonymous said...

I can only imagine what this entire process must have been like, beginning to end, with all those 18-year olds standing in line, waiting to get those pins attached. Did large groups of students show up all at once, or was this process done one by one? For efficiency sake, I would think the large-group method was probably used. Lots of penises on display, no doubt about it.

Unashamed Male said...

@Anon - Groups of students showed up and waited naked in 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. "Bursary boys" were students who had been given part-time student jobs. Taping metal pins to naked students? Not a bad job.