Dangerous rivers/screened bodies

I like this little article because it says something about how bathing in the Don River had to balance between moral and physical safety/between the body and the physical environment.

Toronto’s bathing space along the Don River was restricted to boys in 1902 and typically they bathed without any clothes on, creating a moral hazard of sorts for girls and women who might see them. It was a slighter hazard because they were boys, rather than men, but still, their bathing space required a degree of privacy. (I still need to sort out the precise dynamics of age restrictions around these swimming areas, but it would appear they were also aimed at shielding boys from sexually mature teens and men and not, I think, as one might assume now, due to concerns about sexual predation.)

Meanwhile, the Don’s riverbed changed from year to year; what had been a safe swimming space last year, was filled with hidden holes this year and so the bathing space had to be moved. But it couldn’t be moved too close to Rosedale Ravine Drive, a relatively new addition to the Don valley landscape, because that would put the undressed bodies in plain sight. So a compromise emerged, while the bathing location was changed to protect the bodies from a dangerous natural environment, a screen had to be put in place to protect passersby against the threat of undressed bodies.

Don Bathing Place Changed
 The city bathing place in the Don is a decidedly dangerous spot. Yesterday nine boys waded into deep holes washed out by the spring freshets, and were rescued by Caretaker Robinson, who was kept keyed up to the highest notch all day watching the 900 lads who bathed there.
 He reported the matter to Ald. Lamb, and the alderman to-day recommended to City Commissioner Coatsworth that the bathing place be moved about 300 yards further south, where there are no dangerous holes. A screen fence will be erected around the new bathing place, which is rather close to Rosedale Ravine Drive.[1]

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[1] “Don Bathing Place Changed,” The Toronto Daily Star, Wednesday, July 9, 1902, Page 1.