Well, you have to be careful sometimes with speedos. I seen a little too much when I was 12 years old. This 15 year old guy accidently sit in a position to show something he shouldn't. The baggy wear is popular because of the popularly of the ghetto sub-culture which baggy pants are popular. But in time that look will disappear.
My daughter related a story from my grandaughter's swim team. It seems that a young boy about 7 or 8 , who was dressed out in jammers a couple of sizes too small, was just flat out refusing to get in the pool one day. The coach finally asked him what the problem was and he said that the draw string around his waist was missing and he was afraid his jammers would come off (yeah right). The coach asked him how the string became lost and the child said the cat and dog played tug-of-war with it. The coach turned around and walked away laughing. The kid finally got in after watching the other swimmers having fun. AND GUESS WHAT? They didn't fall off!
Apparently, I hang out at the Hollywood Beach in Chicago too much because I agree with Lefty.
There are so many men in Speedos, thongs, etc. in this casual swimming environment. The only guys not in speedos are the straight guys who are too worried that they would get checked out by or compared to the guys in the speedos, thongs, etc.
Didn't anyone watch *** Eye for the Straight Guy last night - the straight guy and one of the hosts were getting "spray-on" tans while wearing very small speedo looking underwear. The straight guy pointed out that this was his most embarassing moment - standing in a speedo next to a gay guy whom he thought might be checking him out...
I say go for it Lefty and wash that car in the speedo- and I hope you have teenage children to embarass the heck out of...
So, because of two people's limited observations we are now going to classify the entire US population as homophobic? Now there's a slippery slope and a far stretch as it relates to a casual observation about Speedo wearing.
Here's my own slippery slope limited experience observation - any dude who wears a Speedo while just socializing at the pool/beach/etc is a dork, regardless of sexulaity, spirituality or 50m freestyle time.
Go to Europe. Apparently it's all the rage to lounge in your Speedo there. They also forego deodorant, try that on for size here in the "homophobic" USA.
Men in Speedos on the beach - that's horrible. Maybe the tank top for men (aka "the wifebeater") is making a comeback also and we could combine the two worst beach fashions ever.
What is the world are you talking about lefty? Are called Lefty cause you have ideas from left field? Homophobic?
Good grief, this has been a lighthearted discussion about Speedos and you make this rash claim. C'mon, get real.
I think it is fairly accepted practice in the US (not sure what the rules are in Europe but apparently they are quite different and not in a good way) that you wear a Speedo for working out if you want to. You certainly would not be caught dead in a casual swimming environment in a Speedo.
Oh, Aquageek, such strong opinions!
You're right, I would not want to be caught dead in my speedos in a public swimming area - but I would be caught alive!
Mostly, I wear whatever I can find in my messy bedroom, with the following considerations: If I will do lots of body surfing, I bring my Speedos. If I will spend lots of time in the sun and sand, I bring my shorts (mostly because I remain convinced that sun and sand make my speedos decay more rapidly, and they are too expensive.)
I much prefer to spend time on European beaches - they are more casual and more friendly, with a lot less ogling at young women, less judgement about whether men are dorks, less concern about appearance, and more time spent having fun.
As for the gay thing, since I am a happily married man, I have the same response to looks by gay men that I have for looks by straight women - appreciation that I can still get favorable looks at the age of 44.
Are none of the posters here bothered by the sexism in this thread: that it is OK for women to wear much more revealing suits than it is for men to wear?
Or how about the 'bodyism' in this thread: It is OK to wear revealing suits if you are good looking?
I'm from the UK and can see that we clearly have some major cultural differences in this area. In fact, this thread has made me worry about my swims in hotel pools on my occasional visits to the US - shouldn't I pack the speedos next time?
Over here its quite normal for all shapes and sizes to wear speedos. I'd say that >50% casual swimmers, >80% of lap swimmers and ~100% club swimmers wear them. You might be interested to know that in France, for some reason (which I confess I don't understand but I think has something to do with hygiene) they don't allow men to wear 'shorts' in many public swimming pools so you have to wear speedos.
The only reason that there is a stigma in this country about wearing a speedo is because we live in a homphobic society. I thought that was obvious. I, for one, don't suffer from that problem so I'll wear a speedo while cutting the grass or washing the car. Okay the last part was a joke, I hire someone to cut the grass.
Its kind of funny that we are worrying about more about modesty in men rather than women. A 100 years ago, the women had to be covered from head to toe if they were swimming,not so with the men. Think about those tong bathing suits for women. As for homosexuality, the anicent Greeks that practice relations between grown men and teenage boys were also concern about their women being modest-their women could not watch them in the olympic games because they were nude. Maybe, the sex revolution in the 1960's had a strange twist to it, we are more concern about men being have also nude than women in swimming suits with the exception of men showing their chests in public.
The reason I use speedos is pretty simple. If I use the beach party swimming trunks they tend to fall off when I push off from the wall, no matter how tight I tie them on. All things considered, when I am trying to get a workout in, I would rather not have to stop periodically to pull my suit back up.
This is probably less of an issue for people who didn't do a lot of squats with high weights in college/HS though.
BTW I am living proof that strong legs does not equal a strong kick. I am one of those people who go backwards on a board unless I bend my knees so much that I am not really kicking like a swimmer anymore.
