The New Generation

[SpeedosRule]

Had dinner with a couple my wife and I befriended at the gym. The husband is a fellow swimmer, and the wives take classes together. Sadly, he prefers jammers.

Our wives had been out shopping and arrived with a few bags. The couple have a young son in grade school. They'd found a few things for themselves, of course, but I was surprised when the wife pulled out a Speedo brief she'd bought for her son. He's starting swim lessons at the gym.

She commented that she thinks they look "so cute" and that she figured she may as well give it a try before he gets body conscious. She added that her husband wears them, but only in private. He got a little embarrassed, but he's seen me in a Speedo plenty of times, so it wasn't that big a deal.

I asked if he knew any other kids his age that wore Speedos. She said that a couple of her girlfriends buy them for their sons. They vacation frequently with a family that has a son in the early teen years. He wears a Speedo under his shorts at home, but wears it exclusively when they're on vacation.

After dinner, we hit the hot tub. We usually soak naked, but wore swimsuits that night. The husband had a pair of thigh length shorts. His wife had a brazilian back bikini. Hoping to convince him to work up the courage to wear the Speedo at the gym.

[Turbofan]

My sons 19 and he wears speedos all of he time. I guess it's what your brought up around. Wev had pool parties at the house and there is usually a few wolf whistles from people who have never been to our house before but that subsides fast. In the end no one cares.

It's funny watching younger boys reactions when they see my son in speeds. They never really know what to say. Though one set of boys that my son used to babysit ended up in speedos after they saw my son. I don't really care or try to encourage anyone, I just rock em and that's that.

[jackk78]

It's all about leading by example. My dad wore shorts when I was younger, so I did too. My uncles are both speedo guys, and their boys all wear briefs.

One of my cousins have a younger son. They've actually asked guests to bring or borrow a speedo instead of wearing shorts, so he doesn't get the impression that there's a reason to cover up.

[zaps]

I agree that it's all about what you are brought up around. My dad for example, despite have a backyard pool, almost never went swimming, and when he did, it was shorts and T-shirt in the pool. So growing up, I never really any exposure to wearing much less than that. Around a pool, I would be ok to be shirtless, but I was never really comfortable being on the "skins" team of a shirts vs skins soccer game. I think it was all because I was never really exposed to it being any other way.

*IF* I have a kid one day, I'll start them with speedos when they don't know any different and they can grow up with the confidence to wear them for the rest of their childhood.

[lapswimmer]

I wear the hip hugging Neptune Scepter and Seobean briefs. Both have drawstrings and hold tight to the body when I swim laps at a public pool. several men there also swim in Speedo type suits although they are not as brief as mine. I don't get any unapproving looks and women look and smile. both of these suits are well made and the feel is great.

[Bede735]

Some are the suits I wear are Hom microbriefs, and these are briefer than what anyone else wears. Nobody seems to mind at all.

[vega1210]

Love the seobean brief suits. Tho i have noticed some have 1inch sides and others are 2 or 3 inch. I prefer the 1inch

[SpeedosRule]

How do you keep boys interested in wearing Speedos as they grow older?

I have a couple of friends who've bought brief style swimsuits for their sons. As they've grown older, they've started to notice that their swimsuits look different than the other boys.

One of the guys brought up this question when a group of us were out for drinks. I said that I wasn't sure. I'd failed to keep my son in briefs.

Another guy said that he and his wife had "gone nudist" when their son was about 10. He and his wife have a daughter too. They'd been worried about body issues. It started on a trip up to their cabin. The parents suggested that it might be fun to skinny dip, which turned into spending the rest of the vacation nude. They had such a good time, that they continued after the got home. Since Speedos seemed modest compared to being naked, his son never grew out of them.

Any advice for fathers of the younger generation?

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

Maybe I am the contrary opinion, but I have worn brief swimsuits all my life and I have never thought of them as one step away from nudist. When I am wearing my swimsuit I don't see myself as a closet nudist, rather I think of it as nothing more than my swimsuit of choice. It has never bothered me to be in a brief suit, but I have never had a desire to go naked. I would think portraying a guy in briefs as being nearly naked would only exacerbate the choice not to wear them in a young mind. After all, isn't body issue and image the crux of the problem at that age?

[dm106]

My opinion is it is entirely peer pressure - if they don't see their friends wearing a speedo they don't want to wear one (at least in public). Those with a home swimming pool might be a little more daring at home.

Plus as boys start puberty and their bodies change, there are certain natural fears that creep in. But for boys who have been on a swim team since a younger age, this is a little bit less and they may continue (but some boys quit swimming as they enter their teens because of this).

[NE_OH_thonger]

My own experience. I went to a school with mandatory swim classes from fourth to eighth grade. All students had to use school supplied swimsuits, which for the boys was a brief. It didn't seem odd, because we all had the same suits. In high school, the peer pressure set in. Guys just didn't wear speedo-style suits, unless they were on the swim team. I still preferred the brief, but to fit in, I switched to a pair of swim shorts. In college, I started to buy brief suits again. Mostly for my own personal enjoyment, as I almost never went to the beach or the pool at this time. It kind of went part and parcel with my finally coming to terms with being Gay and becoming comfortable in my own skin. The jammer had not yet really come into being, so I kind of skipped that step on the road back. Then on a trip to a Speedo store in 2000, I saw my first swim thong for men. At that point, I simply knew there was no going back to shorts, ever.

[Torchwatch]

Schools are full of bullies who tend towards homophobia and hate crime. The repress their own gay side in order to appear normal and straight while subjecting vulnerable boys to abuse. The alpha males in a school class are above the bullies who being cowards leave them alone, but anyone else who fails to conform and is vulnerable may be a victim. Tom Daley was subjected to bullying at school for wearing speedos and being assumed to be gay despite being the best diver in the country and later the world, his pencil case etc being repeatedly taken and hidden so he couldn't work.
A few years ago a fashion started in which trousers (pants) were worn low revealing the top of underwear which was almost universally accepted, the winter before last skinny jeans and even skinny school trousers became the norm. These fashions started or were at least accepted among the alpha males. For speedos to become the norm for school swimming the alpha males need to adopt them as their choice I swimwear, then the herd will follow.
One of the bullies at my school was somewhat shorter than me, he turned up at the local swimming pool one day when I was there, each time he approached me I simply ducked him while he swam and I stood on the bottom. It felt good for a change.

[PSDave]

that was very mature of you.

[Torchwatch]

I was 11 at the time, he was usually beastly to me at school and swimming in my own time at the weekend his approaches were unfriendly and he wouldn't leave me alone. Standing out of his depth I could duck him if he came too close, but I could outswim him anyway.

[Bede735]

My school was so homophobic they wouldn't even shake hands with you.
And if you had a girlfriend they'd think you were being a cissy.
And nobody took their sweater or blazer off because that was like appearing nude.

Seriously mal-adjusted people...

[Torchwatch]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDQmg39Lou4

[7_of_Fine]

I'd like to think that promoting a general body-positive attitude works wonders. That seems to work among the wonderfully geeky crowd I associate with.