Missing the "Good Old Days"

[Speed-Will]

Speaking as an American, I really miss the "good old days" back in the 70's to the 90's - when speedos and skimpier swimwear weren't so "stigmatized". I swam in college and then was on Masters Swim teams post-grad, so wore Speedos as a part of my life. After college I and then after marriage I continued wearing them at the family beach house. Even my father-in-law wore a red speedo at the time (and this was in the deep South). My wife and I (and then our children after they arrived) would travel to tropical climates often and I never thought twice about wearing suits to the beach with sides as small as 3/4" or less (and an occasional thong). The catalog "International Male" opened up the World of more minimal swimwear for men - both gay and straight. I'd wear the same "skimpy" suits when traveling with friends as well - no one cared or said a thing. There were no preconceived ideas, and there were lots more people wearing them. People seemed more accepting in those days and it was more live and let live - without the snide comments about what someone might be wearing.

Somehow when the baggy board shorts came in vogue (about the same time basketball players started wearing their shorts to their knees) everything changed. Suddenly unless you were a competitive swimmer, wearing a Speedo became awkward.

Maybe the pendulum is swinging back some towards Speedos and more minimal swimwear in the Main Stream now - I certainly hope so. I know at my age my time has passed - but for the younger generation I hope you get to enjoy the freedom I had without the feeling of being out of place that seems to have been prevalent during these past years.

[danny108]

Yes it seems the 70's to the 90's was the golden age for men being able to wear swimwear of their choice regardless of how skimpy the suit was. I was a child of the 90's so sadly when I got to my teens and 20's the pendulum had already swung although thankful at least I could still wear regular speedos for swimming. at the pool or beach.

I guess wider fashion trends changed? As you say the dreaded board shorts seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for bikini and thong swimwear for men.

It's fun to look at back at some of the catalogs of brands you mention (I have one or two I managed to get off eBay) and marvel at all the amazing styles and colours that men could choose from.

[Swimmin]

I am not saying there is a definite trend and that fashion is going back to briefer swimsuits for the young 10 to 15 year old boys but I seem to see more and more. And they seem to agree more openly than ever that they are more comfortable. It seems to me it is more accepted and they are less affraid to be made fun of for wearing them.

One of my young friends at 14 which I swam with regularly before the pandemic started wearing a blue and white patterned Nike swim brief. Water polo style I suppose, it is double lined throughout. He likes it very much and wouldnt wear anything else. From the time he started wearing them, his board shorts disappeared.

At one time he tried one of my Seobean suits that ran too small for me so he decided to give it a try. He absolutely loved it. Much thinner and sleeker than the double lined Nike suit. He really liked the color too and he said they felt really good. He now tried to ask his parents to get one in blue and one in red in his size. The XL he tried was just a tad too big on him.

[Schoolspeedo]

seems like we are of the same era. hopefully the pendulum will swing a back a little. already i can wear skimpy speedos to my pool without comment. thanks for sharing.

[dm106]

I am not saying there is a definite trend and that fashion is going back to briefer swimsuits for the young 10 to 15 year old boys but I seem to see more and more. And they seem to agree more openly than ever that they are more comfortable. It seems to me it is more accepted and they are less affraid to be made fun of for wearing them.

One of my young friends at 14 which I swam with regularly before the pandemic started wearing a blue and white patterned Nike swim brief. Water polo style I suppose, it is double lined throughout. He likes it very much and wouldnt wear anything else. From the time he started wearing them, his board shorts disappeared.

At one time he tried one of my Seobean suits that ran too small for me so he decided to give it a try. He absolutely loved it. Much thinner and sleeker than the double lined Nike suit. He really liked the color too and he said they felt really good. He now tried to ask his parents to get one in blue and one in red in his size. The XL he tried was just a tad too big on him.
Very good to hear that the young guy likes them. I sure did at that age. Is it a trend? Not sure but nice to think so. I was about 13 when I started in speedos.

[Swimmin]

Very good to hear that the young guy likes them. I sure did at that age. Is it a trend? Not sure but nice to think so. I was about 13 when I started in speedos.

There is also a 9 year old that wants a real Speedo and his mother just accepted. He is currently wearing a square cut but has been asking for a brief for months now. His board shorts pretty much disappeared too from the moment he got a tighter swimsuit.

Even at 9 he understands he might get some looks or be made fun of but he decided to simply ignore all that. He thinks the brief swimsuits are cool and is determined to try them.

Trend? Probably not as they are still very rare but definitely an option now that we actually see some on young guys.

[dm106]

There is also a 9 year old that wants a real Speedo and his mother just accepted. He is currently wearing a square cut but has been asking for a brief for months now. His board shorts pretty much disappeared too from the moment he got a tighter swimsuit.

Even at 9 he understands he might get some looks or be made fun of but he decided to simply ignore all that. He thinks the brief swimsuits are cool and is determined to try them.

Trend? Probably not as they are still very rare but definitely an option now that we actually see some on young guys.
Swimmin, how does the 14 year old do in his speedos? Does he manage to "stay in control" in them? That was hard for me at that age.

[California Dolphin]

As I've said on previous posts, If you want to see a change back to the pre 90s shorts, start emailing the makers and tell them what you want.

All the clothing makers can be easily contacted by email and you can even attach a photo of the old fashioned shorts so they know exactly what you want.

[California Dolphin]

Swimmin, how does the 14 year old do in his speedos? Does he manage to "stay in control" in them? That was hard for me at that age.

I just keep under water and concentrate on swimming so my mind isn't getting below the belt line. :D

[Swimmin]

Swimmin, how does the 14 year old do in his speedos? Does he manage to "stay in control" in them? That was hard for me at that age.

That young man is much more in control than I have ever been until I got to about 25. Not that I have been checking all the time but he seems safe enough to be confident about walking around the pool from and to the lockers. That Seobean suit is quite revealing and obviously he had a thrill out of wearing it at first but remained under control.

But at the end of the day I was telling him that I was impressed about him enjoying himself dressed like that. He said at first it was a little wierd but he quickly got used to it and said that would be exactly the suit he wanted next but just a little smaller because you could see the XL is a little big.

I am not his father so I try not to talk too much about erections or puberty stuff but instead I always make it known if he wants to talk about it I will listem to him.

He asked me once about penis position while swimming and said he is more comfortable down. I said really? Up is much better....he then tried it and quickly went back to down.

[dm106]

Good for him! I prefer up as well. Perhaps he tried up and felt like it was too easy for him to start an erection.

[Swimmboy]

I grew up in the 70s and I just don't remember brief "Speedo" type suits being all that common. I recently watched "Jaws" and its sequels - all from the late 70s - and in those crowded beach scenes I did not see ANY true Speedo-type brief suits and maybe just one or two briefer trunks. In 1980 I took a swimming class in college and got up the nerve to purchase a Navy blue nylon Speedo instead of wearing the uncomfortable trunks the locker room handed out with your towel. But I felt quite uncomfortable and 'out of place' in the sporting goods store buying it because such suits were not that common. I justified it to myself by saying I was enrolled in an actual swimming class so was 'entitled' to wear a Speedo....

[nespeedoguy]

The comfort of gliding through water in brief is terrific. And nice to get tan if you can’t get down to the buff. Wish more guys sported them. Be fun to have a speedo board beach day ! Always enjoy folks speedo stories.
Cheers !

[Speed-Will]

Swimmboy - it may have been a matter of where you were located, etc - as far as the Speedo exposure in the 70's - 90's. I was on a swim team as a youth and we wore Speedos. On the "social front" - our country club hired members of the local college's swim team as lifeguards and they all wore Speedos to the pool, so that helped to open things up there as well, making them more acceptable.

As an adult I was already wearing Speedos as a member of a Masters swim team, so when I started dating my wife she knew what I wore (and as I mentioned earlier - her father was wearing one at the time as well). Her brothers also wore them, and they weren't swimmers.

While I would wear Speedos for swim team practice and meets, I started wearing skimpier suits to lie in the sun at the Beach and whenever we traveled to the Caribbean or Mexico. Granted - these were places that had more Europeans at the resorts and they always wore bikini style suits. I guess I was just lucky with my timing with where I was and what I wore - and I do miss those days.

[Jack Lewis]

About 25 years ago in Europe, something strange happened. Almost overnight it became socially unacceptable for men to self-objectify. Up until that time we could build muscle in the gym, play frisbee on public family beaches wearing string-sided Rios or thongs, and people felt free to comment on your hard-work. We used to wear our jeans skin-tight, and I mean tight around the crotch, not tight around the calves and baggy around the crotch. And some poor fellas feeling under-endowed used to actually stuff socks down there to enhance the bulge.

Then all of a sudden it became the restricted province of the female, who could buy breast enlargements and go topless, show off their pert thong-clad bottoms and say “Aren’t I gorgeous? Don’t you all want me?”. But according to all the online fashion gurus, any clothing that reveals a hint that you actually have a penis, is a cause of public revulsion. And any top that suggests perhaps you go to the gym more than once a week makes you a social douche-bag! Any hint of leg above the knee and it’s assumed you need to visit your trick cyclist!

Business-men in late middle age wear suits because it is the best way to present a body that’s likely to be past its best. But since you can’t play beach volleyball in a suit, everybody hopes you’ll wear something like a tent so they can’t see any hint of masculinity lurking within. And even with a stripper body you can now walk through a London park shirtless on a hot summer day past groups of young ladies who don’t even look up from their mobile phones. And when they’re unavoidably cornered, political correctness forbids them from making any comment or showing a reaction, because you’re no longer supposed to comment on anyone’s appearance, whether it be negative or positive.

I know this because I recently returned from a third world country where, free from our political correctness, people commented on my physique freely – something I’ve not experienced in the UK for many years.

After the new era started in the mid-90s I think a lot of us thought it was a passing fashion or phase, and that what comes around would come around again. But I now believe it won’t, because of other social changes in the Western world that have cemented it in place for a long time to come. But maybe one day, just maybe…

[Fairfax]

I agree with you Jack Lewis in your "view from Europe".
I witnessed the same shift in Australia about a generation ago.
The most visible part is how sunbathing and the nudist culture it is closely linked to is now regarded as a "feminine" activity.
Sure it was more popular with women but the pleasures of sunbathing (either small swimsuit or naked) were seen as something men could enjoy too. As a teenager no one thought my interest in briefs and sunbathing strange, it was just a recreational activity that some people of both sexes enjoyed.
Sunbathing in shorts or jammers just isn't the same, you have to at least "feel naked" so modern men simply don't participate anymore.
There was a popular subculture around minimal swimwear and sunbathing that todays young males have never experienced. It wouldn't appeal to every man (same as for women) but some of todays men would embrace it if given the chance.

[Torchwatch]

On British naturist beaches fathers became concerned with accusations of child sex abuse and stopped taking their families to the beach. This left the naturist beaches used only by older couples and single men. Many of the single men were gay so naturist beaches became associated with being gay, driving out the older couples.

Once longer shorts had become the fashion anyone wearing short shorts or speedos became the targets of homophobes, this was happening especially in our schools. Tom Daley a school boy and international diver was bullied, called gay and had his pencil case and other personal possessions stolen at school when he appeared on television competing in speedos. He was forced to change schools, in my opinion his head teacher should have been sacked.
Levels of homophobic bullying in schools increased and children started committing suicide. Both Cameron and Abama told the victims of bullying to tell someone.

It wasn't actually important whether the victims of homophobic bullying were gay or not, the homophobes were on a power trip and wearing speedos immediately singled you out as a victim.

Swimming in big baggy shorts doesn't work, it's inefficient, slow and hard work. Swimming clubs traditionally provided children's swimming lessons and recruited club members from swimming lessons, boys afraid of wearing competitive swimwear began dropping out instead of joining the clubs, swimming clubs became increasingly female.

In public lane swimming sessions a few older men would wear speedos and swim fast while younger men in big baggy shorts would soon tire and drop out. The public lane swimming sessions became overloaded with older women in shapeless black Lycra one piece suits.

In the sea wearing big baggy shorts rapidly turns a strong swimmer into a weak swimmer and a weak swimmer into a non swimmer. So boys and young men in big baggy shorts were spending less time actually swimming and more time plodding about in the shallows.

After an unfulfilling swim the big baggy shorts wearer is left with wet shorts that will remain damp for hours further spoiling his beach experience. Eventually the only reason he stays on the beach is to hang out with the girls in their tiny bikinis who can all swim better than he can.

Our young man is trapped, if he wears short shorts or speedos that he can swim and sunbathe comfortably in he'll be assumed to be gay and if he keeps his big baggy shorts on he'll have a wasted day at the beach.

Fortunately there is a new generation coming through that are rejecting the old conformity and are enjoying shorter shorts and may experiment with speedos.

[Bede735]

Time to start a campaign - "Male Nudity Matters". And any criticism of that will be deemed as sexist. Sorted.

[Jack Lewis]

I think Fairfax has made some intelligent-expressed observations, which presents an interesting slant on our collective disappointment. As you say, young men today will doubtless never know what they’ve missed.

The Michael Jordan effect had a lot to answer for, but as Torchwood says, there were so many other social changes that fuelled the trajectory. Official acceptance of homosexuality (even if not universally taken to heart), political correctness (which has been a blessing and a curse), etc. Its strange how most people, I think, watch competitive swimmers/divers wearing speedos and say “well he’s a professional so of course he’s wearing those”. But the same guy (unless recognised) would be looked upon with scorn if seen on the beach wearing them. Imagine a male stripper in board-shorts! Actually, I’ve recently seen male fitness parade shows where the guys are on stage in board-shorts. So, forget leg-day – its over! No need! You say a new generation is coming through that are rejecting the old conformity, but I have to say I’ve not seen any evidence of that. But I hope you’re right.

Bede735 – that is brilliant – you sir, are a genius. It makes no sense to go into battle with bows and arrows. One must always use the modern weapons of our time.

[Torchwatch]

Male Nudity Matters is actually quite important, the slavers and the missionaries justified their actions by claiming they were bringing the naked savages into the light of civilisation and Christianity.

In ancient Rome slaves were always auctioned while naked and standing on a block, I suspect that slaves coming off the ships in the US and Caribbean were naked and stripped of all humanity when they were sold.

Native American Indians were dehumanised because of their naked savage image, they could be killed or starved on reservations while treaties made with Indian tribes could be broken because a promise given to a savage need not be honoured.

"Clothes maketh the man" the rich said while wearing their finery, the poor wore pass me down rags displaying their poverty while their priests warned them of the naked savages in the dark uncivilised heathen parts of the world.

In mediaeval Europe if you had no money you lost your home, you sold your clothes to buy food and then were thrown out of town to wander naked and helpless on the blasted heaths outside the law. Public nudity was originally covered by the Vagrancy Act, of having no visible means of support you would be arrested not for indecency but for poverty.

The naked man is a threat to society, to Christianity; if you can be educated, have a home, money in the bank and a smart phone connecting you to everything yet still be naked then the justification for colonising, enslaving and civilising the native peoples of the world collapses.

[Fairfax]

Your description Torchwatch of the decline of naturist beaches in Britian mirrors the situation here in Australia. Rightly or wrongly every clothing optional beach here is now considered a "gay" beach.

However I don't think its widely recognised that the decline of the naturist lifestyle is mainly due to the invention of modern swimwear. When the naturist movement took off in popularity during the 1920's "swimwear" as it existed then wasn't really worthy of the name. Its no wonder a lot of people thought going naked the best option.

The invention of nylon in the 1950's and especially nylon elastaine in the 1970's changed everything. When people had access to minimal, form fitting garments, that didn't slow you down in the water and dried quickly afterwards the popularity of nude bathing declined.

I tried the nude bathing thing a few times in my twenties but quickly went back to briefs because I found you got much the same feeling of freedom without the social awkwardness of putting your genitals on display. The tanlines and swimwear fashions available were also more appealing to me and many other people.
The people still attending naturist beaches were as you said older couples and people for whom going naked had a stronger sexual element. Basically nudity had become sexualised again.

What frustrates me with todays situation is while women have retained the enjoyment of wearing minimal clothing in an outdoor recreational setting (a sort of "nudist lite") our modern society considers men wearing similar garments to be sexualised like nudity.

I'm not sure how this can be changed. I think part of the problem is while about 80% of women enjoy doing the "nudist lite" thing only about 20% of men would be interested. As a minority they are simply intimidated into conformity.

The only hope I have for positive change is this movement towards "gender fluidity" that's taken off in recent years. Maybe it will be recognised that men have the same legitimate desire to display their bodies as women do.
Until that happens the "good old days" won't return.

[Glenda]

As long as reduced sperm count articles due to the wearing of Speedos and other tight clothing continue to be written, the "good old days" will never return. I first recalled reading about it in the mid-1980's. The perception by women I've known is that the wearing of Speedos is less masculine (having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men, especially strength and aggressiveness) due to it weakens their sexual reproduction capabilities.

https://www.inverse.com/article/35103-skinny-jeans-reduce-sperm-count

The author of this 2017 article is a woman...Eleanor Cummins.

[Jack Lewis]

I think most guys are aware of the “tight clothes reduce your sperm-count” idea, but I’m not sure many guys are really taking that into account when choosing what to wear, be it on the beach or anywhere else. We all do lots of things in life that we know we shouldn’t – sunbathing, drinking, smoking etc. I have to say I’m a bit surprised women view a man in speedos as “less masculine” because of the sperm-count argument. Do they think that of male strippers too? Would they think they were more virile-looking if they turned up in floppy floral board-shorts? Do women look at buff strippers and say “Well he’s no good – look at his tiny trunks – obviously not much sperm there then!”

At the end of the day, another anthropological principle we can’t ignore, is that, like it or not, traditionally women are the hunted and men are the hunters. Thus a man displaying a lot of flesh is perceived as trying to seek approval from other hunters, who are more likely to be male, and therefore he must be gay. It’s ironic that we weren’t bothered by any of this back in the 70s/80s, but now that we are gender-fluid we are more sensitive to this rather than less.

[Minimalist75]

Torchwatch,
I have heard or read much of what you had in you recent post.
However, on comment is new and surprising to me.

"In mediaeval Europe if you had no money you lost your home, you sold your clothes to buy food and then were thrown out of town to wander naked and helpless on the blasted heaths outside the law"

Do you have any reference of this?

[Torchwatch]

I read it on a history website while researching the origins of the Vagrancy Act in Britain. It was still the way to expel naked vagrants from cities in the reign of Elizabeth I.
In the same way that street vendors in contemporary Arab states were required to pay bribes to the police to trade, in earlier times street beggars had to pay the city watch or face being ejected from the cities. Once a person was so destitute that that had sold their clothes and could neither feed themselves nor bribe the City Watch they were out.
The peasants were tied to the land, in order to become free they had to escape and live as an outlaw for a year and a day.
The heaths represented any land outside the towns and cities and not under cultivation or control. They were inhabited by the destitute, outlaws and thieves making it dangerous to go from city to city without an escort. Think of the region entered in the movie True Grit.

Vagrancy Act 1547: https://www.intriguing-history.com/edward-vi-enacts-harsh-statute-against-vagabonds/

Vagrancy Act 1824: https://www.thepavement.org.uk/stories/1029

USA Vagrancy Act 1966 : https://time.com/4199924/vagrancy-law-history/

[sebbie]

still, rather interesting. Who would pay $135 for some of these shorts is beyond me...

https://www.insidehook.com/article/menswear/women-prefer-men-shorter-bathing-suits

[Minimalist75]

I read it on a history website while researching the origins of the Vagrancy Act in Britain. It was still the way to expel naked vagrants from cities in the reign of Elizabeth I.
In the same way that street vendors in contemporary Arab states were required to pay bribes to the police to trade, in earlier times street beggars had to pay the city watch or face being ejected from the cities. Once a person was so destitute that that had sold their clothes and could neither feed themselves nor bribe the City Watch they were out.
The peasants were tied to the land, in order to become free they had to escape and live as an outlaw for a year and a day.
The heaths represented any land outside the towns and cities and not under cultivation or control. They were inhabited by the destitute, outlaws and thieves making it dangerous to go from city to city without an escort. Think of the region entered in the movie True Grit.

Vagrancy Act 1547: https://www.intriguing-history.com/edward-vi-enacts-harsh-statute-against-vagabonds/

Vagrancy Act 1824: https://www.thepavement.org.uk/stories/1029

USA Vagrancy Act 1966 : https://time.com/4199924/vagrancy-law-history/
I was aware of vagrancy laws. The part that surprised me was the idea someone selling all of his clothing. I didn't see that in these references.

[TX_Micro]

Same here. I wore my first speedo in the 1980 in Florida. I was immediately hooked on the sense of freedom and sensuality of wearing next to nothing at the beach. Then thongs came along and could hardly wait to buy my first. It took a while for the local beach communities to get repressive and start banning them. I live in the country and have a pool so I am free to wear as little as I desire at home and prefer no more than a micro-suit at the beach.

[TX_Micro]

Time to start a campaign - "Male Nudity Matters". And any criticism of that will be deemed as sexist. Sorted.

I like it!

[Schoolspeedo]

Your description Torchwatch of the decline of naturist beaches in Britian mirrors the situation here in Australia. Rightly or wrongly every clothing optional beach here is now considered a "gay" beach.

However I don't think its widely recognised that the decline of the naturist lifestyle is mainly due to the invention of modern swimwear. When the naturist movement took off in popularity during the 1920's "swimwear" as it existed then wasn't really worthy of the name. Its no wonder a lot of people thought going naked the best option.

The invention of nylon in the 1950's and especially nylon elastaine in the 1970's changed everything. When people had access to minimal, form fitting garments, that didn't slow you down in the water and dried quickly afterwards the popularity of nude bathing declined.

I tried the nude bathing thing a few times in my twenties but quickly went back to briefs because I found you got much the same feeling of freedom without the social awkwardness of putting your genitals on display. The tanlines and swimwear fashions available were also more appealing to me and many other people.
The people still attending naturist beaches were as you said older couples and people for whom going naked had a stronger sexual element. Basically nudity had become sexualised again.

What frustrates me with todays situation is while women have retained the enjoyment of wearing minimal clothing in an outdoor recreational setting (a sort of "nudist lite") our modern society considers men wearing similar garments to be sexualised like nudity.

I'm not sure how this can be changed. I think part of the problem is while about 80% of women enjoy doing the "nudist lite" thing only about 20% of men would be interested. As a minority they are simply intimidated into conformity.

The only hope I have for positive change is this movement towards "gender fluidity" that's taken off in recent years. Maybe it will be recognised that men have the same legitimate desire to display their bodies as women do.
Until that happens the "good old days" won't return.
Great article. Personally I'd quite happily go nude on a beach, pool or sauna. For me there's a freedom from prejudice or criticism in being nude as everyone is the same; no clothes. With swimwear people tend to dress in a way which they allow themselves to display to the limit of what they dare or are comfortable with and then tends to lead to accusations of exhibitionism or questions over sexuality in those who are comfortable in wearing the very least. I get this all the time from my family and friends, not doubting my sexuality but labelling me in mocking way. My wife is one of my biggest critics, obviously as she's with me most of the time but she often wears the tiniest of thongs, g-string underwear and very skimpy bikinis on the beach!

[Minimalist75]

Same here. I wore my first speedo in the 1980 in Florida. I was immediately hooked on the sense of freedom and sensuality of wearing next to nothing at the beach. Then thongs came along and could hardly wait to buy my first. It took a while for the local beach communities to get repressive and start banning them. I live in the country and have a pool so I am free to wear as little as I desire at home and prefer no more than a micro-suit at the beach.
Is as little as you desire at home usually nothing?

[Glenda]

I miss the societal acceptance of being able to either go nude or of wearing Speedos during the 1970's through 1980's. However, being a non-smoker I was surrounded by topless young women (including my sisters) and men whom enjoyed chain smoking. They really chastised me for not joining in on smoking. I usually left my group of friends to go bicycling along the beach. Times have changed and at 63 years of age I'm in excellent health and shape, whereas, most of my group of friends have either died young in their 40's and 50's or are in their 60's today with health issues.

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/saint-tropez-the-topless-peninsula-saint-tropez-ao%C3%BBt-1970-news-photo/160751994

The beach attire photo above was taken in August 1970. 50 years ago this month.
As a teenager I spent my entire summer at the beach.

[Torchwatch]

The tobacco industry refers to getting a new batch of young smokers as recruitment. They knew as early as 1953 that tobacco products were killing as many as 6,000,000 a year and needed a steady supply of new recruits.

[Glenda]

My mom, aunt, and my sisters would always smoke heavily due to it decreased their appetite and kept them quite thin and looking fit while sunbathing topless on the beach in Trancas, California during the early 1970's. So they thought. Cut off short shorts and Speedos on men were quite normal beach attire later in that decade. I don't miss sitting within a constantly in your face cloud of cigarette smoke from a smoking beach crowd no matter how good it felt to be able to freely and acceptably sunbathe and walk around in the most minimal beach attire.

[Fairfax]

You know it's a great faliure of the "good old days" that mens swim briefs, despite there popularity, never established there own name fashion name independant of brand names and distinct from more genirc names for underwear and swimwear.

When somebody mentions "boardies" or "jammers" people know what they mean. They have a distinct male identity that's not sexualised or subject to derision.

All the names associated with swimming briefs are either interchangable with underwear or womens apparel, trademarked brand names or worst of all names founded on ridicule or mockery.

Back in the eighties mens briefs intended for sunbathing were often called "bikinis" or "sun suits" but neither of these names became established (or were suitable).

Any unique name would have to be free of trade marks so the whole industry could use it.

I think the word "mankini" would have been a good choice but of course it's out of the question now due to that silly outfit worn in the awful film "Borat".

Men wearing small swimsuits as a fashion choice (like women do) would be more easily legitimised and promoted if mens swimming briefs (and I mean all briefs with the basic triangle shape) had there own unique identity like the female 'bikini' has.

[Torchwatch]

Imagine if you could only buy sports cars in sports shops and even then only painted black, and that you could only buy open top convertibles in sex shops painted red, while you had to got to a camping store to get a green SUV but if you wanted a standard grey hatchback you could go to your local supermarket. This is what has happened to men's swimwear, if you want a thong or a bikini you have to go to sex shop, if you want racing swim briefs to a sports shop while you can pop into any supermarket and get multicoloured swim shorts that will prove a drag in the water.
Men going into sex shops are usually coy about what they've bought, in public serious swimmers would rather not be associated with sex shops but might wear swim shorts to blend in on a public beach and the guys that wear big baggy shorts to go to the pub aren't expecting to do much swimming or to get much sex.
The men swimming lengths and the mothers of the boys doing swimming lessons would rather not have a single word that places their swim briefs in the same category as the thongs and bikinis sold in the sex shop.
The guys in the big baggy shorts cluttering up the public beaches aren't doing much swimming or getting much sex and will happily put thong, bikini and racing briefs wearers in a single unpleasant category.
So maybe a little ambiguity is desirable, racing swim briefs are for serious swimming, swim thongs and bikinis are for serious sunning and you don't have to go to the sex shop to buy them.

[Bede735]

But the baggy shorts are so multi-functional. Wear them around town, play a game of tennis in them, then go to the beach and swim in them.

[Torchwatch]

That is why they are sold at the supermarket.
They wanted to sell Daewoo cars in supermarkets.
Fat people wear board shorts in pubs and bars, fit people should wear something different for sports, for swimming and on the beach.

[TX_Micro]

I don’t believe improvement in fabrics and changes in swimwear styles has much to do with the decline of nude beaches. When I go to any beach not just nude beaches there isn’t a lot of swimming taking place. I for one may get in the water to cool off but for the most part I spend my time reading, walking, or socializing.
I suspect the decline has more to do with society equating nude with sex. After all, that is about the only time most people are nude. I think my observation is supported by the number of post I read about erections when nude.