Disappointing lack of speedos
 

My wife and I were in the city of Bath recently and spent time at the thermae spa, heated by the natural hot spring waters the come up from deep in the earth, for which Bath is famous. The spa is on 4 levels, with an open air pool on the roof and various steam rooms, saunas floors below with a indoor pool on the basement. I was the only male wearing speedos, one of my 4cm sides by 'oddballs'; as brief as I dare wear. However, all other men were wearing boring shorts. Similarly hardly a decent swimsuit on the women; all one pieces asisdefrom a tiny black string tie bikini on a 20 something, another couple of simpyish bikinis and a tiny, floral, pastel thong on a late teen/20 year old, though I did get a smile from her when I entered the lower pool in my speedo and every place happened to thereafter, she seemed to be there with her mum and sisters in bikinis. Such a disappointment, but I guess that's the 'norm'

I think it’s an uphill battle that we won’t win, at least in my lifetime. Even here in Northern California, it’s nearly all board shorts and trunks. Only saw two men during all my outings so far this summer wearing anything else - one wearing a standard “conservative” speedo, and another in a string thong.

Women have it so great here - they can wear anything (or almost nothing). Mostly string bikinis and thongs at my favorite beach.

Bottom line is that we should wear what we want and enjoy it, with courage and confidence.

Yes it is disappointing. On the other hand, we all need to give it the old college try! Only place I’m aware of, where anything goes as the norm, is the south of France.

While still the minority, men wearing brief swimsuits are more common in SE Florida.

Very disappointing when I visited Mauritius recently. It was an adults only hotel, with mostly European guests - but every man wore shorts to swim in. I was the exception - donning briefs with 3cm sides.

Surprising. While it was 7years ago, I was on a cruise with many European and Latin American passengers. Men in speedos were rather common.

Ris Park Beach
 

Today I wore my thong and went to the East end of Riis Park Beach, very crowded since erosion has closed half the beach. This has a lot of transgender folks along with everyone else. Topless is legal in NY State, so everyone wore what they liked, thongs, bikinis, and had a relaxed day. Queens, NY is well-named, and the most diverse place on Earth.

We were in France last September, Nice included and sadly I was the only one in a swimbrief. Mind you it was with the early swimmers so maybe hardly surprising. However I did see a youn g woman in a very tiny thong bikini when I was out running one morning, which was nice...in Nice.

Do you run in your swim brief?
Many of the young men from two colleges near me run in very short shorts split to the waist so they don't have much more coverage than a swim brief.

I usually wear a very brief bikini beneath compression shorts and rugby shorts on top of that.

I swim regularly at an outdoor college pool in the eastern part of the U.S. Though in my 60s, I still wear brief TYR or Sporti suits. In June I started noticing a college guy sunbathing in a red Speedo brief, and sometimes a black brief suit of unknown manufacture. I assumed he swam and sunbathed but had not actually seen him in the pool. One day I walked into the locker room and he was standing at a locker, so I asked if he'd already finished a swim - he said yes, but then he started pulling on the red speedo, which confused me. He turned to me and said he was now going back out to the pool in what he called his "tanning brief" so he could work on his tan! We now chat frequently - he swims in a jammer suit, then changes into one of his two "tanning briefs" for an hour or so of suntanning! He is a European student and a very nice young man working on a PhD.

Interesting story Swimmboy.

At first I was amazed that anyone who has the confidence to sunbath in a speedo wouldn't also wear it for lap swimming but I guess it shows how perceptions of what's appropriate can change over time.

If like most young men today he has only ever seen jammers worn for competitive swimming he regards them as the appropriate choice for fitness swimming.

Much like a lady might wear a one piece for fitness swimming then choose a bikini for sunbathing.

Have you ever suggested he ditch the jammers and just use the speedo for both jobs?

High end competitive male swimmers now believe they can attain faster times in jammers than speedos.

Yes, guys prefer the jammers for racing in big meets. I asked a college swimmer several years ago about why jammers were so popular. He told me something interesting - he said the tight fabric around their thighs helps hold the muscles in place, and prevents the thigh muscles from jiggling around. Thus, their thigh muscles do not feel as tired and stressed during a race. Also, the fabric is supposed to be slicker than human skin, so the more of their skin that is covered, the faster they can go.

As for the guy I know who swims in jammers and sunbathes in brief Speedos - no, I haven't asked him why he doesn't just swim in Speedos, but I may ask him in the future. I'm just glad that he wears the brief suits on the pool deck and has a nice tan!

Interesting indeed about the reason for wearing jammer to assist with muscle compression, I suppose it's the same principle as compression shorts which I wear for running. Maybe I should get jammers......um.....nah!

Or maybe you should try very short running shorts for running!

Why not swim in a brief suit instead of jammers?
 

I finally asked the guy at the college pool why he wore jammers for swimming instead of the briefer suit. He told me he had grown up competing in jammers, so he feels more 'streamlined' in them. He also mentioned that his quad muscles don't hurt as much when he races in jammers.

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The only place where I wear my swim briefs is at Fire Island. Where it's more acceptable. And my partner laments the fact that it's not more acceptable for men to wear swim briefs. I'm not sure why in the United States it's not that acceptable for men to wear swim briefs. They are more comfortable than wearing swim trunks. And those board shorts on grown men are just absurd. My partner calls them 'birth control shorts' because they will never get any action.

When we go vacationing in South America, I just use my swim briefs. I don't bother bringing the swim trunks...

Maybe the obese and ugly in mind and body who will never get any action are jealous of the young and beautiful and force them to conform by wearing board shorts.
If conformity forces you to wear shorts on a beach wear them a couple of inches shorter than fashion demands and you won't be alone.

You know, it happened to us when we were at Sandy Hook. I had on my brief swimwear and my partner had her t back. We walked past some lady with her kids and as we went by, she said to us....you people are shameless. I'm not kidding. That was the first time. We laughed and it was like...WOW! And I'm not sure as to what she was expecting. We were headed over to Gunnison beach. So there were quite a few people wearing skimpy swimwear.

But I imagine that lady was a suburban mom who is probably sheltered and doesn't get out that much. Then it's a shock when she sees some cake at the beach.

For the most part people smile and complement us for being a nice looking couple.