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Message # 24336.1.1.1

Subject: Shorts, or How to wear more in the pool without people noticing

Date: Wed 23/08/06 04:39:32 GMT

Name: A Stranger in Warsaw

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By wetimer - isthisobscureenough@yahoo.co.uk Mon 21/08/06 14:15:40 GMT

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Now, I used to swim quite a lot in my private gym, and normally I would just wear regular swimshorts - the type that you describe as being very popular in America. I think they are the most common thing in the UK too. The kind of thing that you could wear out and about on a hot day without drawing any attention.

I went through a phase of wearing square cut boxers, not becuase I liked the attention people might give me - after all, I was underwater most of the time - but because I also liked the feeling. They felt a bit like swimming in my underwear. Incidentally, I am not someone who suffers from an enormous penis, but I do have the related problem that when I am swimming, especially in the presence of vaguely attractive girls, I seem to sport a permanent semi! The fact that I am quite short sighted doesn't help - it meas that people always look more attractive than they really are.

Nowadays, if I am pool swimming, I tend to wear board shorts - with underwear underneath. I tend to buy shorts which don't have the liners in - for some reason swimming with underwear on even beneath regular shorts still gives me a little thrill. I guess it is my private statement against all the inherent anti-wetlook there is. Also, swimming with underwear actually feels slightly different to swimming with the shorts with liners. I guess that because the material is thicker, they tend to let less water flow through.

Finally, I am in complete agreement that girls look good in boardshorts. However, I am more a fan of those shorts which are cut for a female figure, and more of a surfer-girl look - often a bit shorter as a result. Not many girls seem to wear them - I guess you have to have a good pair of legs and a lot of confidence to carry the look off.

Wetimer

By A Stranger in Warsaw - Mon 21/08/06 03:44:14 GMT

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But before this thread goes too far off topic, I'll repeat my clarion call for all American tourists to bum-rush their hotel swimming pools and force the issue. Shorts with liners are swimwear and always have been and it is an affront to our dignity to be forced to wear underwear while swimming!

By Desert Hawk - Sun 20/08/06 16:13:18 GMT

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http://www.lpsg.org/underwear-clothing-and-appearance-issues/19876-french-legislation-effects-well-hung.html

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34434172

These articles are about ridiculous laws in France and some other parts of Europe about what men (and presumably women too) can't wear in public pools.  The French consider boxer swimsuits to be street clothes, and therefore require all men to wear speedos only in pools (and apparently a few places require nude) for the same bullcrap reasons as American pools ban other regular clothes.  One writer applauds his country's rules and says French people aren't as square as Americans.  I don't plan to ever go to France (I was afraid of flying even before terrorism became as issue), but if I did I would just have to stay out of the water, because I will never wear a speedo. [Warning about the first link:  it is a site about men with large penises.  Some content may offend].

I will now present a few pciture links (some repeats) to illustrate my points.  

http://community.webshots.com/photo/82648605/1082653268048316587ktSfEh

Here we see two women coming out of the ocean after swimming in boardshort swimsuits and t-shirts.  Now check this picture:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/82648605/1082654761048316587hjmlpa

Here we see the same two women wet after hiking under a waterfall.  It is later the same day, as evidenced by the dimmer sunlight.  The point I am trying to make is that these outfits of boardshorts and t-shirts were these women's clothes for the day.  They wore them swimming and then did not change afterward, instead choosing to wear wet clothes until they dried on them.  Then they got wet again later in the day.  These women obviously consider "proper swimwear" to be whatever they are wearing.  You might be thinking "they chose to wear these that day because they knew they would be getting wet".  First of all, so what, and second, this next picture (dry) shows that one of the women wears boardshorts and t-shirts even on days she does not get wet.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/82648605/1082650254048316587DHnXTj

The woman on the right side of the screen looks quite nice walking down the city street wearing Nike boardshorts (note the swoosh logo on her left leg) and a t-shirt.  Obviously she considers boardshorts to be regular clothes, and not dedicated swimwear.

Now check this picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55619400@N00/170207775/

Note the caption "swimming in my clothes".  She considers these boardshorts to be "clothes".  Over the years several webshots with similar captions have been posted, I can't think of any offhand.  The overall point of this lazy day rant is that people should be free to wear whatever they want on their own time, wet or dry.  When we let others tell us what is and is not "proper swimwear" we are losing some of our freedom.