Letters to the Editor
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Speedos
As an Australian I find the American attitude to Speedos rather quaint. Growing up in a Sydney beachside suburb, in the 1950s and '60s, swimming briefs (whether branded Speedo or not) were de rigeur for all boys and men. When surf boards first became common in the '60s we all thought the board shorts were really odd, until it was pointed out that the long legs saved the thighs from getting chafed while paddling out to the breakers.
Wearing shorts for lap swimming, or body surfing for that matter, seems as odd to me as wearing Granny's neck to knee, complete with stockings and sandshoes. In fact some pools wouldn't let you swim in them.
Once enough men start wearing them no-one will give them a second glance.
By the way, in this corner of the world they're known as "budgie smugglers", a budgie being what you'd call a "parrakeet".
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Right on
I'm continually amazed at how uptight Americans are about the male body. when I go to the beach I want to swim and I want some sun. Board shorts are absurd for either, they're uncomfortable while you swim, they're uncomfortable while they dry and they give you a ridiculous tan. If people don't like seeing me in a speedo, too bad for them, i'll be damned if I'll be uncomfortable just to spare the prudish sensibilities of the sexaphobic american masses. Jim
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a good laugh lengthens the life
You are just too funny.
Who do you think cares about your bulges?
Why not cover biceps and shoulders too?
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Not cutting edge
Speedo, schmeedo. A speedo covers too too much. If he were a real man, this dude would strut around in a cache-sexe
(aka cachet). Now that's bold, that's daring, that's healing the shame that binds you. And it obviously the sequel to this thrilling essay.
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Laughing
I am laughing out loud at all the people who pay money to read these articles.
What this article really needed was Graham Chapman, as The Commander, to come in halfway through and say "Allright, Mr. Broudy, stop this article, it's much too silly!" and stop the article.
Hear hear!
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More.....
If that's the author in the pix, then I say, MORE!! Gawd, I would like to use the image on my computer and stare at it every day. What a hunk.
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No. No Speedos ever.
This... this is just wrong...
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you are paying money for articles like this?
How about
"Why I shaved my beard"
"How I finally cleaned my refridgerator"
"It's true! I can't believe I want to buy a station wagon, but I do."
"I just don't like French Roast coffee. And no, it's not the French thing."
"People who frequent the coffee shop in the bookstore at the mall are bad tippers. And pretentious fuckers."
"I like tv commercials. But I have insufferably clever reasons for this."
Clearly I need to start submitting manuscripts if you buy and publish this stuff. Now I must use my mysterious voodoo powers to make you forget I wrote disparagingly about "Speedo Freaks", because
"I like money-- and attention."
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Hangups on parade
Rare is the American male who admits to insecurity about his body or the size of his genitals, yet, with the possible exception of the hunk pictured with this article, such insecurity is ubiquitous. While the article is silly in the extreme, the responses to it are even more revealing. The American neo-Puritanism about nudity, the male body and "unsightly bulges" would be laughable if it weren't so damaging. Of course there's no problem if women wear scanty swimware, or are pictured in their revealing underwear in advertisements. But men have to be covered up. Now why is that?
When I was growing up we swam nude both at the 'Y' and in school (males only), and that went on right through college in the 60's. We weren't allowed to wear suits. Consequently there wasn't any of the gyrations and hilarious behavior trying to avoid ever showing your always-too-small gentials in the lockerroom that goes on now. Everyone knew what everyone else had or didn't have, and the angst largely went away.
I think the most ludicrous spectable I have ever seen on the beach are board shorts. How they qualify as swimsuits is beyond me. My winter visits to beaches in Mexico allow me to spot Americans 1/2-mile away. Their so-called swimware gives them away immediately. Terrorists wouldn't have a problem kidnapping them. So wear speedos, guys, it's safer. Disguises your identity.
Lighten up America. You have only your hangups to lose.
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Confused
The author talks about speedos becoming big in 1993. 1993?! Where was he all through the 80's when Speedos were all that was worn...at least on gay beaches. Oh that's right, there's always that ten year lag between what's gay fashion and what's straight fashion.
Its hysterical to see all these straight guys shaving their body hair just when all the gay guys are letting it grow out. Never fails.
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What about the terminology?
Yes, this is a fluff piece, but perhaps it will lead to a more serious treatment of men's shame and societal repression of male sensual expression, let alone physical comfort (a recent NYT piece examined men wearing dark business suits on sweltering summer days). As far as the word "Speedo": that's a brand, with athletic connotations. Why not call the suits what they are: bikinis? Getting free with the language is part of our liberation.
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Uh, don't all lap swimmers wear Speedos?
What's the point of this article, aside from allowing the author to work out his mid-life crisis in public?
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Fortunately, there is a compromise
No doubt about it: it's much better to wear Speedos when you're swimming laps for exercise. Since most men who swim for exercise recognize this (if not at first, then swiftly thereafter), one does not stand out while wearing Speedos -- and please, no puns here from the peanut gallery.
At the beach, though, I wear trunks. Why? Because there's something undeniably sleazy about a guy wearing Speedos at the beach, in my humble opinion.
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The bulge
Reminds me of the old joke about the (unnamed ethnic minority) who noticed how the girls oohed and aahed over the Speedo wearers and their bulge. A friend suggested that a potato strategically placed would enhance his appeal. His friend had to correct his placement when the girls started laughing. He pointed our that the potato went in front, not in back.