Skimpy Sexism

It's curious how we take our cultural values as given and obvious. Take for example skimpy bathing suits. A while ago a member of one of my groups told us a story of a whole group of Czech construction workers staying at a hotel in America. They used to wear Speedo-type swimwear, as Europeans do, and as I used to when I was a lightie. After a couple of weekends with them swimming and lounging round the pool in their swim briefs, the owner of the hotel told them that it was a "family hotel" and would they please wear shorts instead. Now, ironically, there were several women present, all in bikinis. Their attire was not considered indecent, however. This is very odd, don't you think? Women wear bikinis, men wear baggies. And no one asks why.

Of course, the reason is obvious once you think about it. It's sexism. Women aren't people, oh dear me no. They're sex objects. A woman's sole raison d’être is to attract men. And so it's OK for them to wear skin-tight, skimpy swimming gear, to wear tiny scraps of next to nothing. Men, however, don't need to attract anyone (after all, they are men, belonging to the superior form of our sexually-dimorphic species).

We've got so used to this cultural tosh we don't even blink. Women in bikinis are normal and OK. Men in similar clothing are indecent. My daughter, an acute observer of humanity, observed that she, who wears elegant loose clothes, and swims in boardshorts and a t-shirt, gets odd looks when she wears this unconventional attire. As she was telling me this, I saw a slim but well built young man on his bike wearing lycra cycle shorts with a pair of loose running shorts over them, just in case anyone looked at his bum. Oy.

But it is nonsense, isn't it?

There are a couple of instances where you might wish to wear concealing garments. It did strike me that if you were an adolescent male, and thus liable to constant priapism as a result of raging hormones, it might be wise to wear tight Aussiebums underneath baggy shorts.

And of course, maybe you have other good reasons not to wear skimpy swimwear or skimpy anything. Aesthetic reasons. Perhaps people of my shape should wear a djellaba to swim in, so's we don't frighten the horses.

But if you are slim, you can wear Aussiebums or their like. Why not? It looks great, and you’ll strike a blow for sexual equality. Wear a bikini. Enjoy it. We will.

[With thanks to Aussiebum for the use of their pictures. This article first appeared in a different form in my blog]