At the fitness club, almost everybody wears demure bathing suits to swim. Suits are almost always one-piece. They are designed to conceal and misdirect, not to outline features or provoke. But there are a few whose suits cross the border into the obscene. These suits are all worn by men. They are made of clingy, thin Lycra that leaves you guessing only about the color of their genitals.
I don’t know what these guys are thinking. (I’m also not sure why the suits are socially acceptable, but I’ve never heard anyone complain.) I believe deeply that every possible type and shade of personality exists, so I suspect that some of these guys are clueless; some are down-and out-exhibitionists; and the rest fall uncomfortably in between. There might even be a few who wear tight Lycra because their mother made them do it.
Once, a man brought his two sons – ten and five, I think – into the men’s locker room. The older boy made a great show of being disgusted whenever a naked guy came into in view, and he always covered his brother’s eyes, or turned him away, to guard the little one against the awful sight. I wonder how this older boy would have reacted to the Lycra suits; no one wore them that day. But I think he would have reacted the same; there’s just not enough difference.
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2 comments:
Racers wear them - less water resistance.
Okay, Racers have a reason, and it's on a different scale. Unless their coach is their mother.
Come to think of it, racers could lower their water resistance even more, in a way that would leave them looking less, uh, racy.
-PB
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