It's all about speedo Bulges

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Luke Day’s parents moved to Australia when he was six, and as soon as school finished each day, he was in his Speedo briefs in the pool. “My dad was always a Speedo man. Everyone around was. It wasn’t even a thing,” he recalls. “But then when I was in my teens, I would wear them outside Australia and people would go: ‘Woah! You’re wearing Speedos?’ Americans are horrified by them. I didn’t get it at all. Isn’t that what everyone wears?” One of the best-known beach inspectors was Aubrey Laidlaw, who had already laid down the law when the first bikini debuted on the beach in 1946. By the turn of the 1960s, the “Bikini Wars” were in full swing. Laidlaw and his inspectorate patrolled the beach with tape measures, methodically escorting scantily clad women away. But one morning in 1961, he saw something that astonished even him – men in Speedo trunks. He called the police and had them arrested for indecent exposure. I too enjoy an individual sports, but I prefer to spend my time in the water. Swimming is my sport, but I am looking into expanding into diving."

Barker now wears them on holiday in Europe, but never in Los Angeles, where he resides. The surf culture plus that peculiarly adolescent strain of American puritanism dictates that men wear shorts. My sport of choice is wrestling. I love the blend of physical and mental strength needed to defeat my opponents." The exalted status of the swim brief in gay iconography goes some way to explaining why it is viewed with such fear and loathing elsewhere. In 2018, a man named Chris Donohoe complained that he was the victim of homophobia after being thrown out of a pool party at a hotel in Las Vegas for flouting the “no Speedo” rule. “It so obviously targets LGBTQ+ and non-gender-conforming people,” he argued. “They need to stop policing people based on their gender identity and sexuality.”

It’s certainly what I wore to my swimming lessons in the 1980s. But my 1990s teenagehood coincided with a change in trends that was a blessed relief. Puberty + swimming pools + extremely tight trunks was a combination I could do without. Long swimming shorts – Bermudas – appeared (around the same time as The Simpsons, Cherry 7-Up and Global Hypercolour T-shirts). Then, almost overnight, it became unthinkable to swim in anything except long shorts. By the mid-00s, the Speedo was only marginally less out there than the mankini.

Whatever your instinctive feelings towards the Speedo swimming brief, you can tell that it is a design classic because the brand has become synonymous with the product – like “hoover” for vacuum cleaner. Other brands are, of course, available – and Speedo the company sells the full range of aquatic attire – but when someone says “Speedo” what comes to mind is, well, budgie smugglers. Tom Daley, incidentally, now wears Adidas trunks. It has come to our attention that some or at least one of you cannot tell us apart. Even though we are both extremely attractive, we look nothing alike." The Summer Olympics in Tokyo are in full bloom, as evidenced by the plethora of Olympic posts here, and the Speedo shots of some favorite Olympians. The links alone are enough for this Monday morning recap, so go on and indulge. (Special kudos to Tom Daley and Matty Lee on their gold medal, and for sprucing up this post with their Speedo poses.) See more below…The Gay Games is open to all who wish to participate, without regard to sexual orientation. There are no qualifying standards to compete in the Gay Games. It brings together people from all over the world, many from countries where homosexuality remains illegal and hidden. I am Sean. My hair is mahogany and expertly groomed in a carefree way that does not require half a quart of gel." What advice would Day have for the male who is thinking about opting for something smaller, tighter? “I’m not saying people should be hairless, but men should at least be aware of manscaping if they are thinking of going Speedo,” he says. “It’s about fit and cut. You need the right size for you. I quite like a retro, slightly loose, higher-waist [style].”