Wet T-shirt Competitions

[Tiepose]

Were they real and how did they work?

Were they planned or spontaneous?

How good were the prizes?

When did they take place? (as in: which decade?)

How ubiquitous were they?

Am I likely to know anybody who would have taken part, and what sort of person would this be?

TIA

The England football team did this, didn’t they? And then re-enacted it when they scored a goal.

I think that they were still fairly common in the early 2000s too.

I went to a huge School Disco party in London when I was in my early 20s which was about 2000. A large group of a us went out for a meal first and a friend of a friend chucked a jug of iced water at me (I was wearing a white shirt as part of my 'uniform') and then he said, you could definitely win the wet t shirt comp. Thinking back to that whole night - I hope stuff like that doesn't happen any more

Former SIL entered one… and won. I’ve seen the photos 😬

At one of those 18-30 holiday package things.

Yeah, 18-30 holidays, I vaguely remember one happening whilst I was on one of their holidays back in 2000. I didn't take part, neither did my friends as we were good girls 😇 had too small boobs

Dressing up as a school girl now seems pretty 🤢 I definitely did it a few times at uni. I remember seeing a friend of mine out at a school girl party wearing a gingham dress like primary pupils do, that was a step too far….

Jeez. What did you do? Or say?

Definitely in the early 2000s too. Seen a few in studenty pubs, there was usually a cash prize so it seemed worth it to students!

I didn’t go to my Fresher’s one because we didn’t have uniform in my Sixth Form and I thought that I had probably outgrown my woollen tunic from UV. I didn’t realise that you were supposed to improvise.

@dimples76 I am so sorry that happened. What an appalling person.

I think they still happen in Faliraki

It makes more sense that they would happen in a hot country, I suppose @3luckystars. The UK would have a relatively short season.

Not a thing at Nsoul niters or proper dance clubs, we had amphetamine n Es n a lot more civilised than piss head clubs. 😁

They were a big thing at motorbike rallies in 60s/70s. Prize ws usually a crate of beer. Everybody was pissed , no one was that bothered about it .

I was raving in the early 90s. Left that misogynistic, drink as much as you can, get your tits out for the lads shit nights out and swapped it for chemically fuelled all night dancing - no sexist comments - just a great night out.

Definitely happened early 2000s too. In shit clubs that played awful music - chart and RnB type places.

i remember the newspaper countdowns til someone was ‘legal’.

They originated in America in the 70s. They stem from the American prudishness around female nudity. Lots of states banned topless sunbathing and microbikinis and wet t shirt competitions became a popular way to oggle breasts and were considered risqué.

I went to Florida in the 90s and saw one on a beach. There was an officiant who was there purely to check the women's nipples weren't too visible under the wet shirt!

Fancy dancer. Likewise start on a Friday niter, if in England onto a dayer nother niter on Saturday n dayer Sunday. Keele niter n crewe dayer deserve a mention. 👀😳

They happened regularly in a nightclub my friends and I went to from around 1999-2001. We (and the majority of the others in the club) were underage, 15 on our first visit.
The ID check was asking your date of birth then your star sign! If they bothered at all.
If you were female and wearing a skirt you’d be allowed in once the bouncers had looked you up and down. Creepy looking back now.

@OctFeb and did you take a change of dry clothes?

I was at a wet t-shirt competition in Cork in Ireland during college rag week in February 2005. So definitely not limited to the 80s or warm countries! Prize was free drinks I think.

I did one drunk in a nightclub at 15 in the 90s. I won. Went to school the next day and kids had written about it on the board. I was mortified. I still feel taken advantage of and was too scared to go out for months

@Tiepose I never participated, wouldn’t have been brave enough! I knew a girl a couple of years older who did but not sure of the finer details 😆

I'm in Birmingham but fondly remember nipping up the M6 to Stoke for a night at Shelley's. Fuck that commercial shit😁

They still do look.
There was a photo being shown around my workplace and every man that was shown it was told in a hushed whisper "shes 18" I luckily wasnt shown this picture, but because I blend into the background ie woman over 50 they saw nothing wrong with showing each other in front of me.
Fucking knobheads the lot of them.
As for OP yes wet tshirts competitions were real thing as was a bare bottom do you know your boyfriend competition. Where the men dropped their keks behind a hoarding with bum sized holes. The girlfriend/wife had to say which bum belonged to their man.
Butlin's minehead I think, late 70s
Awful just awful even then to me as a child.

I remember seeing one in the late 80s when I was about 10. It was at some kind of party in a restaurant.

I wonder if it had two waves. A 70s / 80s nasty pub one and then a young people’s package holiday 1990s postmodern ‘ironic’ one (we’re not being exploited or humiliated because we know better and are empowered etc.).

The 1960s motorbike pp and the pps who say it still goes on have blown this theory wide open, however (… have there and will there always be wet t shirt competitions? Has anyone checked if they are in the Bible?).