Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

"Cheeky" swimsuits. Just why?

552 replies

disappearingfish · 21/09/2023 17:22

I get it for posing on the beach, but why do swimwear makers cut the bums off suits otherwise aimed at the "proper swimming" market. I do not want to see bare arses at 0630 under the bad lighting of my local council swimming.

This, for example. Who buys this? www.arenasport.com/en_uk/006660-women-s-swimsuit-arena-mesh-panels-power-back.html

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
LlynTegid · 24/09/2023 14:33

Agreeing with women having the choice what to wear. Not seeing the choice being very much or some being very expensive.

disappearingfish · 24/09/2023 14:40

@SurprisedWithAHorse nowhere have I said women deserve shit for wearing what they like. Nowhere.

OP posts:
Bobsledgirl · 24/09/2023 14:40

What we wear and how we look is hugely loaded. Not neutral. Where patriarchy still exists women will never be equal. Having sexual freedom, having the freedom to wear what you like is great. To a point. However, in the end it all benefits men most.

Women fought for sexual liberation. They got it partly, but there is still no sexual equality.

Wear what you like/do what you like is a very liberal feminist approach that ignores the inherent and enduring power structures in society.

CoffeeCantata · 24/09/2023 14:48

Well I AM offended by arses.

So much so that I can hardly bear to contemplate the fact that every Tom, Dick or Henrietta walking along the street has such a body-part. Yuk.

Why would I want to have my attention drawn to someone's fatty backside - the part of their body most associated with evacuation of the digestive system? No thanks.

SurprisedWithAHorse · 24/09/2023 15:13

disappearingfish · 24/09/2023 14:40

@SurprisedWithAHorse nowhere have I said women deserve shit for wearing what they like. Nowhere.

I'm not trawling through 17 pages of this nasty thread to c&p examples, but we all know that's exactly what's being said all over and the comparison to football shirts is utterly laughable. Starting a thread purely to judge women for dressing in a way that you don't like is right up there with it.

Wear what you like/do what you like is a very liberal feminist approach that ignores the inherent and enduring power structures in society.

This is just a pompous variation of that old chestnut: that if women say they do if because they like it, and men say they do it in order to please men, we decide to give the dudes the casting vote and ignore and insult the women.

Of all the terrible societies history has seen, none of them suffered an absolute moral collapse because a small percentage of women chose to dress in a way that a certain kind of person found offensive and wanted to judge, as if it's a moral issue. However, plenty of them revolved around the kind of ridiculous shaming of any woman who chose to express herself and her sexuality. And who thought what the men said about it outweighed what she said about it.

The price of freedom is that some people will do things you don't like. If the worst of it is a bit of swimwear, we're doing very well. You can generally see full bum outlines under swimming costumes anyway if you're the kind of person to take a keen interest, like many posters are.

ThinWomansBrain · 24/09/2023 15:21

Witnessed large bum crack exposure of a very large arse half covered by a v short "skirt" at the bus stop yesterday.
Revolting.
A couple of women a lot younger than me clearly found it equally vile.

I'd be less surprised at swimming pool.

Figmentofmyimagination · 24/09/2023 15:25

It’s very porny. Not sure that’s a great vibe in a municipal swimming pool.

Fallingthroughclouds · 24/09/2023 15:37

disappearingfish · 24/09/2023 12:59

I am not in any way shaming women on how they want to dress. I have said repeatedly that women should be able to choose what they wear.

My original question was around the thinking of women who choose to show their arses in settings where it's looking/feeling sexy seems to be relatively low on the agenda - i.e. lane swimming at 0630 in the local corporation swimming pool, where people are blearily grinding out their lanes and trying not to think about the floating Elastoplasts.

So women can choose what they wear as long as it is somewhere that suits your agenda. Thanks for that.

Fallingthroughclouds · 24/09/2023 15:38

disappearingfish · 24/09/2023 14:40

@SurprisedWithAHorse nowhere have I said women deserve shit for wearing what they like. Nowhere.

Whilst giving them shit on here ffs 🙄

SurprisedWithAHorse · 24/09/2023 16:53

ThinWomansBrain · 24/09/2023 15:21

Witnessed large bum crack exposure of a very large arse half covered by a v short "skirt" at the bus stop yesterday.
Revolting.
A couple of women a lot younger than me clearly found it equally vile.

I'd be less surprised at swimming pool.

Thoughts and prayers.

Teddleshon · 24/09/2023 17:10

If all that matters is that you like your outfit then if your favourite outfit happened to involve say leather and a thong, would you be happy wearing it in a school or a boardroom or a nursery?

quantumbutterfly · 24/09/2023 17:11

TBF I'm not fond of the sight of men in budgie smugglers at the local pool either.

On another topic, wasn't there some controversy about beach volleyball costumes in the olympics being unnecessarily sexualised.

MsPloddingBottom · 24/09/2023 17:33

Seeing somebody's ass crack at a bust stop is actually grim. That's almost exhibitionist, and no way would a man get away with that. Nobody expects to see that in that situation

This swimsuit though- it's so basic I can't believe so many people care. I would not even notice this at all. Is it that different to any others? It's a lot less male-gazey than bikinis

SurprisedWithAHorse · 24/09/2023 18:22

Teddleshon · 24/09/2023 17:10

If all that matters is that you like your outfit then if your favourite outfit happened to involve say leather and a thong, would you be happy wearing it in a school or a boardroom or a nursery?

It was so obvious that outfits should be appropriate to the occasion that it didn't even occur to me that some people would think it needed saying.

Yes, if you wear a thong bikini to a job interview at a law office you can expect not to get the job, just as if you showed up in the famous football shirt or a T shirt with swearwords on it. A swimming costume is perfectly acceptable at a swimming pool though, even a council one at 6.30am (!), even if it's not to everyone's taste.

Teddleshon · 24/09/2023 19:05

But earlier you said the only valid signals a woman’s outfit ever sends is that she likes it.

CatMadam · 24/09/2023 19:11

The judgement of women and frantic pearl-clutching on this thread would be funny if it wasn’t so depressing. And of course the transphobes scuttled in as they always do to insert their ridiculous ‘arguments’ on an unrelated topic and embarrass themselves. Gross.

Fizzadora · 24/09/2023 21:35

Pity any kids swimming up behind you when you are doing the front crawl. They can see right up your snatch.

Louloulouenna · 24/09/2023 21:39

Not if it’s a transwoman they won’t!

disappearingfish · 24/09/2023 21:43

Again @Fallingthroughclouds I have not "given shit" to women on here.

Ask yourself why you are so fiercely protective of women who want to publicly display their arses. cough handmaiden patriarchy

OP posts:
Fallingthroughclouds · 24/09/2023 21:54

disappearingfish · 24/09/2023 21:43

Again @Fallingthroughclouds I have not "given shit" to women on here.

Ask yourself why you are so fiercely protective of women who want to publicly display their arses. cough handmaiden patriarchy

Grow up. Just because you haven't targeted women on here doesn't mean you haven't targeted women in general. Unless you've never worn a skirt, makeup, heels or had your hair done, you are a hypocritical misogynist, albeit a pearl clutching, bitchy one.

At the end of the day all you are is snide and I have no time for your underhand, sexist jabs thinly disguised as selective feminism.

disappearingfish · 24/09/2023 21:58

Lol, so you're assuming my IRL actions from what I'm NOT doing or saying on this thread? And you're telling ME to grow up? Hard LOL.

OP posts:
Fallingthroughclouds · 24/09/2023 22:06

disappearingfish · 24/09/2023 21:58

Lol, so you're assuming my IRL actions from what I'm NOT doing or saying on this thread? And you're telling ME to grow up? Hard LOL.

🤣 are you or are you not criticising women and what they choose to wear. Yes it's subversive and sly but THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING. It's undeniable and if you think otherwise then you are deluded and I'm starting to worry about you. Anyway you have my pity to be so hung up about this and that you feel you have to bring it to the internet. It's probably a bit obvious and clichéd to suggest you envy these confident women, when all you can do is whinge and whine about them. It must be hard for you to stomach, but they really don't give a shit about you and haven't noticed your existence whilst you are stewing about this everyone else is happily getting on with their lives. Sucks to be you.

stardust777 · 24/09/2023 22:11

I've had my eye on this bikini set but hate the thong bikini bottom -

https://uk.rouje.com/products/roma-bikini-top-primevere-ecru

Think I'd be constantly readjusting it after a swim

Fallingthroughclouds · 24/09/2023 22:23

SurprisedWithAHorse · 24/09/2023 15:13

I'm not trawling through 17 pages of this nasty thread to c&p examples, but we all know that's exactly what's being said all over and the comparison to football shirts is utterly laughable. Starting a thread purely to judge women for dressing in a way that you don't like is right up there with it.

Wear what you like/do what you like is a very liberal feminist approach that ignores the inherent and enduring power structures in society.

This is just a pompous variation of that old chestnut: that if women say they do if because they like it, and men say they do it in order to please men, we decide to give the dudes the casting vote and ignore and insult the women.

Of all the terrible societies history has seen, none of them suffered an absolute moral collapse because a small percentage of women chose to dress in a way that a certain kind of person found offensive and wanted to judge, as if it's a moral issue. However, plenty of them revolved around the kind of ridiculous shaming of any woman who chose to express herself and her sexuality. And who thought what the men said about it outweighed what she said about it.

The price of freedom is that some people will do things you don't like. If the worst of it is a bit of swimwear, we're doing very well. You can generally see full bum outlines under swimming costumes anyway if you're the kind of person to take a keen interest, like many posters are.

Edited

I applaud you for being so articulate and level headed. My go to is "you're being uneccesarily bitchy, stop it". This carries far more weight 🙌

ClafoutisSurprise · 24/09/2023 22:24

I prefer nudity to this. I find teeny tiny clothes attention-seeking and therefore rather tedious. It’s the tease of wearing clothes, but only just. This suit is the perfect example - assume you’re supposed to be taken aback by the arse-out cut at the back in comparison to the covered up front.

By contrast, there is a frankness about actually being naked (or even just topless) that I admire.

Swipe left for the next trending thread