Feminist pub XIX: The Bluestocking meanders into May

[YonicScrewdriver]

We're running at about six weeks per pub at the moment! So if you want chat with a feminist flavour, or with fellow feminists, or just want to admire our patriarchy blaster cannon and goat - welcome!

Last pub Here

Yay lurcio!

Yes - the tankini style thing does have drag, even for my slow-lane swimming. But it's so comfy!

I can only do breast stroke as never had any proper swimming lessons as a kid. (Used to go with school as a kid, but they were so useless that one time they left me in the pool and didn't even notice when they got back to school!)

Anyway, I think my rotund figure creates far more drag than any swimsuit would. Do tankinis ride up over large stomachs? I have a fear of looking down and seeing it curling up.

My cossies are mostly just 'foundation' under wetsuit or boardies/rash vest - and a BA on top of that so 'tankini drag' doesn't exactly matter . It occurs to me that what I'd really like is an 'aqua sports bra'.

One piece is fine for lengths swimming if I ever do that though.

I remember the first swimming lesson - "You can't swim? Stand over there." That was it. I could even swim - I just didn't have the confidence, and I couldn't wear my glasses so couldn't see very well. Reasons enough to be written off, I guess.

Tankini does ride up your stomach. > But I don't care. If I can't see other people clearly then they can't see me clearly either.

-- The Ostrich Principle

Surely the feminist way of selecting a swimsuit is to wear whatever you damn well please, and if someone objects to some aspect of the female body, it's their problem. As always, bearing in mind that "whatever you please" is inevitably going to be conditioned by the society we live in, etc etc.

I'm not that evolved sadly Tei. My way of wearing a swimsuit is decidedly unfeminist and fraught. I try to counteract this with internal dialogue about why I feel like that and why it is objectively bullshit to think that what I look like in a swimsuit should matter as much as it does!

Tankinis are better than swimsuits or bikinis post birth

I recently bought a bikini. I haven't had one since I was 6 or 7. I'm damn well going to wear it although I may have bought a matching tankini top too, because there are bits of my body I don't fancy getting sunburnt

Yonic, in my case it's not a c-section overhang, it's a chocolate overhang!

Kickassangel - I was exactly the same, school only taught me breaststroke. Now, in my 50th year, I am finally getting the hang of front crawl, and it is partly my late middle-aged state that makes me so chuffed.

And Copper - I have got myself a pair of prescription goggles (15 quid off t'internet, nearest half dioptre - good enough) and they have really transformed the experience. I no longer have that horrible disorientated by the whole thing feeling.

Ooh prescription goggles are a brilliant idea! Although I do like the Ostrich Principle which is what I use too (also very handy for presenting to large groups of people, you can pretend they're not really there).

Lurcio I do have prescription googles now. But I feel strange putting them on before I get in the water. I do have to put them on to spot DC in the pool though if they get in before me.

I do abide by feminist principles when choosing swimming costume. I don't know if the swimming costume-making industry does.

I'm not doing terribly well on feminist principles today. I've dyed my hair and done my bikini line this evening.

The goat would have done your bikini line for free.

I'll consider that next time I can be arsed to do it - probably in about a years time

That's terribly productive Harry. This evening I've achieved, err, dragging myself home from work then sitting on the couch drinking wine.

I'm much more productive when I have the house to myself (DH is in the US for work, and DC are staying with grandma & granddad).

I've also done 45 mins of circuits, and glued the broken mirror stand back together.

I totally failed at feminist principles yesterday. DD took one look at my new bookcase and exclaimed, "A ladder!" so I thought it should probably be screwed to the wall. So I texted my brother: "Man points up for grabs. Bring your drill."

Where is a bikini line anyway? I don't think I've worn a bikini since I was a small child, so I've always been slightly confused.

I have a one piece swimsuit, and I think that's what I'll stick with. My problem is finding one with enough support for my large bust which is also long enough. Someone mentioned a water sports bra, that's exactly what I want as part of my swimming costume! Why do so few swimming costumes have decent busy support?

I offended a colleague today by describing my upcoming wedding. She seemed very upset that I won't be given away by my dad and will be walking in with dp. She really didn't like it when I said that I don't need to be given away because I'm not property. I would have been perfectly happy for us both to be given to each other, but not for just me to be given to him.

Am I in time for last orders? And can I moan that I am 4.5 months pregnant and my bump has become a magnet for men to tell me how terrible it is for them. 'Why are all the pregnancy books all about the woman?' is a question I was apparently not expected to laugh at. Failed miserably, obviously.

I absolutely hated all the crap to do with weddings. I was only 23 though and just wanted to get through the ordeal, so took the path of least resistance. It just wasn't worth the fight. Yours sounds fine, and I wish more people would just ditch the patriarchal stuff.

I just googled 'water sports bra' and they actually do exist - well, I guess the increasing popularity of triathlons means there's a need among serious athletes. Not figured out how to c&p links on iPod but there was some info on a site lessbounce.com. I'm firmly(ha) of the belief that good sports bras are a feminist necessity.

Girl - oh, congratulations! Well, another quick google indicates that there are books aimed at men, so any who say that clearly cba to look for one. There's even a Haynes workshop manual - I'll have to remember that if my dd ever decides to replicate, probably suit her.

MsD, I've told my DDs that if they get married and the question 'who gives this woman' arises I will reply "nobody. They're people not property."

Girl, tell those idiots that if they want a book for men about pregnancy for the menz they should go off and write one.

Wrt the swimwear thing, I have no idea. I just use mid length shorts. Anything but budgie smugglers. :o