The Guardian - Swim England in deep water over women's swimwear advice

[thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter]

What about swimwear advice for men who don’t look anything Adonis-like? Yeah thought not.

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/swim-england-in-deep-water-for-swimsuits-to-flatter-women-advice

Swim England’s guidance on choosing swimwear has been criticised for focusing too much on the shape of women’s bodies.

The national governing body for swimming in England suggested on its website suitable costumes for female swimmers with short or long torsos, in the plus size bracket, with a “pear shape”, with a large or small bust, a “flabby stomach” or “boyish body”. The web page was later taken down.

“Ensuring you have the right swimwear for body shape is vital. It’s important to be honest with yourself or the person you are buying for. It can make a world of difference,” the guidance noted.

‘Honest with yourself’ Wtf

A Swim England spokesperson said: “This was an old web page from 2010 that does not represent the views of Swim England. As soon as it was brought to our attention we removed the page and are in the process of replacing it with more appropriate information. Swimming is one of the most accessible activities for people of all ages and abilities. We want everyone to feel comfortable in the water and apologise for any offence this old information may have caused.”

2010, oh well that explains it then eh

Thank you to Simone Webb for bringing this to the public’s attention. Tbh I don’t expect any better from Swim England so I’m not surprised.

What advice for the Pilsbury Dough Boy swimmers I see every week?

Nah they’re All Man™️ innit.

If there was similar advice for corralling cock and balls, and depilation, for greatest streamlining and speed through water, then I might just at a push believe it was a performance issue.

OTOH perhaps this is the way ahead, and there needs therefore to be a slew of articles about how MAMILs should dress (some things, unfortunately, just cannot be unseen)

The BBC article gives some extracts. Was way worse that The Guardian suggested.

"Draw attention to your more appealing characteristics."

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/swimming/46034939

being pear-shaped has "often been the plague of women

It's held me back all my life. Lost Hillary the election too.

You can read the whole thing here. Date is 2016 not 2010.
<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180322215331/www.swimming.org:80/justswim/guide-to-choosing-swimwear-for-women/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20180322215331/www.swimming.org:80/justswim/guide-to-choosing-swimwear-for-women/

No, it's Hillary's famous "cankles" lost her the election. And still male friends who consider themselves progressives tell me sexism played no role in 2016...

Two things to note: firstly, I’m absolutely willing to be told I need to get to Specsavers but both the BBC headline image and the image that popped up when I shared it on Facebook seem to be of men. Male swimmers, in men’s swimwear, to illustrate an articulate about women’s swimwear.

Secondly, I’m sharing a screenshot of what popped up in my (Siri?) suggested websites. I obviously haven’t clicked through. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that clicking on “Choke pear (torture)” will bring me anything apart from a deep disgust at some of my fellow humans.

WTAF.

Fucking hell, Badger. Did they mean pear shaped?

They are right about that colour thing though. I had this amazing swimsuit all red around the boobs and black below. Worked wonders.

I loved that swimsuit.
I'm crap at swimming though

"both the BBC headline image and the image that popped up when I shared it on Facebook seem to be of men. Male swimmers, in men’s swimwear, to illustrate an articulate about women’s swimwear."

Are you assuming their gender??!!!??

Why did they need to be told what was on their website!?

Yuk.

Was Teddy Boy Dark Lord involved back then?

Very bizarre. Who leers at others in a swimming pool? A beach, okay, but if you're using a pool to swim, you're not seeing much of other people's bodies.

"A pear shape has often been the plague of women"...

wtaf

I'm pear shaped. It does mean I'm less prone to heart attacks, though.

The wording in places really does make me think it was a primary age work experience boy who wrote it.

Bikinis totally expose a jiggly belly,

I mean, they're like, totally right but you only say it for bantz. Yo.

Thanks Binglebong and OldCrone for the links. And it’s total bullshit about the dates 2010, 2016: if they hadn’t been shamed into taking it down it would still be there.

Fucked off that yet again women’s bodies are up for scrutiny and god be damned if you're not ‘honest’ with yourself and have the audacity to swim in something that inflicts your flabby stomach to everyone in the pool. Sod it that you can swim 2 miles with that flabby body

Nothingontelly you’re right I did. Off to the gulag I go! I’ve heard it’s rather nice though, lots of clever and interesting women and I can make wine and gin so I reckon I’ll fit in ok

I’m so tired of women’s bodies being up for discussion. They’re just bodies. Who cares if they’re a bit jiggly, or different shapes. That page on Swim England’s site, plus the guidance for Hampstead Ponds which said women who were uncomfortable with dicks in the changing room ought to be re-educated, tells me all I need to know about the culture at Swim England.

It's either 8 years of being offensive or 2 years of being offensive. We'll be generous and let you take your pick Swim England, so long as we get a better fucking answer than, 'this doesn't reflect our views'. No that's just your official view for x amount of years until someone decided to embarrass you. Someone approved it. Will action be taken against them? Or the person who approved it?

Na didn't think so.

So much for your woke points.

Thing is if you have a jiggly belly you're more likely to be apple shaped (like me) not pear. Just saying.

"As a guide to choosing swimwear for women it’s worth remembering people come in different shapes and sizes"

Stone me, I'd totally forgotten that. What would we do without such helpful reminders?

Is there a companian page for men and boys on choosing swimwear to disguise their less appealing parts and draw attention to their "assets"?

No?

Hmmm that's a massive oversight - how strange.

Badger - i don't think hampstead ponds have anything to do with swim england. They are owned & managed by the city of london. That bloke who's a "nonbinary" freemason and mates with the speaker of the house of commons is heavily involved around opening up this and otehr women's spaces to men. The speaker of teh house of commons being the one who refused a parliamentary question on karen white a TW in prison who assaulted female prisoners including showing them her erect penis... The freemason is also the partner of another nonbinary person who was heavily involved in writing guidance for teens around sex and stuff which says that clitorises and penises are basically the same but just differ in size. They have also cowritten papers with someone who believes that people who prefer "intergenerational sex" are at the bottom of the hierarchy of oppressed sexualities.

There's some interesting people and links in all this, for sure.

I thikn aminee challenor was and stil is involved in the stonewall trans group who advised swim england. Just another interesting link.

What? No Man Friday inspired Mankinis with frilly hats :( ???