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.

Well they certainly draw attention away from less appealing areas!

I notice the word 'colors' so some bright spark probably thought it was a good idea to cut-and-paste from an American website.

Ooh good catch.

Now that it's been pointed out, I started wondering what the actual origin of that text was, and I did a search on "these colors will have an overall minimizing effect". In fact there were quite a few sources from around 2010, and I don't know which one was the original. None of them seemed to give credit to any of the others (and Swim England certainly doesn't). Here's one:
www.womenality.com/2010/04/06/finding-the-perfect-swimsuit/

TeiTeua wow, it does make you wonder who/what organisation this all came from, I’d assume it was some sort of person/group that Swim England et all respected as an authority on how women should look Which is actually creepy.

It could be as simple as someone being told to write something about choosing swimsuits - meaning fabric choices, sport suits vs casual etc. And they ran with it far too far thinking they had had a bright Iidea to include sexist fashion advice. So possibly well intentioned.

But why the hell did it get approved?!

Have Swim England issued revised guidance re single sex swim sessions after it was pulled after Man Friday?

Still under review according to website

www.swimming.org/swimengland/engaging-trans-people-facility-operators/

It was another one where the interest groups came in, gave them an incorrect view of the EA, and said that as trans people lierally are the sex they identify as there is no need to do any risk assessments or have any consideration for others using the facilities.

I think they also had a bit about how anyone who felt uncomfy sharing fcilities should be educated.

There may have been some stuff about how tits in the pool were a no-no as it might upset people (transmen with no tops on) but as changing facilities are somehow different, cocks in the womens /girls was AOK.

Swim England do a lot of swimming clubs that meet in schools so communal changing.

I thought Swim England was all about promoting swimming ?

I’m a decent swimmer and I can tell you that there are women at my Tri club/masters group in their 50s and 60s who turn up in bobbly costumes and seen-better-days hats who can absolutely smoke me in the water.

Outdoor Swimmer magazine had a good laugh at the whole idea...

outdoorswimmer.com/blogs/swim-england-in-storm-over-swimsuit-advice

I've been part of the OW community for years and that article is bob on - it's one of the few sports where body fat is an advantage and as such you get a great range of people. I've never felt a moment's shame lakeside and many of my swimming heroes are women much older than me.

There may have been some stuff about how tits in the pool were a no-no as it might upset people (transmen with no tops on) but as changing facilities are somehow different, cocks in the womens /girls was AOK.

Indeed there was.

silentcrow I did the first great north swim; i remember my friend & I reassuring ourselves that ‘if that larger middle aged lady in the swimming costume’ thinks she can do this, we’ll be absolutely fine.
Turns out she was swimming all ten waves that day, was a multi channel swimmer & absolutely destroyed all us amateur wetsuit splashers!