Which looks gayer to you?
As the debate over the length of competition swimsuits rages, some people are crying “homophobia” as others fight the reinstatement of the traditional brief. Longtime IGLA and Gay Games officer Charlie Carson has stayed on top of the growing debate and came across these disturbing accusations in articles on SwimNews.com; And some of the “gay” arguments against the briefs are allegedly coming from the Americans. One author writes:
The Americans claim there is a “sensitivity” of their teenagers to “gay” connotations in wearing the brief suit, which they say would justify a universal rule–a gratuitous insult to all homosexuals.
Another resounds the charge:
There have been disturbing and politically incorrect statements, that briefs are being avoided around competitive pool decks, due to homophobic connotations.
For decades, the traditional brief was the accepted apparel for competitive swimmers. This was before gay marriage. Sodomy was illegal in some states. Homophobia was more rampant in the workplace. And somehow, the swimmers got by. To say that somehow male swimmers now need to be protected from gay ribbing is disturbing and out-of-touch. Maybe they should get rid of team “shaving parties” too.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 2:05 PM
“Team shaving parties”??? Really?
You mean the whole crew basically naked, lathering up and shaving. Wow! 
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Competitive swimmers are in incredible shape & usually quite tall. Who knew they were so delicate & fragile? Perhaps they’re afraid a speedo will show how small their member is? We all know the water’s cold.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 4:04 PM
I’m having a hard time believing that people are actually using the speedo “brief” = gay, theory. Age group, high school, collegiate and masters male swimmers generally train in briefs or brief-cut drag suits year round (and if not briefs, jammers which are only slightly less revealing), so it’s hard for me to see the issue at hand that for competitions people are avoiding briefs because they are too revealing or considered “gay”. The fact of the matter is these suits are fast, not only do they streamline the body and hold muscles in place, the material is allowing you to swim on top of the water instead of through the water, so to speak. Of course nobody wants to go back, but you also have to take into consideration that for almost the last 20 years swimsuit technology has been in competitive swimming, from the Aquablade and the paper suits that were used in the late 80′s and early 90′s, to the new Jakeds, Blu70′s, Speedo LZRs, and TYR Titons…..technology has surpassed the sport and something needs to be done. BUT again, the fact when elite swimmers train in briefs year round so what is the difference of wearing one at a meet (when most people will do a meet warm-up in their speedos anyway)
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Please bring back the briefs.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Folks need to grow up about this stuff. If a would-be male athlete is freaky about his body, or the shape of it, being seen, pick another sport.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Bullcrap. Swimmers are fucking Gods who sleep with all the girls because they have great bodies.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Wonder if there’s a generational gap on the issue in swimming. Usually older males are more inclined toward homophobic insecurities.
But in the case of shorts in b-ball, it tends to be the young guys who want them longer and longer to look less and less “gay”.
Oddly b-ballers, who tend to have embarassingly skinny caves, cover their thighs then wear saggers.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 8:48 PM
Jay Original, I am just trying to understand how you can euphemize “bullshit” to “bullcrap” but manage to use “fucking” as an intensifier. In the same sentence. Swimsuit-critic-style cognitive dissonance?
Anyway, Cyd, open up the Clock application on your iPhone and time how long it takes somebody to pass this posting along to His Majesty Mark Simpson, who will dutifully roll out a posting about “the phalliban.” (The tone, as usual, will be “Step aside. I’ll handle this.”)
on Jul 31st, 2009 at 2:14 AM
I am a Libra Joe. That’s all I can say.
on Jul 31st, 2009 at 7:27 AM
Ah yes, the Libras: always striving for balance. Keep paddling Jay, we’re behind ya 100%! So to speak.
on Jul 31st, 2009 at 4:09 PM
This is definitely a generational thing in my neck of the speedo woods.
I’d say ALL local teens (when they actually are swimming) wear surfboard shorts both in the pool and at the gym when doing weight training. The local swim club wears square-cut now. Even in Masters swimming, the speedo is in the minority. Once again, people let themselves be influenced by group pressure – noone will ever convince me that surfboard shorts (and they aren’t “short” ) make for efficient swimming, and if hiding the fact that you have balls is how a guy wants to spend their workout time, then hide ‘em!
Guys are still terribly afraid of looking different in any way, shape or form. So – they wear surfboard shorts like all of their friends and think speedos are funny for swimming? Go figure!
I will wear my speedos (and I have a dozen of ‘em) no matter what the style of the day! To me, it’s akin to whether you choose to be “out” or not. Wearing a speedo has nothing to do with being gay, but NOT wearing one because you’re afraid of a connotation is TOTALLY about homophobia, IMHO of course.
on Jul 31st, 2009 at 10:34 PM
“Team shaving parties”? I swam competitively in high school and college in the late 70′s/early 80′s and believe you me, there were NO such parties. Yet another in a long string of examples of why I was born too damn early!
on Jul 31st, 2009 at 11:58 PM
Afraid of speedos because they are gay?
That would imply that sprinters would ditch the lycra and go back to shorts and vest for the same reason. And they don’t – why – for the same reason that swimmers want these new suits, a slight, but measurable performance advantage.
on Aug 1st, 2009 at 7:16 AM
I noticed this American hang-up over swimsuits on a Caribbean cruise. Most of the guys on the snorkeling expedition in Grand Cayman wore board shorts while I wore square-cut trunks. The excursion hosts, a pair of Jamaicans, wore briefs!
on Aug 2nd, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Isn’t what you wear suppose to help you while you’re in the race, large or small (suit that is) whatever works, wear it.
Maybe less mind in the on the center of the body would help, isn’t the guy first at the finish line is what the sport is all about!
on Aug 2nd, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Aren’t these new suits supposed to be faster (and quite more expensive) than the Speedo-style suits? It seems to me like the people who “have-not” want to stick with the Speedos while the people “who” have want the new suits and everyone is either pulling lame excuses out of thin air or are hiding the real reasons why they want what they want.
on Aug 2nd, 2009 at 4:59 PM
When speedo briefs were worn, the networks never showed full frontal shots except waist up. The only time we knew they wore briefs was long angle shots. Cowards!
on Aug 3rd, 2009 at 9:45 PM
Let them all swim naked, like sperm.
on Aug 4th, 2009 at 8:00 PM
I really don’t get the homophobia argument. I can speak for myself most of the rowing team, and a few on the swim team at college when I say that no one cared. To the contrary it really seemed like most of the guys enjoyed showing off and for good reason.
on Aug 5th, 2009 at 5:02 PM
The speedo racing brief is less common because an increasing number of Americans are a bunch of ultra-conservative, boring prudes. The sport of swimming has been ruined by these hideous looking, robotic like body suits. If a guy is so damned scared and embarrassed to wear a speedo brief in competitive swimming, then it is time for him to pursue another sport. The speedo brief is still the best suit for competitive swimming because it has the least amount of drag which reduces a swimmers speed. These body suits do not make swimmers faster that is a bunch of propaganda from the companies pushing these ridiculous outfits. The only thing that makes a swimmer faster is practicing the sport and working on form. This claim that the high tech bodysuits will make a person faster in the pool is baseless bullshit. I would not be surprised if the ignorant, religious right wing has had some strong influence in this issue.
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 3:59 PM
I’m with Ossurworld, the only way to alleviate competitive advantage is for swimmers to compete nude. This doesn’t mean that the sport becomes just a big naked pool party, but it will end the debate on who has the faster suit. I’d like to remind every one that the olympic games in greece were all nude precisely for this reason. Furthermore, the word gymnasium means “to train in the nude.” Just my two cents.
on Apr 2nd, 2010 at 12:06 PM
This is not new … the same concerns have been raised for decades.