I ask because my son is a lifeguard at a local tennis club pool. A bunch of kids came one day ( a french HS tennis team), and the boys all wore speedo-style swimsuits. According to my son, they got razzedby the local kids for this.
What isit about americans…its is not like the girls are shy (most of them are wearing pretty small swimsuits)?
Yes. I have short legs and board trunks look ridiculous on me. Given my druthers, I be nude, so why not wear as little as possible?
I own about 7-8 suits. All but one is a “speedo” suit. I don’t generally goto the pool unless I’m swimming though so I wear mine. I do wear a normal one if I happen to just be swimming a bit, or I don’t want to scare the young life guards there. Of course I’m in shape so I’m not that embarassed about my body.
I’ve heard about the minimal nature of Speedos for eons, but Speedo makes a variety of swimwear. What, exactly, is considered “a Speedo”?
Like plnnr, I’d rather swim nude. What’s the point of wearing something to get wet in? When you get out of the water and dry off, you’ve still got this thing on that’s annoyingly dripping water down your legs.
The Eastern seaboard needs some clothing-optional beaches.
I almost passed up a great guy a decade ago, but one day he came to the pool wearing a speedo. I thought he looked great and decided to be brave enough to approach him. Great times past and ahead for us thanks to that itsy bitsy teeny weenie cover!
Not on your life. But then I also don’t really enjoy getting my entire body wet (had to refrain from saying “don’t like getting wet” because I know someone would run with that until I tackled 'em), so it’s not much an issue for me.
I’d rather not stand around among strangers and be wearing, effectively, underwear.
This Speedo hang up thing is strangely American. In UK and Europe in general, the regular Speedo made swim wear is considered very conservative and boring, it’s the sort of thing your mum buys you to wear when swiming at school. Any self respecting male would wear less boxy looking swim wear, though swim-thongs are going to far, the male swimwear would be like American bikini-style underpants. Swim shorts would only be worn if you didn’t intend to swim, or if you are too fat to look any good in smaller swim wear.
Nope, I’m long past the days I could wear one. I wore em when I was in my 20s though, now it’s shorts if I must or nothing at all (strangers or not). 
I’m a baggy boxer swimsuit guy myself but being to Europe, having European in-laws, and honeymooning in Turkey has taught me at least one thing:
It is only in the U.S. that we avoid speedos.
I looked like the freak in my Old Navy surf-style swim-suit.
I am also a subject of some conversation between my wife and mother-in-law in regards to being cut too. My mother-in-law, apparently, cannot understand why we do that here.
MeanJoe
I think US males do not wear racing style suits, because US women make fun of guys that do. My massage therapist (female) assures me that I could if I would, but who wants to be razzed all the time? (Plus, the last time I wore one when I wasn’t swimming laps, this very attractive brunette kept staring at my crotch. I was actually hiding behind my kids forgodssake. Until then I always wondered why women objected to guys talking at their chests. )
Hmm… not all of Europe, I can tell you that. Here in Denmark Speedo-style swimwear has been out of fashion since the late eighties - and it’s unusual to see anyone wear them besides serious athletes. In any other, more casual or beach situation, many people regard them as show-off or questionable taste. Funny thing when you look at the size of most women’s swimwear…
My daughter is beginning her 4th year on the school swim team. I’ve been to a few meets. All the boys wear the little speedos when they race, but once out of the pool, they pull the baggies on. Dunno if it’s fashion or modesty.
Sorry, I’m not wearing anything that tight. I wear my boxers or nothin at all (no briefs). Regular boxer type bathing suits that have that damned mesh crap sewn in them, gotta go too.
BTW it has nothing to do with modesty or endowment. They are just uncomfortable.
Reminds me of a jockstrap. <ouch>
my boys need room to breathe. . .
I wrote a reply to this thread in the vein of Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham which I was going to post here but it turned out so well that I started a new thread here. You’ll have to check that thread if you want to read it…
Frankly, I prefer my beach trips to be naked ones whenever possible, but: I’m on a swim team. Racing suits are all I own. If I knuckled under to fashion and bought one of them big baggy affairs, I’d end up wearing it twice a summerand by the following year it would be unfashionable again, somehow, and I’d have to buy a new one. So to hell with it. If somebody can’t handle the idea of me in a Speedo, tough. They’re probably just jealous 'cause I look so goooooood.
Last time I went to a beach that required swimwear, I was struck by the double standard at work: the women wore as little as possible, but the men were wearing the biggest, baggiest shorts they could find. I’m not sure it’s the women who impose the no-Speedo thing. I think it’s the guys: a combination of peer pressure, body-image panic, and the deep-seated terror of seeming ‘gay.’ (Or ‘European,’ which as we all know is pretty much the same.)
RTFirefly: There are plenty of nude beaches on the East Coast. Here’s a bunch near NYC, for instance. Or see nudebeachguide.com for a list for the entire Northeast…
Nope, they’re to be avoided in Australia too. We call them, “cock jocks”.
Almost all beach-going guys – the exception being saggy old men – wear knee-length, quick-drying board shorts.
Ok. Why don’t you all just send me photos of yourselves in Speedos and I’ll tell you whether or not you should wear them to the beach. Fair? 
Hell, I wear ‘em to work. It’s so damned hot during the day…plus, I’m doing construction, landscaping. roofing etc…I just hose off when I get too hot or dirty and and keep on tickin’.
Shorts dry quick and clean easy…that and a mesh tank top if anything, gotta admit it looks odd w/ steel toe boots. But I wear sandals enough to keep the feet tanned as well
Sorry Opal no gotti speedo…
Heh. Not a chance opal. Nice try though…
No.
But only because I’m not in shape. If I could drop 30 ponds and tone up my muscles a little, I’d happilly wear speedos.
Women could stare at my crotch as much as they wanted. I’m unsatisfied with my appearance and most of my body. But I’m quite pleased with that particular part.