Now this has got to be a hoot for gay French men who probably wore skimpy swimwear (if any at all) long before anyone else.

But when you think about it, it's consistent with the ban on the burkini and may be a way to legally - or at least legitimately - justify the latter.

Technically though, I'm not sure the traditional "mankini" would be considered equivalent to the true male bikini, so you may want to ignore the suggestion in the subtitle of this thread.

Who would have ever thought that the centuries old rivalry between Britain & France would stoop to the low level of swimwear.

Personally, I find long board shorts and swim trunks utterly ridiculous. Gimme a speedo anyday! Some board shorts these days are practically pants-length and totally uncomfortable and clingy when wet. With a speedo, there's nothing getting in the way or retricting movement (restricting bloodflow, maybe ), but I find them much more comfortable. Of course, skinny dipping is my preferred way, but opportunities don't arise all that often.

Speedos absolutely make the most sense if you're seriously swimming, which is why I wear them for lap swimming. I can see the point of board shorts, though, depending on how modest the beach you're on seems to be.

I was curious to see why the French require Speedos for men, and I have to admit that the reasoning makes sense. Anything that puts more men into Speedos is OK by me. :-)

Of course, Aquaman's right: wearing nothing at all is really the way to go.

A friend of mine who travels to Paris frequently told me about the board shorts ban years ago, this is not new.

In terms of speedo-wearing, I would not wear one to the (straight) family beach where I go with my kids, but in Provincetown or in my own yard, it's a speedo or balls to the sun for me.

I think guys who refuse to wear speedosare being a bit overly self-conscious. I liken it to a guy who's afraid to work out at a gym for the first time out of fear that the muscleheads and regulars will look down on him. That just doesn't happen. Besides, nothing is sexier to me than a speedo tanline on a set of pampelmousse (French for grapefruit) buns.

For doing laps at the pool I wear short-cut jammers or a Speedo. Doing laps in boar-shorts is amoung the most ridiculous things I can think of. Same thing with the Novice rowers who wear shorts or people in baggy shorts on a Road Bike.

At the beach I have a pair similar to these http://www.sauvagewear.com/store/item.php?pid=3180, but in a slightly higher cut.

I like my body. I don't see a reason to cover it up at the beach. Moreover, boardshort tan lines look asinine.

Well if nothing else this issue has increased my urban vocabulary.

I had just gotten use to "bikini wax" and "brazilian". Now it seems some metrosexual men are dropping loads of their economic windfall into something called the "back, sack and crack".

I wonder if French legislators have invested in any of this.

Not a suitable waste of money for the ubersexual I would think. And some of us still think a little hair-down-there can be sexy. But then, they aren't interested in what us other men think...I assume.

Not necessarily. I for one don't want the general public to find out more about me than I want them to.

Too many rules in this world, and now you're gonna give me a dress code for fun? I think Speedo tan lines are a turn off and nobody should be forced to wear nut huggers on a bike. Getting sick and tired of seeing those long sleeve speedos (bike shorts) on the trails.

Notice I said road-bike. Cruising around in baggy clothing on a road-bike slows you significantly... as do board-shorts in a pool. There is a reason the kit for a given sport comes the way it does.

If you are just puttering around for fun, do whatever. But as for people who take things a bit more seriously if you don't like the kit, don't participate.

With regard to Speedo tan lines, I agree that I would prefer none, but it's better than board-short lines.

I don't like speedo tan lines either. That's why I go to Haulover Beach, the local nude beach here

Sorry, fellas! There's nothing sexier to me than the contrast between milky white cheeks and nether regions and tanned torsos and thighs! Give me speedo tan-lines any day of the week!

And as for nut-hugging, lycra-encased butts...Always makes me pedal harder in the chase or in the pursuit!

That's true to a point. I think that, generally, gay men don't have an issue w/ wearing them. Straight men, on the other hand, tend to generally view speedos as "gay" & therefore opt for board shorts. Frankly I like both. I think board shorts on men playing beach volleyball is hawt! But yes, speedo tan lines are hawt too!

Not true, SC...not all straight men view Speedos as "gay!"

And just what makes you assume that all those men are straight Just4Kxx?

Perhaps I should have been a lil more clearer--straight American men. Also, that's why I said "generally speaking." Trust me, I've been around enough straight American men to know that they'd NEVER be caught dead in a speedo. Just sayin...

I know what you meant, SC. I thought my attempt at humor would have been pretty obvious, but I guess I should have put a or a after my comment. My point with those pics was that the only American straight men you see in Speedos these days are ones you don't want to see!

Believe me, I couldn't agree more about American straight men's attitudes about Speedos. I grew up in the '80s when it wasn't too uncommon for straight men to wear Speedos or even bikini-style underwear, not to mention tight jeans and short-shorts. I don't know exactly at what point it became "gay" to wear them, but I think it's pretty ridiculous to think like that.

You may have hit on something with that time period of the '80s.

I think perhaps an important event changing attitudes in the '80s was AIDS.

About mid-decade the assumption of Gay=HIV-infected simply confirmed and supported homophobes worst fears about homosexuality, and triggered the spread of the regression to extreme right-wing views associated with what was previously becoming a minority during the sexual liberation of the '60s, '70s and even early '80s.

Seems like that regression is culminating now with disparate cultural phenomena from the birthers and death-panelites to the dropping hemlines on men's shorts that started with insecure young urban blacks.

It's as though the entire country accelerated toward some safe cocoon with 9/11 - any port in a storm?

Or am I stuffing a bit too much into those tiny speedos?

Ahhhh! Actually, becuz I don't know you your sense of humor that well I wasn't sure whether you were serious or not. Plus, I didn't want to offend our "big boned" brothas so I kept silent.

Sportinlife, I think that your comments about AIDS are dead on. Sexuality in all sorts of forms became very suspect in the late 80s, and anything that could be construed as sexual -- like wearing a Speedo and showing off the goods -- became suspect as a result.

On the other hand, that's reading the wearing of a Speedo in purely fashion terms. Serious swimmers, gay or straight (even serious recreational swimmers), paid very little heed to this. At my Y, we all wear Speedos in the pool for the obvious reasons: they're easier to swim in and they cut down on drag in the water.

The fact that, as as gay man, I find them very hot -- well, that's just icing on the mancake.