OKAY. An open question here

[serai]

In the aftermath of the Discovery of Cockzilla, I'd like to ask everybody a question:


Just what the hell is wrong with Speedos, anyway?


I'm serious. I really don't get the whole EWWWW reaction. We saw a damn fine-looking guy wearing a garment that shows off his assets. Assets that most of the folks I hang with on LJ at the very least have been wondering about for a while, if not writing intricate pervy fics about. We got a good look at Sean's entire physique here (well, except for his feet). Granted, he's not exactly svelte, but some of us like a man with enough flesh to hang onto, you know.

Yeah, there's the "guys who shouldn't wear them" idea. But what's that got to do with the garment itself? It's hardly more revealing than a fucking THONG, for gods' sakes, and we see those damn things on the beach constantly. (In fact, it's less revealing - at least it covers the guy's buttcrack, damnit!) Why is it ho-hum for a woman to hang all her bits out to dry but outrageous for a man to do the same?

And all this shrieking and turning green from women who amuse themselves by writing about men porking each other, creating pics out of gay porn, and squeeing endlessly about how hot and fuckable their guys are? I'd have thought you all would be hopping with joy to see one of your fantasy guys wearing something that revealing. What gives???

Really, explain this to me. And cite reasons, please, not just "They just squick me!" Because it makes no sense to me at all.

Comments

[blackbird-song.livejournal.com]

My antipathy to Speedos is that they have, in my opinion, been designed to be supremely unflattering on just about every body, including those which most people find supremely sexy. I also find them offensive for the same reasons that I do thongs and other such garments: they objectify the people wearing them without honoring them. The human body is beautiful, and deserves to be shown off fully, and to its best advantage.

I do not advocate that men should only wear boxers; far from it, although some men look cute in them, and the knowledge that they are comfortable and give the boys room to breathe is also sexy, to me. I just wish that someone could design a brief garment similar to Speedos that sat better on the body and showed things off without seeming to squash anything.

Another part of my aversion to them, I think, stems from the fact that I've known numerous guys who've had to wear dance belts, and Speedos tend to remind of those instruments of torture. (All the men I've known who've worn them complain bitterly about what they do to their bits.)

All of that having been said, I am enormously grateful to have been afforded such a gorgeous view of Sean in (nearly) all his glory. The color isn't great for him, but I don't care. They could have put him in a lime green pair, and I would only have been one angstrom less thrilled. I am very grateful that he had the cojones (as it were) to wear that costume with such sweet grace, and I shall be blushing the color of that outfit when I meet him again at ELF. (And I won't tell him why! *g*)

Thanks for this post, and for letting us weigh in on this!

Catherine

[serai1.livejournal.com]

*shrug* It's a matter of taste, I guess. I have no inherent objection to them at all; they just look like underwear to me. I don't get what's unflattering or objectifying about them. They level the playing field, moreover, and that I certainly don't object to. If women are going to be forced into showing their bodies for the sake of men's fun, the least men can do is reciprocate. What's it gonna do, kill them?

And the gods know, most men that I've met do not have half the problems with being ogled by women as women do vice versa. In fact, a lot of them love it. Which is why the whole double standard puzzles me. I think Undone is right above, and the unfairness resulted from straight guys getting more and more antsy about the possibility of gay guys looking at them. *eyeroll*