Today, I have been racking my brains to find the final pair to round out the Swimwear Sunday feature. Everything I wanted to profile has been sold, has no pictures, or is on clearance. I don’t have an issue with being on clearance, but if I direct people to the pair, I want them to be able to buy it. This made me think I should tell my journey in swim briefs. This will build on the recent group show on the Brief Talk Podcast.
The Early Years
I grew up in the 80’s, and this was a time for men to wear swim briefs. They were more common than they are now. It was the Summer of 84, and I noticed the swimmers and divers rocking the swim briefs. I knew I had to get one of these fantastic swimsuits. At the time, I wore bikinis every day, but I thought it would be incredible if I could feel like bikini briefs in swimwear.
Once at the mall, I said I was going to the bookstore but went to the sporting goods store there. I had been there a few times with the parents and knew they had “Speedos,” the real deal, the same I had seen swimmers and divers wearing. I walked in all nervous, flipped through the bright, solid colors, found my size, and ran to the dressing room. I quickly took my pants off and slid them on. I was not ready for the feeling of the super tight spandex. I was in love; these were better than I even imagined. I took them off, left them in the dressing room, and quickly left. I knew I had no money to buy them, so I had to wait.
We took a family vacation to Virginia Beach about a year after this. Sitting on our balcony, I noticed two guys lying on the beach in speedos. Two guys were wearing what I wanted to wear. So when I went to one of those tourist stores, I noticed they had Speedos and bought a purple Speedo on clearance. I didn’t see the size as a 36; at the time, I was a 31/32. It was a little too big, and I didn’t get the same feeling as the one I tried on, but it didn’t matter; I had an honest to-go “Speedo.” I even have a pic of a young me in this Speedo; the problem is I don’t know what box it’s in. (Sorry guys, this was way before camera phones).
I Became a Man in a Swim Brief.
After graduating High School and attending college in downtown Atlanta, I started to discover places like the Boy Next Door and where guys would go lay out. Boys would go to Piedmont Park (back then, not now) and lay on the “hill” at Monroe and 10th St. It was usually covered in guys in swim briefs laying out every Summer. I went to the Boy Next Door, bought swim briefs, and laid on the hill.
I would do this because I was always in town for school or work. It reached the point that I would plan on tanning time, even if it were only 20 mins. I would always wear swim briefs under my clothes and have a blanket in the trunk to lay out. I would park in the gravel lot, walk out to the hill, put my blanket down, and strip to my Speedo. As you can imagine, everyone nearby would watch the newcomer strip down, and I was always curious about what guys wear. I rarely talked to anyone, being introverted and shy. I just laid out and enjoyed the camaraderie of other swim brief guys.
I also started wearing them to “gay” events, such as friends’ pools, beach trips, and more. I remember going to the beach, and I was the only one on the beach in one, and I didn’t care. One of the biggest fights I got into with an ex (who was an ex at the time, and we were on a break, like friends) was if I was going to wear my flag swim brief on the beach in Panama City. First, I know the city is not a gay-friendly mecca, and second, it was planned before the break. I relented and didn’t pull my shorts off to reveal the patriotic swimsuit. To this day, I wish I would have said fuck it and done it and not worried about his thoughts.
Right after this, I joined the gay masters swim team. I loved this not only cause I could and it’s encouraged to wear “Speedos,” but I had so many of them that I never wore the same one twice. It would go noticed that me and one other guy never wore the same one twice. My collection grew and grew.
At the time, I was a 32-waisted at most and didn’t care. I was what you consider a tall twink with a great bulge. This was about to change.
Body Image Issues
After I stopped swimming, I began to gain weight; nothing major at first, but my waist started to grow from 33-34, then to 36 and more. Over the next ten years, I would range from a 36-42 inch waist. This made me cut back on my swim brief wearing. I wouldn’t say I liked my appearance and would no longer feel comfortable wearing them in gay situations. I reserved them to spaces where no one would mind a beefy guy in a speedo.
This would continue even to this day. I hear many of you saying, but Tim, you have Stevie, Ryan, Will, and Wayne on the podcast, all sexy, beefy men wearing swim briefs and not caring about it. You are correct. Each of these guys is a true inspiration to me. If I went to LA and hung out with Ryan and Will, I would wear something to match their swim briefs. I feel safe in numbers rather than being the only guy on the beach rocking a swim brief. Isn’t it strange that in our younger days, we are carefree and say fuck it but the older we get, the more we worry about others and censor ourselves?
Like many of you, I’m working on my issues and will wear swim briefs with pride and not care what others think. But, as many of you know, it’s not easy to change our body issues; it’s more than losing weight. It’s about being comfortable as we are and how we look. My goal for next year is to go somewhere out of my comfort zone and wear a swim brief. I would have done it this year, but with some medical issues that affected me, my summer was not the best. Plus, it took a lot of time and money that I would have spent on a nice vacation.
I hope many of you who have gone through something similar, or this will reach out. DM or Email me, and let’s talk and encourage each other to wear what we want!
