"Speedo" or "bikini"

[SwimSpeedo]

New here and enjoying the posts and the pics. Been into the speedo/bikini thing from my kid days. Had a bud who always wore one at the pool. Years ago we called it a "competitin suit"..then "speedo" seems to have become a generic term. Being pedantic, do we make a distinction between a "speedo" and a 'bikini"? Difference?

[ChicagoDan]

I think its all a matter of cut, smaller , lower cuts I consider bikinis, wider sides would be a speedo to me.

[Baltspeed]

Yes, I think it's only a small difference between the 2 terms. But where is the limit between? The speedos with 1,5 inch side-cut and less can be called "bikini"?
How would you think about it, guys?

[SwimSpeedo]

What you show in your avatar is definitely a bikini

[diveguy]

Yes I agree with the concept of smaller cut, and lower situated. I consider it a bikini if the sides measure 1 inch (2.5 cm) or less. Up to 1.5 inches, I think of it as a very brief speedo, near bikini but not quite. Anything more than 1.5 inches is a speedo for sure. Others may still think of a 1.5 inch speedo as a bikini, that's fine. I'm just saying what my own personal criteria is.

Regardless of side measurement, though, if the swimsuit is a brief styled speedo, I love it.

[SwimSpeedo]

I'm enjoying this discussion. Yes, the side measurements are significant for sure. For me, as a kid growing up, it was how low below the navel it rode that made some guys ( and girls) make little quips about it being a bikini.

[rmf]

Honestly, when I hear bikini, I think of a girl swim bottom. Low rise, high on the hips and smaller seat. After a long break (during HS & college) of not wearing swim briefs, I inadvertently purchased a suit that was just like this. They sort of looked like the old Solar tan-thru suit. They were thin and sat high on the hips, low front and a very little seat. It literally looked like I had a potato sack hanging between my legs (because where they sat on my hips & zero support) ... gosh looking back I remember they looked just awful on me (I'm cringing). I think I wore them maybe twice to the beach and then threw them away. I got a lot of strange looks and it was enough to give up wearing swim briefs for at least 6 yrs or so.

So for me, if I see a men's swim suit that looks like a girl's bikini bottom in the front or back, I pass right over them.

[...:::sam:::...]

Ive never heard of Speedos being called bikini's!

Girls wear bikinis

[diveguy]

Oh I think it is definitely legitimate to apply the term "bikini" to an ultra-brief men's swimsuit. Certainly, the word bikini originally referred exclusively to women's brief two-piece suits, but us guys adopted the term for ourselves quite awhile back. I think bikinis are very special. Women's bikinis are universally accepted as being very brief swimsuits. Men's bikinis are reserved exclusively for the very briefest styles, and only the briefest, smallest, skimpiest of speedos can legitimately be considered as bikinis. And I LOVE them, as do many of us here on this forum.

To be completely honest, I've always had a thing for speedos, but I never thought of them as bikinis until some of them got really, really small. And then the manufacturers themselves started referring to them as "bikinis", and began marketing them to their most daring male customers.

The first real men's bikini that I can remember being sold was from the Miami based swimwear manufacturer Ritchie. Below is the all time classic catalog picture of their Men's Bikini swimsuit, which came in three different backside offerings: "Full", "Ritchie" (which I assume was maybe 3/4 back coverage), and "Tanga" or thong. I lusted after this swimsuit back in the day. This picture is where I first learned that there are bikinis made for a man. It was super hard to find online, I'm lucky I found it. Had to go into the internet archives to scrounge for versions of their website dating back to 2003.

bbm1_1.jpg (23.69 KiB) Viewed 8071 times

[SwimSpeedo]

Yes..that was a turning point when the swimsuit catalogs ( as well as underwear) just simply referred to some of their products as "bikinis".
I love it too. For me it's a combo of the narrow sides and how low it rides below the navel.

[rmf]

Ha, this is the "sack" suit I was thinking of... I get it but it's just not for me.

[Norfcountryboy]

New here and enjoying the posts and the pics. Been into the speedo/bikini thing from my kid days. Had a bud who always wore one at the pool. Years ago we called it a "competitin suit"..then "speedo" seems to have become a generic term. Being pedantic, do we make a distinction between a "speedo" and a 'bikini"? Difference?

Yeah we just called them "Swimming trunks", then somehow a brand became the name, like Hoover or Stanley Knife. My inner pedant thinks they should be Speedo's not Speedo but I have fallen into bad habits since joining this forum!
I thought that bikini was an exclusively female garment for a long time, kind of bi-kini and that it was because it had two parts a top and a bottom. Turns out it was named after a specific place. I don't think of men wearing bikini's it has too many feminine associations for me but from the way other guys use this name on the forum I think it means a specific low/ minimal unlined cut, kind of like what Italians sometimes call a "Slipini".

BTW although I think a single pair of Speedo's should always be plural, I don't think bikini's sounds right!

[diveguy]

Yes..that was a turning point when the swimsuit catalogs ( as well as underwear) just simply referred to some of their products as "bikinis".
I love it too. For me it's a combo of the narrow sides and how low it rides below the navel.

I completely agree about the narrow sides and how low it rides. See my next response to rmf's comment below:

Ha, this is the "sack" suit I was thinking of... I get it but it's just not for me.

And yes, here too, I completely agree. But it's a matter of fashion, specific to a certain era. That's the way the suits were cut back then. I admit I lusted after that Ritchie suit at that time. Today, I look at it and yes, it rides way too high up on the hips. I would not wear a suit shaped like that. It looks more like a "sling". But that doesn't mean it wasn't, or even isn't still to this day, a "bikini". Because it is. And don't forget, back in that same era, women's bikini bottoms were situated similarly high on the hips. Again, like any other style trends, it's usually pretty easy to look at them and pick out from what era they came.

I don't think of men wearing bikini's it has too many feminine associations for me but from the way other guys use this name on the forum I think it means a specific low/ minimal unlined cut, kind of like what Italians sometimes call a "Slipini".

I think the word "bikini" represents the ultimate level of daring regardless of gender. Men are generally not supposed to wear skimpy swimwear, at least not in North American culture. That's why we all get so excited and turned on when we pull on a speedo, or even just think about it. Because we know it's taboo, and we are rebelling against that and catering to our inner "nasty". Those same feelings and emotions are increased dramatically when we go even beyond the speedo, and embrace what society reserves for women only, and even especially just the ones that have the proper body for it... the idea of wearing a bikini. It's the inner nasty in me saying I need to go even skimpier than a speedo and confront the taboo with even greater force. I don't just wear a speedo which is nasty and daring enough. I wear a bikini, and that's a whole nuther level of nasty.

Then the specifics of what constitute a bikini as to side measurements, how low on the hips, etc. just become subjective preferences.