Give speedos a chance.

Restricting yet free.

After writing this piece I realised how ridiculous it will probably sound to Croatians. Please forgive me, for I am British.

What do you think of speedos?

Prior to moving to Croatia, I thought only three types of men wore them — young boys, older men with an appetite, and professional swimmers or divers. In my first summer in Croatia, I saw this wasn’t the case and that men of all ages, shapes and sizes wore them without worry.

Somehow I had fallen guilty to a type of body shaming. The idea that wearing speedos was uncool because of their skimpiness, ‘revealing’ nature and potential VPL (visible penis line). This only really hit me one day, when walking along the coast, I overheard a young female from the US.

‘Wow, they really have no shame!’, she commented on a group of guys who were running around in their speedos whilst playing picigin, a Dalmatian sport where the goal is to keep the ball out of the water, but with style.

Body shame

I was shocked at her comment. These guys were extremely fit, their bodies trim, tanned and toned. They obviously played every day, in this swimwear, without a care in the world what others may think.