The Ban of The Mankini in Newquay

With the article link below, i wanted to break down some points on the mankini with your thoughts, considering the following questions i pose out to you for discussion:

Does the mankini reveal too much?

Isn't it already pretty much acceptable for any pat of a male's anatomy, aside form genitalia, to be exposed in public ?

Is it because the men are out of shape that the exposure is unacceptable? vs, say, models who show off this attire in catalogues, etc. ?

What does it say about communities who refuse to accept the non-sexual exposure of out of shape males.

Does this exposure really qualify as sexual in context if no genitalia is exposed ?

If a female were equally exposed from the hips down, would that be, or is that, otherwise acceptable where the corresponding male exposure is not? (thus implying a double standard)

Are there communities where it us unacceptable for unshapely women to be wearing bikinis ?

I aimed to put this in the nudism category since it seems to be being treated more or less as such, and the issue seems to really be about exposure & whether or not it is offensive / inappropriate.

Here is the article: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/crime-drops-business-booms-british-town-bans-mankinis-article-1.2238829

I think the mankini is hilarious and there isn't any reason to ban it based on its own merits.

Of course, if people wearing it are disruptive, that's another problem. The mankini certainly shows less than what you see at a nude beach and shows about the same thing you see in a woman's thong bikini.

I was on the swim team and played water polo, all we ever wore were Speedos. I have been stared at wearing those by literally hundreds of people at a time at a swim meet. I think Speedos show off more of a guy’s junk but less of his ass than the mankini. Speedos were regulation wear, no one ever tried to ban them. I think the main difference is we were all in really good shape, I have never seen a fat competitive swimmer yet. That being said, wouldn’t want to wear a pair of Speedos or mankini at my age, physical condition or amount of body hair!

When I was a lifeguard and swim instructor at the YMCA we wore regular trunks and were not allowed to wear Speedos at any time. Funny thing was that every one of the lifeguards was a swimmer and wore Speedos at meets—that was the prime qualification for the job. All of us guys would notice middle-aged moms picking their kids up from swim lessons checking us out, oh god I wish I still had that body.

Before this post I had no idea what manikini was!

Its so hilarious 😁 ,I showed it to my dad LMAO!

I fear that if the wrong strap broke I would be launched and go skidding across the water on my back.

Haha good one Stephen. I think the Mankini could double as s sling shot. Look out Goliath!

Damn !!! My holiday to Newquay this year has been ruined . I was so looking forward to hitting the beach eyeing up all the men ???

YIKES !!!! Lmao I hope I don't have nightmares from that visual !

Bridgett, I'm quite sure that you could get a good look over at Provincetown. I have a lesbian friend who does colonic irrigations up there in the summer and at Key West in the winter. Someone has to suffer those places.

StephenS, thanks so much for the warning ! Lol

I disagree with the ban totally. I look at it this way. Everybody has a different body be it a man or a woman. As long as that person is comfortable to wear it or any other bathing suit or even go to the nude beach it that person so chooses, than that person should do it. if some does not like it, then they do not have to look. I see plenty of guys and girls out of shape wearing what they want. Its not a problem with me. I have a little beer belly to, and if I go to the beach, I wear my speedo. Personally, I like my woman a little on the heavy side. To see them in a bikini really turns me on. I love to go to the nude beach too, and there you see everything. Nobody should be ashamed and embarrassed how they look. Go to the beach and flaunt it😃

Ive never tried a mankini but I have been on holiday abroad and worn a thong on the beach.

Most of the women were topless and in skimpy bikini bottoms, so it just blended in I guess... It works well as deterrent from looking at all the women, as the last thing you want in a thong is an erection!

I've never seen these before and they look totally hilarious and ridiculous and not really very elegant. They could have come from a Monty Python sketch with a title like 'How to Draw Attention to the Naughty Parts' ... ha ha.

I know they reveal less of the private parts, but the way the apparel is designed, the straps act like visual arrows drawing the eyes attention immediately to the crotch.

That said, why ban them? Anything is good for a laugh. I wouldn't be caught dead in one, and if I saw someone with these on a beach I'd probably have to press my face into the sand to hide my laughter, but that's besides the point.

Which reminds me that just this morning I read that some dozen girl students were banned from a Brussels school for wearing long, ankle length dresses/skirts ... I sometimes think there are too many people who like to ban and prohibit and demonize.

They are dorky, and I have no idea why someone would want to wear one, but then I say that about many of today's fashions. They aren't more revealing than other forms of close-fitting swimwear, although agracier is correct that the slingshot design does draw the eye downward, so if you're going to ban them, ban the others too.

Having said that, I noticed the connection the town leadership made between those wearing the mankinis and their bad behavior--their excuse for banning said mankinis. I wonder if those guys would behave as badly in other swimwear. We should set up a study. Perhaps the design of the mankini causes such a constriction they have difficulty thinking properly to control their behavior.

I was just waiting for the weather to warm up. I had my 'kini all ready. Now I am a little wary of wearing it.

LOL, that is freaking funny. I might like it more and find if incredibly sexy if their junk was in a caged device with material going up around his neck that kept the cage and his junk in place. But you know, that's just me, lol.

Mashie

It's only JUNK if it doesn't work like it's supposed to!

You make a great point Sue. LOL

Mashie

It's only JUNK if it doesn't work like it's supposed to!

That is such a denigrating term to use ... there is nothing junky at all about those parts. They are quite valuable and endearing to many of us, to most of us I'd wager.

I really wonder where the term ever came from, how it got started? It's a very disapproving term so it can't come from permissive thinking ...

I think that the mankini should be allowed. I know that many women regard speedos as weird, and they are a bit of a joke ('budgie smugglers'), but many men prefer them rather than big baggy shorts. We should allow any clothing that covers the legal parts.

I personally do not mind exposing more of myself but find the mankini not an attractive thing!

It may partially be due to the fact that I do not find men attractive.

I don't agree with the ban really on mankinis, from a social perspective, but my eyes disagree. Unless you are completely ripped, you are just going to look silly(even then, you look silly). It's never the guys you want to see dressed like that, it's always the guys with the beer guts and bad scrotum related camel toe 😢

I just can't see anyone looking sexy in this, you just look like Borat. Don't look like Borat.

I do think the reason for the ban though is, men who are intentionally trying to expose themselves to others, but know better enough to not have their genitals completely out.

That said, a lot of beaches will ban women from wearing thongs too. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/28/north.carolina.no.thongs/

So there you go.

When I lived in Virginia Beach in the late 80s, there was a BIG press to-doo because a woman was ticketed/fined for wearing a swimsuit she had just bought at one of the stores on the boardwalk.

IMO, anything that is legal to sell should be legal to wear for the stated purpose.

When I lived in Virginia Beach in the late 80s, there was a BIG press to-doo because a woman was ticketed/fined for wearing a swimsuit she had just bought at one of the stores on the boardwalk.

IMO, anything that is legal to sell should be legal to wear for the stated purpose.

That is indeed what a normal person would think. But I fear that the people who make laws and rules and regulations and ordinances are not always that normal.

L wore Speedos (the "standard" types al competitive swimmers used to wear, as opposed to the even-smaller "fashion" suits sold in catalogs) from the time I first started swimming, and continued to do so until "my chest began to drop down toward my stomach" in my late fifties; now I wear the somewhat fuller-cut "jammer" style; wouldn't be caught dead in board shorts.

But I can't see any sense in wearing a mankini; it's like a swimmer's form of bib overalls (something else I would never wear),

Mankini's are not alluring, end of, even if worn by a tanned Adonis. However, this is especially so if they are the lime green ones, invariably worn by a 'typical' English male, ie paler than milk white, with somewhat of a beer belly hanging out between the straps. And much unkempt body hair to go with that... Having said that, neither are many of the garments you see on the beach worn by women, so I'm not sure on that basis they should be banned, unless we are going to go down the slippery slope of body shaming.

One thing that I do think we should remember is that these garments tend to be worn by people as a joke, invariably as part of a drunken stag party. And that before it took off as a stag and hen party destination, Newquay used to be predominantly family and surfer holiday spot; obviously, most parents do not want to expose their children to drunken idiots who are behaving in a most antisocial manner. Banning the mankini has resulted in roughly half as many arrests for anti-social behaviour in the town between 2009 and 2013, meaning that once again the town is becoming more family friendly, and a nicer place to both visit and live. And that's got to be a good thing, right?

I have one my mrs brought for me for a laugh .I must be honest , I would rather be nude than wear one in public , I think no matter who wears it looks daft.

This is NOT something I want to see on the beach 😁 😁 😁

https://timothyrhaslett.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/mankini.jpg

Lol Susie, when fabric is suspended between two parts of your body you have a problem.

Susie-- you got that one right.

hankb