Strutting the Speedo

As my family and I were going into "Aqua boulevard", a water park in Paris, an employee warned us that no swim trunks were aloud inside the park, only Speedos. My father and brother, being who they are, were not turned off by this- Conor brought his and my dad went and bought one. When we turned the corner into the park, a truly European sight hit me, men and boys all in Speedos. The old men had their  hiked up to their belly buttons, showing off their muscular and hairy hips. Cheerful little boys had their Speedos dragging behind them, their pale butt cheeks naked and exposed. It was just the way it was, and people didn't look twice. 

In Nice I wasn't surprised to see Speedos covering the beach as well. My dad also wore his Speedo that he bought in Paris and claimed to be a "convert". He sat in his tiny black shorts reading and sleeping on the warm pebbles with a pride and confidence that would have been impossible to achieve in the states with the stares of disapproving critiques. Women had their shirts off as well, and it didn't seem strange at all. They were mainly old women too. Old and withered, dried out by the sun. You could tell that they had grown up in Nice and the sun and sea were just part of their life. Nobody cared. The mindset in France was whatever, so what?. The environment was just different. 

In America we just have problems with our bodies. We are shy and scared to show them, self-conscious and conservative on the shore. It is funny that we live in this new and revolutionary country, and yet we have such prude and closed mindsets toward things such as skin and a persons body. But whatever. When I go to the beach and see my dad strutting his Speedo, I don't feel embarrassed or try and burrow myself deep into the sand, but I am proud of him, and glad that he is striving to get the best tan lines possible.