Norwegian Star
 

I find the Americans are so prudish when it comes to wearing swimwear. They seem to prefer to hang around in soggy old boardies. As an Australian, I only wear brief swimwear. Speedos are not gay! And I wore them on a Norwegian Star cruise last week from Melbourne to New Zealand. Unfortunately the ships engines broke down out in the ocean and we got towed back to Melbourne (full refund and another cruise offered). But I spent three hot days out on deck, and in the pool, in my Desmiit low rise bikinis. Nobody minded, in fact two fellow male passengers became friendly and spent the time with me in their Aussiebums. Not as issue at all.

It was cruise from Los Angeles to Miami through the Panana Canal with stops in several countries along the way.

Respectfuly, SpeedoIan, have you looked around? Board shorts prevail in Australia, too. I find it far more productive to not sterotype an entire nation with flawed statements. I have worn brief style suits all my life (a long time) and it has never been as issue, never been a problem. I was told bluntly once to go put on some clothes, that was in Australia of all places. I don't see posts on here bashing your country, how about you skip bashing mine.

STS

I would never bash the USA. I love the country, having visited it seven times. It is just that in the USA speedos are considered by most as gay. That's where the stupidity lies. If the USA were to be bashed, as you call it, by me, it would be as a result of a recent election. That says something if ever anything does. I guess I will wait four or eight years till I next visit, when the USA hopefully returns to free trade. You can't expect to export without importing too. Great diverse country though. And much more polite people than the average Australian is these days.

I am not surprised that people make tha gay connection and doubt it is a US only thing. Competitive events excluded, I do think a gay guy is far more likely to wear a brief cut suit compared to a str8 guy. I go to a beach in Maine, USA that has a fairly large contingent of brief (or less) wearing guys. It also has a very large gay attendance. Guess where the hottest swimsuits are. Whole companies, such as Aussiebum, clearly cater to a more gay clientele. The cover of DNA and many other gay media proudly display hot guys in skimpy swimwear. I don't really care if someone decides my sexuality based on the swimsuit I wear. If they have equated my swim brief suit as gay, it is not to hard to understand why. No matter where they live.

Cruise
 

There were plenty of men with there wives/girlfriends on the cruise wearing brief swimwear, but as I noted earlier, most of them seemed to be European or Latin American. For what ever reason, brief swimwear for straight men seems more common outside the US. I am an exception because I am as straight married American who wears swim briefs most of the time.

This is awesome. More power to you bro!

I am a straight married American who wears swim jammers most of the time. I have occasionally seen negative comments about jammers, here, but there's no denying that jammers are snug, feel great, look good (thighs clad in spandex can look amazing), and are much better for swimming than baggy swim shorts or board shorts. I learned that the hard way!

Labelling the wearers of speedos as gay is just cheap homophobia. Lazy homophobes unable to the identify gay men they wish to abuse attack all men who wear swim briefs or short shorts. Not wishing to be bullied many school boys and young men conform.
If you ran a swimwear company and wished to advertise your products would you choose hot young men, wimps or chubs to be your models? The answer is simple you want to associate your product with health, fitness and sexiness.

Out of curiosity, how does one define that the men with wives/girlfriends on the cruise "seemed" to be European or Latin American?

I have never been on any cruise with my wife, but we have spent plenty of time around and chatting with European tourists (mostly German and Russian) at clothing optional hot springs within the Western USA, one of which is quite close to our home. It is very popular with European tourists during the summer.

Both my wife and I are 100% American of European ancestry. Welsh for her and Dutch/ Swedish for me.

Do they seem to be European or Latin American due to the European women sunbathe topless and possibly wear high heels? My wife prefers this attire versus being entirely nude.

Do they seem to be European due to the men wear Speedos and/or thongs and if nude wear cock rings? This my common attire and I am not European and or Latin American.

Many of them were speaking Spanish and German (the cruise even offered excursions in those languages). Some also seemed to be speaking French and Italian.