[sebbie]

Part XXXV

For a long time in the 1980s, it appeared that the swimming briefs being worn by the internationally competitive swimmers at the major meets were getting ever snugger and skimpier. A European swimmer would show up in a really skimpy brief with very sides and at the following meet you would see the American competitor wearing a skimpier brief as well. This made for some interesting TV as the cameras panned the bodies of the competitors. All of this was more-or-less built on the basic idea that there was nopthing like skin for moving rapidly in the water and that called for briefs with ever less material.

Then, seemingly almost overnight, everything changed. I guess swimmers owe Speedo for playing with the idea that a swimwear fabric could move through the water faster than bare skin. This was followed by other manufacturers of competition swimwear coming up with their own versions of what Speedo was attempting. No longer were tiny, body-hugging suits in, but rather the new jammers styles that were at least as tight but covered more down to bith thigh.

Suddenly you would turn on the TV to watch a major meet and all the guys would be wearing jammer style suits that had cloth to mid thigh. The high school swimmers who were always wary of appearing in public with a brief and a hard-on quickly shifted to jammers as well.

If you are interested in the details of Speedos efforts to develop suits that were faser than bare skin the Wikipedia Speedo site lays that all out in detail along with the issues they had in FINA disapproving some of the designs, and the world records set by swimmers who were wearing the full-body suits that were ultimately not allowed in international and other important competitions. Never mind that these full-body suits individually may have cost upwards of $1000 and last for only a few swims, and were nearly impossible to get into and out of. Pitty the swimmer who decides he needs to use the restroom after spending 30 minutes tugging and pulling himself into the suit! These were not very practical even if they had remained legal

What evolved out of this were improvements in Jammer-style suits made of the same fabrics. What got disallowed is a sut for a male that covered the chest, and suits that extended below the knee. The speedy fabrics are still allowed but the suit has to look like a conventional jammer.

For the guy who tended to get a hard on at the mere thought of wearing a swim brief, I’m not sure if the problem is going to disappear if he wears a jammer. Granted, jammers cover more skin but areas such as the thighs are encased in fabric the same as the groin area. Hiding the fact that a guy has male body parts and the “condition” those parts are in might be every bit as difficult as with a brief. Still, jammers do not seem to have some of the issues briefs have. A guy wearing a jammer is less likely to be accused of being gay, for example.

Think about three different garments a guy could wear that are all made of material that fits with stretch
1. Cotton or polyester underwear with legs extending to mid thigh and fabric blended with perhaps 5% Elastane
2. Compression gear made of polyester with perhaps 10-15 % Elastane
3. Swimming jammer typically made of polyester and 20% Elastane
The underwear is designed to be worn as an undergarment and usually has a sewn separate pouch made to fit the penis. The compression gear is interesting. Most versions have a sewn built in pouch, but a few versions do not. Generally the compression gear fabric is designed to compress more and squeeze everything snugger than the underwear fabric does. After all, compression gear is designed to compress!

Part of the issue with shorts made as compression gear is the debate as to whether or not guys can wear these, say, to the gym, without another layer. The issue seems to be mainly focused on whether a specific design has a sewn pouch or not,and if so, how prominent is is. Some guys seem to be more nervous about being seen in public wearing compression shorts that have an obvious pouch than other guy are. It is interesting to read the comments on compression shorts with pouches when someone asks the specific question as to whether these can be worn without another garment on top.

Generally, swimming jammers are made without a sewn pouch and are constructed to press the male anatomy down as flat as possible, all in the name of having a sleeker surface in order to swim faster. But guys still have the problem of finding a comfortable position for the male body parts and just as in a brief, a “penis up” position is certainly a possibility. In which case, for the guy wearing a jammer it may be just as obvios that he has male body parts as it would have been wearing a swim brief.

Finally, I come to the topic of whether or not a jammer is as likely to create an arousal issue for a swimmer as a brief. Is the idea of jerking of in a swimsuit apply only to briefs, or equally to jammers. Jammers do not have quite the reputation briefs have in this regard.

Having said that, more and more members of high school and college swim teams seem to be going away from Jammers and back to briefs especially in competitions. I think it kinda depends of what the guys generally regarded as the top competitors do. If the fastest swimmer on my team set a very good time then I might be more inclined to switch to a brief too. If I go to a meet where teams from other schools are competing and one of the swimmers from another school sets a record while wearing a brief, briefs might start proliferating even with guys who previously lacked the nerve to wear one. Interesting stuff, all of this is!

Me, I wear swimming jammers or compression shorts along with a compression top not to swim, but to use my stationary rowing and bicycling machines. I have no problem with others in the neighborhood seeing me irrespective of whether the shorts have a pouch or not.

To be continued…