Why do Mexicans wear their T-shirts / shorts while swimming? (buy, construction, high school)
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I was in Mexico for about 25 days and just got back. While there, I visited (with a friend from Tabasco state) various swimming spots: Las Cascadas del Chiflon, Agua Azul, Paraiso beach, etc. I would estimate about 75% of the swimmers there who looked Mexican (semi-obvious foreigners excluded) were not wearing swimwear, but rather T-shirts and shorts, sometimes providing a large amount of coverage. For girls this figure reached about 90%. I saw few girls wearing actual swimsuits - either one- or two-piece. In the U.S., virtually all swimmers and sunbathers would be in their swimsuits, of any age or complexion.
In addition, an attractive friend of mine wore jean shorts and a blue top over her swimsuit to Chiflon and only disrobed to reveal a rather modest halter-like swimsuit top when we were swimming / wading in Agua Azul (it seems like relatively few Mexicans know how to swim), almost alone, with a group of her girlfriends - none of whom stripped down beneath their tank tops and shorts, and would immediately cover up in a black robe when leaving the water. The strangest thing was only one of them had a real belly, and the rest were very attractive. Why is this?
I was in Mexico for about 25 days and just got back. While there, I visited (with a friend from Tabasco state) various swimming spots: Las Cascadas del Chiflon, Agua Azul, Paraiso beach, etc. I would estimate about 75% of the swimmers there who looked Mexican (semi-obvious foreigners excluded) were not wearing swimwear, but rather T-shirts and shorts, sometimes providing a large amount of coverage. For girls this figure reached about 90%. I saw few girls wearing actual swimsuits - either one- or two-piece. In the U.S., virtually all swimmers and sunbathers would be in their swimsuits, of any age or complexion.
In addition, an attractive friend of mine wore jean shorts and a blue top over her swimsuit to Chiflon and only disrobed to reveal a rather modest halter-like swimsuit top when we were swimming / wading in Agua Azul (it seems like relatively few Mexicans know how to swim), almost alone, with a group of her girlfriends - none of whom stripped down beneath their tank tops and shorts, and would immediately cover up in a black robe when leaving the water. The strangest thing was only one of them had a real belly, and the rest were very attractive. Why is this?
People with attractive figures can still be modest.
I've been online trying to buy a swimsuit in the U.S. to be brought here and they are expensive, starting at $50 to over $100. Why spend that kind of money on a swimsuit when one can wear cheap shorts and T-shirts that get the same job done?
I was in Mexico for about 25 days and just got back. While there, I visited (with a friend from Tabasco state) various swimming spots: Las Cascadas del Chiflon, Agua Azul, Paraiso beach, etc. I would estimate about 75% of the swimmers there who looked Mexican (semi-obvious foreigners excluded) were not wearing swimwear, but rather T-shirts and shorts, sometimes providing a large amount of coverage. For girls this figure reached about 90%. I saw few girls wearing actual swimsuits - either one- or two-piece. In the U.S., virtually all swimmers and sunbathers would be in their swimsuits, of any age or complexion.
In addition, an attractive friend of mine wore jean shorts and a blue top over her swimsuit to Chiflon and only disrobed to reveal a rather modest halter-like swimsuit top when we were swimming / wading in Agua Azul (it seems like relatively few Mexicans know how to swim), almost alone, with a group of her girlfriends - none of whom stripped down beneath their tank tops and shorts, and would immediately cover up in a black robe when leaving the water. The strangest thing was only one of them had a real belly, and the rest were very attractive. Why is this?
Good questions! I too have wondered this as half of my family are Mexican(my US cousins buy bathing suits though). I also have wondered why Mexican men tend to pull their t-shirts up over their stomachs in the summer(ala "The Situation" on Jersey Shore). I've been to plenty of construction sites(uncle owns a small remodel company) and have seen most of the workers do this. I know the obvious answer is because of the heat, but some them have beer bellies the size of watermelons, I mean come on
hahha, i love it when in this forum american posters tend to generalize.
Most of men are not in good shape, they are fat, have panza, chiches, and they are just shy or want to avoid the mocks of the fellow friends.
Some women are just prude, in Mexico there's not sport education, so many girls and boys never learn to swim, not share showers as students in USA do, so many are modest about their body.
On the other hand, things change in Mexico slow and there are now nudist places in some beaches in Mexico, go figure...
hahha, i love it when in this forum american posters tend to generalize.
Most of men are not in good shape, they are fat, have panza, chiches, and they are just shy or want to avoid the mocks of the fellow friends.
Some women are just prude, in Mexico there's not sport education, so many girls and boys never learn to swim, not share showers as students in USA do, so many are modest about their body.
On the other hand, things change in Mexico slow and there are now nudist places in some beaches in Mexico, go figure...
"Generalizations" are sometimes necessary. When a large difference obviously exists between the percentage of American beachgoers who wear bathing suits and the percentage of Mexican beachgoers who wear the same, one wonders what the causes might be. I've never heard an adequate explanation. Actually, this question came up in "Ask a Mexican", and he said the same thing as your first point - that Mexicans have the decency to cover up their sagging panzas, chichis, and pompis, but this does not seem to fully answer the question.
I think it's sometimes for the same reason you see them sitting at the beach under umbrellas or under sheets that shade the sun. They don't really go to work on an all-over tan which is the culture in the USA.
I grew up in the USA and a lot of people I grew up with preferred swimming in cutoff shorts and t-shirts also. For one it's more practical, you don't have to worry about changing before or after swimming. I know men who absolutely will not wear swimming outfits like speedos in my family, they think it looks gay but they might wear swim outfits that look like shorts or they just wear shorts.
"Generalizations" are sometimes necessary. When a large difference obviously exists between the percentage of American beachgoers who wear bathing suits and the percentage of Mexican beachgoers who wear the same, one wonders what the causes might be. I've never heard an adequate explanation. Actually, this question came up in "Ask a Mexican", and he said the same thing as your first point - that Mexicans have the decency to cover up their sagging panzas, chichis, and pompis, but this does not seem to fully answer the question.
It's like any cultural difference - there are reasons, but it's like a woman I knew from Panama said that her mother never let her go out in the sun without an umbrella, it's considered protecting your skin from the sun. This Panamanian woman came to the USA to study in high school and did what her American friends did - go to the beach and lay out in the sun. She said when she went home and her mom saw how very dark she had become, her mom cried.
Look back to U.S. swimwear of 50-100 years ago, and you'll realize that modesty is really nothing new. Besides, styles of dressing are, overall, very different in Mexico compared to the U.S. – not just limited to swimwear. For example, in most parts of Mexico, men rarely wear shorts in public. There is more formality, generally.
The "generalization" is that most people dress and act like their friends do. The Mexicans who pay to go to the private pools all wear swimsuits. The Mexicans who go to the beach wear what their friends wear. That is true in Mexico and the U.S. and everywhere else.
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