My stepfather is one of those former dark skinned leathery guys that has spent most of his life walking around naked during every holiday. He told me about not being allowed a shirt on the French naturist beaches. Now he has to check in with the dermatologist every two months.
Commercial swimming pools in france must replace 30ltrs of water per bather so a little loss isn't going to effect anything. If they held that much water they would fall down!
Ow! I am always v impressed by those ageless people who are permanently walnut-coloured & seem impervious to heat/cold/rain etc - they only ever seem to wear anything on their feet. I envy them because I alternate between pale green and scarlet & have to wait for my freckles to join up.
The young people I see with clothes on tend to be at a self-conscious age (variable, obviously), it is quite funny though seeing a group of midteens together doing some activity & wearing every variant of stuff from nothing at all (like all the oldies) to cap + T-shirt + long board shorts + those rubber beach shoes via one or more of those items. By the time they are late teens or 20+ they seem to have got over it (or to be going elsewhere).
Yes, they have. You see young people wearing clothes all the time now. There was a time you could not even wear just a shirt to cover up your sun burn.
Hello I believe the reason is water, when wearing bagy shorts, on leaving the pool, a lot of water is lost, with the traditional swimming trunks, this is not the case :-) Thats what I have always been told !!!
Maybe they have become less fundamentalist about it? (boom boom)
I was 13 43 years ago. Nudity was not really optional at the time.
In most naturist places, at least where I go in Spain, people are fairly relaxed about the occasional bathing suit wearer on the beach eg a group of mostly naturists with one or two people in bathing suits (as opposed to a group of clothed local young men coming to have a good stare, they get short shrift) - anyway the only place bathing suits are totally forbidden for absolutely everyone is the pool & they say that that is for hygiene reasons (because when you are naked & it's hot & sandy you tend to have many many showers over the course of a day) skin cleans up better than cloth.
Thanks to everyone for the insights - and the humour!
I think I'll be another one avoiding the public pool when we're back in France in a few weeks!
Logically there is no reason, otherwise all other countries would be doing the same.
The only answer is that this is France.
What's this with the noisy ads?
I don't want to get into it to deeply. There is still so much HURT and suffering INSIDE! Suffice to say I spent a lot of time lying face-down on the beach and got my buns burned rather severely.
It sounds like a load of balls to me! shorts may hold more water than speedos but commercial pools in France must replace 30 litres of water per bather per day so they are constantly adding fresh water and draining pool water. Hygiene wise it can only be to stop outdoor clothes bringing in dirt etc as said previously hairy over weight paunchy french men look bloody ridiculous, I would rather spend €20,000 on my own pool.
Now Gregor, you mean a tent in a pair of swim shorts is any less visible? tell us about your first uncontrolled adolescent erection at the nudist camp LOL.
One of the reasons is hygiene, another the fact that those baggy shorts take out a lot of water, which is in turn spilled all over. A reason nobody ever talks about may be the fact that erections are clearly visible in ballhugger speedo's, which might dissuade adolescents from doing other things in the pool than swim. Teenage sons from all countries hate the French rule, but then... my parents took me to a naturist camping for the first time when I was 13, so your son should consider himself lucky.
I was told it was to avoid emptying the pool of water each time you leap out and to trap hair inside the trunks, so as to avoid escaping pubic hairs as well as the general hygiene of wearing the shorts everywhere.
I think Nick's explanation is the one generally accepted . Sweaty, grubby kids of all ages who wore their shorts to scrabble around all day in whatever filth was available and then went to the pool to cool off and spread their muck. Surely any teenager should be proud of his lunch box rather than disguising it amid the voluminous baggies. A bit like Premiership bladder bashers who all seem to wear divided skirts these days rather than proper shorts comme Jeff Astle et al.The other reason may be that baggies allow access and therefore have the potential to contravene the age old rule of the piscine viz "No petting"
Well it's maybe possible, entrapment of hair is usually what bottom drains are known for and that is because hair twists and knots so preventing you from pulling free. If you gave up your shorts to the main drain you would escape but maybe not without blushes.
Main drains are pretty dangerous and should be avoided where possible.
Once told it was to do with safety,a person drowned when his shorts got stuck in the filter at the bottom of a pool, not sure if this is true but was told it many years ago at one of our local outdoor pools by one of the lifeguards.
It's a great rule. Simpy ignore by wearing your normal underpants or FreeGuns if you're young & hip (and from near Beziers).
The swimming cap rule is also a great rule. Bald men with the most hairy backs in these tiny caps.
Don't for get the Yul brynner cap