A giant leap forward for women -- into 1910

Edwardian swimsuits for women, circa 1910	"WholesomeWear" swimsuit for women, 2006

On the right, you see the latest in Christofascist Zombie Brigade aqua fashions for good, chaste Christian women:

The makers of WholesomeWear swimsuits would like women to cover up their tummies. And their backs. And their arms. And half their legs. The Oregon company, based outside Portland, sells a collection of swimwear online that consists of a wet suit topped by a dress. The spandex underpinning is not sufficient on its own because bystanders would still be able to make out the curves of the woman's body. The nylon overdress takes care of any audacious display of an hourglass shape.

The collection is not aimed at practitioners of any specific religion. There is no obvious mention of spirituality, God, Allah or Joseph Smith on the company's Web site.

[snip]

WholesomeWear is going into its fifth year and, according to Ferguson, has sold thousands of swimsuits in three styles: culotte, skirted and "slimming," which looks like a loose-fitting housedress. There is an option with the slimming suit to extend the sleeves below the elbows and to lower the hem so it ends just above the ankles. A woman would be swimming in something akin to a choir robe. "These are designed to highlight the face and not the body," Ferguson says. That may be true, but a woman is more than just a disembodied head. Why be fearful of the rest of her?

The company may not be preaching to a specific denomination, but it is nonetheless preaching. Ferguson describes her family as "Christian people who love the Lord." And the swimsuits are "a ministry."

They really ARE terrified of women, aren't they?

I really don't have swimsuit issues, for all that I don't have a swimsuit body. I learned a long time ago that there isn't a swimsuit in the world that hides anything. So you might as well wear what you want.

Because in most years the only time I swim is when we take our just-about-annual trip to Jamaica, and we tend to stay at hotels that attract a large European clientele, I've figured out that European women don't have the body issues that Americans due. You'll see fat German women in bikinis in Jamaica and they never think twice about it. Add to that the fact that fat = prosperous in a developing nation, and you find the topsy-turvy world where the size 16 is the hottest babe on the beach.

I may be 51, but I refuse to wear those heavily-constructed, skirted, dowdy swimsuits. No, I don't wear bikinis, but I wear comfortable, relatively unconstructed suits with as little "control panel" bullshit as I can find, usually out of the Newport News clearance catalog. I want to be comfortable, and I want to feel good, and if I want to wear a suit with a loud floral print and a plunging halter neckline, dammit, I'm going to wear it.

You are young for such a short period of time, and there are many of us who never had bikini bodies when we were young. When I was young, I wore one-piece suits or two-pieces with a tasteful drape in the front -- so no one would have to see the hideousness of my not-flat stomach. What a waste. What I wouldn't give now to have the body I hated then.

Teens have enough body issues. No matter how thin they are or how good they look, there isn't a teen in the world without body image issues. Why on earth would you take a teenager who's insecure about her body and put her in one of these on a hot day? Are parents THAT threatened by the idea that their daughters are growing up? Or is this the way that good, Christian, Republican men can desexualize their daughters so they themselves don't get a stiffy looking at them?



(hat tip: Steve Gilliard)