No board shorts in France!!!

Another reason to love France! The headline: French Public Pools Ban Swim Shorts on Men: The Tight-Suit Rule Americans Refuse to Believe https://www.gamintraveler.com/2026/08/30/french-public-pools-ban-swim-shorts-on-men-the-tight-suit-rule-americans-refuse-to-believe/

A speedo style swimsuit is the practical and sensible choice for beach and pool, no matter how you look at it. The reasons they give in the article, plus they also dry really fast, and for those of us who like wearing them, comfortable and sexy too. To each their own, but to me, there's nothing more unflattering, dumpy looking, uncomfortable, and impractical to wear for beach or pool than board shorts. It would be interesting if it were possible to ask a tourist who was basically forced into wearing a speedo what they thought it was like, after their experience. I wonder what it would be like here in the USA if guys at least TRIED them for beach or pool. I mean, except for those of us who swim on a team or do triathlons or lap swimming, or us gay guys that like wearing them, most guys here go their whole lives without even experiencing what it's like to wear a speedo. There's nothing to be done, of course, given cultural views and pressure, but I think it really is too bad.

This law has been around as long as I can remember, which is great for us lycra lovers as I do live in France and when goto decathlon in Dijon there is an olympic swimming next door which has a convenience viewing gallery over looking the pool so you can relax have coffee and watch speedo bulges passing you by, best times when they doing swimming competitions 

sounds like a wonderful way to people watch 

I vaguely remember hearing about this law years ago but never followed up on it. Thanks for posting the link. It was a good read and now thinking about traveling to France more than ever