I’ve never been one to care too much on who is around me. I have my kids with me at beaches so chances of me being near other kids is rather high.
Is there a stigma against wearing a thong around children? I recently read a post on reddit that made me question it. I find thongs to be quite modest, women wear them all the time around kids, nothing is showing, and it is only a butt. Thongs aren’t inherently sexual either.
So what’s the deal and why do people care if there’s children nearby? Are you not supposed to wear thongs around children?
I generally leave a bit of space between me and parents with kids because of the risk that the parents might cause a scene, not the kids. (I don’t want to be the guy who spoils things for anyone else who might want to wear thongs.) That being said, if a family parks near where I already am, I don’t move away. If the mom is wearing a thong (pretty common at my local beach since there are a lot of Brazilians), I also don’t take any “preventative action”.
That’s understandable. I can completely see it that way. However, as a parent with very social kids that like to be around other kids, I often don’t have the option of steering away. I just want to lay out there and get my tan in. Zero creepiness or awkwardness from me. Just in a regular thong, nothing flashy or that would give a sexual impression at all.
Kids aren’t the problem. Unless the kids are 12 years old teenage boys, the kids don’t care. It’s mom and dad. It’s why I only wear a thong where it is legal … the bonus to this is if it’s legal there usually is a female already wearing a thong. I’ve never had an issue but won’t put myself in a situation where Karen or Ken makes a phone call and now I’ve put myself in a bad situation. I’ve only had a couple bad experiences where someone approached me and said something negative. When this has happened I just nicely replied, “I hope you enjoy your day at the beach.” I’ve been left alone after that.
It has been my experience that even as I try to keep a healthy distance from families and try to get there first so they have the option to camp a safe distance away that nevertheless the opposite happens: a wide open beach and the first family parks some ten yards away, sometimes even closer! There is at first one long evaluative look from an adult, a quick take from a second adult as if saying, “hey, hon, don’t look but I think that man is wearing a thong” second adult takes a look and sort of shrugs it off. “Right. Whatever.” Seems to be the sentiment, but then nothing. They stay put. I stay put. The kids play and completely ignore me, even teenagers. For the next 20 minutes or so one of the adults keeps taking a quick glance but that’s it, beyond that it’s as if I no longer exist. A dip into the water may yield a smile from one of the adults and even more rarely a brief exchange of words. More families come and the cycle repeats.
An interesting and reoccurring pattern is that if I and they happen to get to the beach on a different day there is a mutual recognition and a wave or even a word. It is not unusual too to see that one of the adults, a woman anyway, to sport a more revealing bottom which leads me to believe that I in some small way have encouraged someone to shed an inhibition and enjoy the beach in a brand new way. Kids never becoming an issue and Karens, at least in So Cal, are either quiet or joyfully absent.
Over time my approach has definitely changed. When I first started wearing thongs at the beach, I would always look for a secluded spot, usually far away from families with kids. This was probably more me building confidence. But I quickly noticed something interesting: it was often women with children who ended up setting their towels near me anyway.
These days I don’t worry about who’s around. Thongs are very common on women now, so most people seem perfectly capable of handling a guy wearing one too. As for kids, they generally don’t care at all, except maybe early teens, as someone else mentioned earlier. I’m usually at the beach with my kid anyway, and he spends most of his time in the water. I also move around quite a bit—walking, swimming, going back and forth—so it’s not like anyone could miss what I’m wearing. Even so, I’ve never heard a single negative comment from anyone. The closest thing was once overhearing a couple of kids asking what I was wearing, and their mother just calmly told them it was swimwear.
I used to avoid families with kids but no longer go out of my way to avoid them. I still prefer a secluded beach for quiet and to give the crowded areas, usually families with kids their own space. However, if a family sets up near me so be it. I walk the beach a lot and keep it friendly or don’t say anything at all. I never had a negative response from any family with kids. Matter of fact one boy saw my thong and he took off his board shorts and wore his jammers. Mom was wearing a cheeky bikini so this family was used to seeing small swim wear. Have confidence and just act like anyone else.
Last summer I went to a popular beach in Portland. There weren’t many people and I picked an area far away from others to lay out in a swim thong. Not long after setting up and while laying on my front side a family with kids set up next to me. Since I was on full display I figured they didn’t have an issue with me in a thong. They never said anything and clearly didn’t mind. So my general rule of thumb is to try to avoid families with kids when I set up, but if I’m already there and they set up next to me I figure they dont care.
In the last year or two, I usually find a spot a distance away from people and families and immediately pull of my street shorts down to a thong. This came at the suggestion from my wife lol. And, I find that the folks who situate themselves close to me don’t care what I’m wearing whether at the beach or a resort. Often, it’s families with children. I still get the occasional cold stare from males who are much further away from me but that is no problem.
In most if not all cases, women and children do not care that I’m wearing a thong bathing suit.
I went to the busiest beach I’ve been to in a thong. I’m slowly building up my confidence. I put my towel down in the quietest area. Inevitably as it’s a relatively small beach families set up in front of me. I was hot lying in the sun so went for a swim anyway. There were plenty of women in thongs too so while I was the only man I wasn’t the only one in a thong which I think helps. I had no one say anything. I think if you act like you would in any other swimwear and keep to yourself you are probably fine. Although the culture where I live is probably a bit different to say the US.
The British are obsessed about kids and anything that possibly be out of the dresry ordinary. Dirty minded - everyone is a pervert until proved otherwise!