?Bikinis in the supermarket

* bags* - I hope I'm wrong and you're right when you say people shop in bikinis because they're hot, not that they intend to be disrespectful, but it's my gut feeling that people behave like this because they don't give a stuff for other people's sensibilities. This might explain in the OP the angry reaction of the couple who were gently challenged.

As, I hope, would any polite person in a private home that was offering them hospitality. It's the same politeness that means you eat what food is put in front of you in someone else's home whether it's what you would eat at your own home or not.

At least, that's what I was taught, and I think those are good guidelines.

Supermarkets are pretty global and not private though.

I still wouldn't want to see people in bikinis in supermarkets. I just can't think of a good reason why! Natural prude, me (except in private).

Bags I think there is a difference between wanting to live in a country and just visiting. This much I found out in Kerala - their rate of literacy is higher than ours, and it is a rich part of India, fuelled by remittance money from highly qualified professionals who go to work in the Middle East and the USA. Both men and women dress modestly and appreciate visitors who do. We did not stay in hotels but in private homes and were treated as family members. We simply showed good manners by adopting their dress code.

vegas, but plenty of people here who are originally from other cultures ignore a good many of our customs. Or perhaps they simply stick to their own?

I'm not advocating going shopping in beachwear. I don't particularly want to see women (or men!) in bikinis in a supermarket. I don't even like the scanty costumes female volleyball players wore for Olympic games. But I presume that's just me being a bit stuffy. I really don't think people do it to be disrespectful of my feelings. I think they do it because they are hot.

Would you think it suitable to wear a tiny bikini when going to the shops in Devon or Norfolk? I wouldn't, and would think it disrespectful too.

Oh dear, as you say... Nothing wrong with Brits in bikinis... in the right place. But not in shops and town in traditional areas.

The comparison with wearing a burka is just a bit daft, sorry. Sorry too that you can't see that. A shame.

Oh dear granjura

I can't see that wearing a bikini (whatever your body shape) is any worse than dressing head to toe in black, covering your face and expecting to be treated with respect. Brits in bikini's is your prejudice, not mine.

The people of Cyprus, Ibiza and other parts of Spain or Eastern towns of Budapest or Talin, will not 'object' to the drunken antics of many Brits, as you say, their need the money they bring. But that won't stop them from forming an opinion about Brits behind closed doors - and sadly it won't be good (:. I used to instill in all our students when going on trips abroad and exchanges, that they were ambassadors for the UK, and that any act of kindness or politeness, or t'other way round, could shape the opinion the recipients would have of the UK. They understood that, even though some came from very modest and sometimes difficult homes.

If wearing a bikini, tiny top with hanging belly, etc, shows off the traditions of Great Britain Noodles, well... what can I say?!?

I have a better opinion of 'my' beloved England, actually.

Bags - the kind and friendly people we met in south India wouldn't object as they are too polite for that. Not everyone is motivated simply by money! But they were plainly embarrassed by those visitors who simply ignored their customs.

Tourist areas in places where people (women anyway) traditionally dress more modestly than in the modern West depend on tourism for much of their GDP. It would be foolish of them to object to the people who sustain their economies.

Is one a prude if one chooses to dress in less revealing clothes for the sake of elegance or one's own comfort? I think one is only a prude if one objects to other people's choices (rather than just disliking them quietly ).

granjura It may be that here, in the UK, where we have a very diverse population who feel it is perfectly acceptable to wear clothes to demonstrate their religion or the traditions of their homeland, holidaymakers have the mistaken idea that the compliment will be returned? We have not banned the bhurka, yet.

It was in a public shop though or Nonu wouldn't have been in there.

Vegas A carrot and a couple of plums of course!

Nonu the nudists might have been affronted by your clothed-ness

As I said, it's all about decorum and what's appropriate!

I think it all depends on the context. When travelling in Southern India, which is inherently conservative, I have always considered local sensibilities and worn loose fitting, long sleeved outfits that also covered my legs. This means you are treated with the respect you are showing.
However, in the more popular tourist areas it is not uncommon to see Europeans dressed as for the beach. They do not seem to realise they are not at home!

NOODLES .

I've never been comfortable showing a lot of leg, or cleavage (even when I was a much younger thinner person). I'm more comfortable wearing skirts and t-shirts or blouses that skim, rather than cling. And if that makes me a prude, I'm fine with that.

ELLA, NO they just blanked us.

VEG. Frozen peas might have been a bit chilly with no clothes on!!!!!!

I don't think there are any 'shoulds' about it for non-formal settings. Personally, I prefer decorum too, even in casual settings, but I'm not everybody. In a formal setting (work, school) I think decorum of attire can and should be expected, though I've been shocked when visiting schools to teach Hearstart procedures just how much boob female teachers are willing to show nowadays. In casual settings I don't think casualness, or even sloppiness matters.

I suppose people on beach holidays are just relaxing, letting it all hang out, so to speak. I'd rather they didn't, but who am I to judge? Nakedness is not intrinsically offensive. Is ugliness? Is it ugliness we're really objecting to?

With what, Ella? A bag of frozen peas or a baguette or two?

Nonu
They should still have had the courtesy to cover up surely?

No, that is how I feel also .

Mind you we were in the south of france many years ago , at Cape D"Agdee and happened to stumble into a supermarket that served a nudist colony .

That was a sight for eyes , I can tell you . We laughed to ouselves so much . Nipped out double quick. Bit of a i can tell you .

For me it's not about whether people are embarrassed or not about their bodies more a sense of appropriateness. Dare I use the word ... decorum.

There's nothing wrong with pyjamas, slippers and hair rollers but should you wear them on a regular basis to do the school run, weekly shop, pick up a packet of fags?

Beachwear if the shop is near the beach or pool seems OK to me but there is somehow a dividing line you shouldn't cross and most reasonable people know where that is, I think.

Many of us would happily tootle around the back garden in minimal clothes, even with the possibility of a neighbour catching a glimpse, but how many would do the same in the front garden?

Am I a prude

As one whose toe was broken in March (and has only just healed) by someone ramming their trolley into me, I wouldn't advise anyone to shop in bare feet! My sturdy shoes must have given me a bit of protection but even so it's taken months for the shattered bone to heal.

This issue has made me remember something my mum said many years ago when leggings first became fashionable (during the eighties, was it?). I think I said that I thought they didn't look attractive on some people because bulges that might be skimmed over by looser trousers or skirts had one's eye drawn to them! In short, they could be inelegant.

She agreed but she said it was sort of pleasing that women were beginning to show, perhaps, that they weren't going to be embarassed by their bodies. I wonder if that's what's going on with supermarket shopping in one's beach wear? Maybe people who do it just aren't embarassed by nakedness.

I think bare feet are acceptable, especially in hot weather.