Search

Dale Barbour explores the evolution of swimming in Toronto from the time the city was a pre-railway colonial community of 30,000 souls in 1850 to its expansion into the Dominion of Canada's second largest municipality by 1935, with a population of 850,000. For the purposes of Dale Barbour's book, the commission's development of better leisure and swimming opportunities at Sunnyside in the city's west end is particularly important. [Extracted from the article]

This paper critically examines the controversy surrounding2 burkini-style swimsuits that arose in summer 2016 in France. Through a comparative analysis of representations of the ‘burkini’ in political discourse and in Muslim online forums, I explore the contested meanings attached to full-body ‘Islamic’ swimsuits. Contrary to hegemonic French representations of ‘Islamic’ swimsuits as manifestations of a politicised religiosity, ‘burkinis’ are described by women who wear them as an opportunity to claim access to spaces of leisure while still obeying their belief in dressing modestly. The burkini bans, I argue, have contributed to weakening expressions of religiosity that seek to resolve tensions between religious belief and a secular understanding of leisure and sociability. Elaborating on the transformations of French republicanism, I explore how the burkini controversy is related to the rise of exclusionary conceptions of secularism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 1873,The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazineextolled the values of swimming for women and gave advice on the best form of bathing dress, one which preserved modesty and met the demands of contemporary fashion. This essentially impractical type of bathing outfit has been the subject of much of the historiography surrounding female swimming costumes but it was not the only swimming dress on show during the “long” Victorian period. The women of all classes who participated in more serious swimming required something functional rather than fashionable while working-class professional natationists, who appeared regularly in water shows throughout the country, wore attire that combined functionality, tight to the body while allowing freedom of movement, with public appeal, a critical consideration for female exhibitors. Their activities and costumes challenged prevailing notions of “separate spheres” and this paper explores Victorian aquatic dress in the context of class, gender and social space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased academic attention on the gendering of leisure pastimes in recent years has highlighted the centrality of the gendered body in influencing how leisure is accessed, experienced and transformed. To date, however, little attention has been paid to how women experience aquatic leisure activity, the second most popular form of leisure activity in the UK, and where female participation predominates. This paper presents results from research investigating the aquatic leisure experiences of 22 women, with children aged under 3, in the North-East of England. A number of key themes emerged from the data, which highlighted the centrality of the gendered, lived body as a key social construct contouring participant perceptions in the swimming pool environment. Women reflected upon their self-perceived physical deficiencies when wearing revealing swimming costumes, particularly under the critical gaze of ‘other’ bodies, whether present or imagined. The co-presence of other bodies was also central in shaping lived experiences, and the presence of ‘dependent’ children’s bodies shifted bodily intentionality away from the self towards perceived maternal responsibilities and the management of perceived risks, including ‘dirt’ and ‘germs’ and the negotiation of the tacit rules of the swimming pool. Results also suggest that the emphasis on maternal responsibility in aquatic leisure activity and timing of parent-toddler sessions could lead to reproduction of gender inequalities and the exclusion of some fathers from participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the mutually beneficial relationship between the American swimsuit and film industries during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Three examples will be used: Fatty and the Bathing Beauties from 1913 (prior to regulated film content), Footlight Parade from 1933 (when limited self-regulation had been put in place, but was not yet rigorously enforced) and the Tarzan film franchise (which spans both the second period and a later, third period of actual implementation and subsequent negotiation). Using these examples, the paper will consider several of the popular associations attached to the swimmer and the swimsuit. It will discuss the ways in which Hollywood utilised the swimsuit, the swimmer and swimming in both its films and its promotional materials and will demonstrate how through the sporting associations of both the garment and sports stars, film producers negotiated the processes of censorship and self-regulation while allowing the continued use of semi-naked and eroticised bodies, to their own profit and to that of the increasingly fashionable swimwear industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the works ofpostcolonial critical feminist and Arab Muslim feminist scholars, we discuss in this paper how 4 muslim girls (ages 14-17 years) negotiated their participation in opportunities for physical activity. Data collection methods included selfmapping questionnaires, digital photos, private journal entries, and recordings of informal conversations. We discuss (a) how three discursive challenges emerged in veiling-off opportunities for physical activity, and (b) how the girls uncovered alternative ways of being physically active. To promote active life practices with muslim girls, we need to (a) navigate the diversity of young muslims within the intersecting discourses in their lives that potentially challenge their participation in physical activities, and (b) honor young muslims' choices while negotiating their chances of maintaining physical activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of polyurethane swimsuits at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships resulted in world records being set for almost all swimming events. This paper explores the implications that the use of these performance-enhancing swimsuits had on fairness in relative and absolute outcomes in swimming. I claim that the use of 'super swimsuits' unfairly influenced relative outcomes within the competition because not all swimmers used, or had access to, the same types of swimsuit (some of which were clearly 'faster' than others). Furthermore, I claim that the use of performance-enhancing swimsuits by current competitors unfairly influences inter-temporal relative outcomes. It is evident that competitors and coaches in elite swimming place great importance on making inter-temporal comparisons on the basis of absolute outcomes in the sport (as measured by a swimmer's race time). A ban on the use of super swimsuits may be justified in order to preserve the fairness of such inter-temporal comparisons, and records set using performance-enhancing swimsuits at the 2009 World Championships should be demarcated from others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to present the importance of engineering swimwear, the paper briefly covers the history of swimwear and the associated technical factors, the technical developments of Speedo's S2000 for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and Speedo's latest development of Aquablade for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. The features that are Important are a consistent fit with maximum body coverage, a polyester-microfibre/Lycra elastane-fibre fabric, and a specially designed seam stitch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia houses the world's most significant and comprehensive collection of Speedo swimwear and accessories. The museum has identified a problem with the long-term storage of certain Spandex/Lycra®items where the elastane fibre has degraded leading to oil formation. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) determined that most of these garments were manufactured using nylon-elastane fibres, and the elastane component comprises polyetherurethane or polyesterurethane polymers. Certain polyesterurethanes are known to be vulnerable to hydrolysis, and this was confirmed for a subset of the collection using two chemical testing protocols, and a thermal testing protocol that reproduced the oil formation. A polyetherurethane garment in the collection was unchanged by these tests. The oil from the thermal testing was confirmed as a breakdown product of the polyester component of the elastane fibre, using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The study demonstrates the value of ATR-FTIR for minimally invasive identification of elastane fabrics that may require specialized storage in a humidity-controlled environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents information on a study which compared the effect of drag on a Speedo Fast-skin swimsuit with that of a convention swimsuit. Methodology of the study; Results and discussion of the study.