Why American Guys Won't Wear What the Rest of the World Swims In

There’s a culture war happening at the beach, and it’s about something most people wouldn’t expect: swim briefs. While Australian men casually rock Speedos without a second thought—along with Europeans, South Americans, and guys from most other corners of the globe—American men treat the garment like it’s radioactive. And the disconnect is telling us something deeper about masculinity, anxiety, and what we’re willing to show the world.

An Australian-based writer recently explored this phenomenon after years of getting sideways looks from Americans whenever he dared wear a black Speedo near a pool. In Mexico, women at a hot tub whispered and pointed. In Maine, breakfast diners literally put down their forks to gawk. The message was clear: in America, swim briefs are still coded as either something only gay men wear or something only Europeans—supposedly more relaxed about their bodies—would attempt. Anything in between? That’s risky territory.

The gap is real enough that fashion studies professor Andy Reilly at the University of Hawai`i at M?noa identified it in one telling observation: most American men avoiding Speedos aren’t insecure about their bodies more than anyone else. Australian body-image anxiety rates match America’s, according to psychology professor Scott Griffiths at the University of Melbourne. What’s different isn’t confidence—it’s culture. Australians operate under different scripts about what’s normal, what’s practical, and what signals about your character. A Speedo down under reads as casual beach wear. In the U.S., it reads as a statement, and not the kind most straight men want to make.

The real culprit, Reilly suggests, is heteronormative fear. Speedos look too much like bikinis or thongs. In a culture where femininity equals weakness or queerness in the male imagination, that comparison is poison. We’ve built an entire system where men determine masculinity purely by opposition to anything coded feminine—which means functional, comfortable, minimal swim briefs get filed under“too gay”or“too European”or“too something other than American tough guy.”It’s chickenshit, frankly, especially in an era when the same culture worships the male form and talks endlessly about masculine power and strength. Yet the moment a guy could actually showcase his physique in a swimsuit, he hides it behind cargo shorts that weigh five pounds wet.

There are signs of change. Celebrities like Walton Goggins and Theo James have worn Speedos. Speedo reports rising U.S. sales. Younger generations are experimenting with gender in fashion. The rise of gym culture means tighter clothing is already becoming normal for men—so swim briefs might just be the logical next step. Even Budgy Smuggler, the irreverent Sydney-based brand that’s crushed it worldwide with their 200+ playful prints, has noticed the opportunity. But CEO Adam Linforth admits he hasn’t prioritized the American market much because of tariffs and that cultural reluctance. When he once tried to explain the self-deprecating humor behind the Budgy Smuggler name to an American at a Las Vegas pool, the guy suggested rebranding.“Why would you joke about that? You should call it an eagle,”the man said. It’s almost tragic how perfectly that misses the point.

The real question isn’t whether American men will ever embrace swim briefs—maybe they will, maybe they won’t. It’s what this resistance reveals about how rigidly we’ve constructed masculinity in this country. When a practical, comfortable piece of swimwear becomes a cultural flashpoint because it might read as“too feminine,”we’ve tied ourselves into knots. The Australian attitude isn’t that guys are braver or less body-conscious. It’s that they’ve decided practicality and comfort matter more than policing the boundaries of what a man is allowed to wear. That’s freedom, even if it’s just about swimwear.