At the risk of not expanding the boundaries of knowledge but just echoing every other American household, I want to report that my mother-in-law and wife and I just had an argument about the efficacy/necessity/rationale for the bikinis the women's beach volleyball players wear. My mother-in-law believes that the bikinis were "imposed" on the women long ago and the women just went along with it. For some reason, I took the other side and tried to make the argument for the bikinis. On ventilation grounds, on beach culture grounds. I pointed out that track costume approaches bikini. Approaches, but it's not the same, my mother-in-law said. Those are shorts. Hot pants, I said. My wife said that a one piece is much more comfortable than a bikini, as it holds you in many different directions. My mother in law and I agreed that ventilation is just too important to the competitors. None of us had any facts. There are probably a bunch of facts out there, on the internet. I said that the women chose to wear them because it made their game better, and continue to wear them for that reason. My wife said that by that analysis women should also choose to wear bikinis to work, it would make them more productive.
My wife just came back to the couch to resume the conversation. "What about the fact that the impetus for the Olympics in ancient Athens was purely sexual?" I think I'll leave it there…
