On Boys and Bikinis

(Hat-tip to Adrian Warnock) I thought some of you might appreciate this. Some of you might still be in utter agreement! (My tongue was firmly in cheek!)

Wittingshire: On Boys and Bikinis shares a conversation had with her eight year old son:

"'Why do girls go around in bikinis?' he groused. 'Of all the dumb things to wear.'

This struck me as funny, which provoked him still further.

'It's just like underwear,' he said. 'They wouldn't go walking down the street in their underthings, would they? So why go around in bikinis?'

'Girls wear bikinis because boys like them,' I said.

He stopped short and stared at me, incredulous.

'Not boys your age,' I went on. 'Teenagers, and grown up men. They think women look pretty in bikinis--but that doesn't mean they think women should wear them in public.'

He was still staring at me, utterly flabbergasted. Finally he found his tongue: 'It disturbs me,' he said formally, 'that you are telling me that one day I will think girls look pretty in bikinis. That disturbs me. I know what I think, and I don't think that.'

By this point I was laughing out loud. He was so serious, and so affronted.

'It isn't funny,' he said. 'Why on earth would I suddenly think girls in bikinis look pretty? They look cold. They look naked. Skin is just skin, and tummy skin isn't any prettier than arm skin. That's what I think. Why would I ever think different?'"