What do you about swimming? I know there are binders for swimming I can get, but what do you do about the changing rooms?
My son (toddler) is starting swim lessons soon.
I just go in the changing room and get dressed in a stall :)
When I go with my Son (3) I just wear my swim trunks and stuff underneath when I feel uncomfortable changing in the locker rooms, usually if i am feeling particularly self conscious that day and don't want to deal with it otherwise I just change in a stall. No one has said anything to me yet about it.
Change in the stall. No one could concievably care.
If you don't pass then go into the handicapped or family change room.
What binder is there for swimming? Also what do you guys wear when you swim in general? I swim everyday but so far I just keep wearing my girl suit bc idk what else to do. I'm pretty tired of that but not enough to give up swimming. I wear my swim gear and use the disabled single person changing room personally. No one had asked me about it where I swim.
Quote from: dky on June 15, 2012, 01:39:51 AM
What binder is there for swimming? Also what do you guys wear when you swim in general? I swim everyday but so far I just keep wearing my girl suit bc idk what else to do. I'm pretty tired of that but not enough to give up swimming. I wear my swim gear and use the disabled single person changing room personally. No one had asked me about it where I swim.
Underworks has this: http://www.underworks.com/908.html (http://www.underworks.com/908.html) but I've heard lots of bad reviews. You'll be fine with a regular binder, a velcro one is more ideal, unless you plan on sitting outside until your binder dries. (Rather difficult to remove a wet binder, especially ones from underworks.)
When I swim I wear some swim shorts & a shirt. Just a fair warning, depending on your binder, you will probably lose breath more quickly, so be careful not to overexert yourself.
FWIW, I swim in my tritop all the time and have noticed that it dries so fast that I never even notice it being wet. Just sayin'! ;)
Quote from: Andy on June 15, 2012, 01:45:43 PM
FWIW, I swim in my tritop all the time and have noticed that it dries so fast that I never even notice it being wet. Just sayin'! ;)
My friend who's a swimming instructor would wear regular binders in the water all the time but apparently the chlorine had some effect and stretched them out, so he was always buying new ones. Does this happen for you also?
I have used my tri top swimming too and had no problem but I don't swim too terribly often its generally on the colder side where I live if you don't want to go to a indoor pool besides the summer
@Poptart,
I swim in a brook, swimming hole we call it, so I wouldn't know about the chlorine problem. I haven't noticed it affecting the normal lifespan of a tritop, though!
Thanks guys. this question may be binding 101 but I'm new to binding, do people not see your binder under your shirt? I think from the photos you are all smaller than I am. I'm husky. when I swim in a shirt and trunks, they cling like crazy anytime I'm not in motion, getting out etc. I swim in an indoor pool that is mostly saline for cleaning chemicals but my state requires a certain amount of chlorine also be used in a public pool, anyone know about the effects of that sort of set up on the life of a binder. In summer I also swim in various chlorinated pools and any natural water, lake, river, stream, pond, ocean I can get into. I've been called a fish more than once.
@confomer thanks for the warning about losing air and energy more quickly,i wouldn't have thought of that until I was in the water.
@andy if you have an outdoor swimming hole year round, color me envious.
@poptart any idea how often your swim instructor friend replaces his binders?
Quote from: dky on June 18, 2012, 07:49:01 AM
@poptart any idea how often your swim instructor friend replaces his binders?
You should probably get the one Underworks made specifically for swimming because I get the impression it won't react the same way to chlorine. I have no clue how often, just that he did it on a regular basis and owned about 5 binders at any given time. He got surgery which is why I'm speaking in past tense.
Thanks,poptart.
I wouldn't worry about passing in the locker room so much as in the water.
Felix,i worry most about passing while swimming as well.i use a single person changing area.thats why I wondered about people noticing my binder or lack of bulge as I don't want to swim w my packer bc of chemical damage. The trans guys I've known just didn't swim until after top surgery.thats not an option for me. Anyone feel like sharing with a newbie how they handle that part? Thanks.
I told my daughter I'd take her swimming this summer, and I can't decide whether to just deal with looking weird/not passing when I swim, or to just limit our swimming to the river until after I get top surgery. :-\
I'm in the same boat, Felix and dky. I'm actually at the beach this week with my family, and really unsure how to go about it. I might just end up not going into the water...ugh. :-\ #ftmproblems lol
I couldn't imagine wearing a binder when I swim so I don't bother...I like to take my daughter swimming from time to time so I just suck it up. I wear shorts and a t-shirt with a tight sports bra underneath, but it's still glaringly obvious I am female bodied.
Me, my partner and my daughter all use the disabled changing room together. When I explained my situation to the manager she said I was free to use whichever changing room I felt the most comfortable in - but was actually more concerned about my daughter eventually being too old for it to be appropriate for her to come in the mens with us, and suggested we all use the disabled from the start to avoid that problem - which apparently is their policy anyway for people like single dads with daughters.
I was fine with this because in either changing room I find it shocking how many people are happy to just let everything hang out and I never know where to look :-X
the should I or should i not question always sucks. My son and I were invited to hang out with some of our friends we said yes but were not informed till later it would be swimming. I got all nervous and ended just swimming in my binder because i first was attempting just to wade enough to help my son but ended up getting pushed in. I didn't have any troubles breathing though it was my tritop but not the one i usually use for swimming but it was a lot more obvious when i walked out of the water i was female bodied because the shirt suck to my body showing off my shape. :/ kinda sucks but the swimming was super fun since it was pretty hot out.
To be honest, I can't pass anyway and am just fooling myself. :'(
(I don't like the word "pass." It has a kind of pretend quality to it. Is there a different word to use?)
Quote from: Edge on June 26, 2012, 09:34:05 AM
To be honest, I can't pass anyway and am just fooling myself. :'(
(I don't like the word "pass." It has a kind of pretend quality to it. Is there a different word to use?)
I had to unlearn "pass" as meaning an ethnic person passing for white, so I feel you here. I wasn't able to find any other useful and widely-recognized term or even convenient phrase to substitute, though.
Quote from: Felix on June 27, 2012, 03:47:26 AM
I had to unlearn "pass" as meaning an ethnic person passing for white, so I feel you here. I wasn't able to find any other useful and widely-recognized term or even convenient phrase to substitute, though.
That's what I have heard the term used before. I don't know of an alternative either. "Present" is another one. But it has problems as well. You can "present" as male (which I do) but not at all be taken as male.
Since I learned it in this other context, I have never seen this as a bad thing. More a survival one.
But not sure that that's correct either.
--Jay Jay