this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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I’m a momma and I was planning on driving my son down to the beach with some family/friends. I haven’t worn a bikini since my younger days since I’m super busy nowadays as a single mom working 2 jobs. As I was trying on some of my older bikinis, I couldn’t help but wonder how my younger self was confident enough to be this exposed. I’m not insecure about my body or anything, actually I’m pretty confident since I go to the gym often, so genuinely how do other women have the confidence to rock a bikini?

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[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago

I just read your other post, which was deleted. The one with the photos. Here is my response to that one:

I have to say, i thought this was a bot account. I then read your history.

My advice would be to delete the photo, so you're not leaving a personally identifiable trail online.

My short answer to your question, as I am low on time, is you are just fine. More than that, and must be feeling a bit low, to feel like asking.

My longer answer would revolve around self worth, not requiring other's approval, etc

I think you've got this. I hope you have a great time, with whatever is coming up!

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 39 points 17 hours ago (1 children)
[–] hobovision@lemmy.zip 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

And the version of that meme is also censored of course.

sorry i tried to find this meme, but after 15 minutes i gave up trying to find a higher-quality one, and settled for this one.

[–] blady_blah@lemmy.world 12 points 14 hours ago

IMHO it's really all about you being worried about how others react. Speaking as a 50 year old guy, I would walk around naked if it was normal in society. Put the bikini on and stand in front of a mirror. Make sure you're confident that it looks normal (no tags still showing, nothing that is too revealing or pinching in the wrong spot or whatever... then put it on and go out in public and don't think about it. It'll be fine and nobody will think twice about it other than maybe saying "damn she's keeping herself in shape!"

It'll be fine. Don't let others get in your head so much that it determines what you're going to do or wear.

[–] Siegfried@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Ehm, not the same... but I think that how everybody is dressed affects how we perseive our nakedness. Once i went in a trip to Brazil, and felt a little ridicule by how long my swimming shorts were. I ended up buying a swimsuit there... that I can only wear if i ever go back to Brazil.

[–] markstos@lemmy.world 19 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

The same way that pigs are food and dogs are not. Cognitive dissonance.

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 2 points 6 hours ago

what the fuck. HOW DARE YOU. Ive been eating dogs my whole life and they are beautiful creatures and we give them a good life on our family farm. We never waste anything and even drink their blood. Implying that its wrong to eat dogs goes against human nature. We have literally been hunting and eating dogs for hundreds of thousands of years and you could seriously mess up your health by not eating them.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 12 points 16 hours ago

It does feel like going out in underwear, to a place where everyone is in underwear, and the people wearing full clothing look out of place. I don't even have a perfect body but grew up near the beach, saw every possible body type in swimwear. So I am comfortable enough looking near naked in public, since everyone is. It's nice.

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 17 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I can’t speak from a women’s perspective, but wearing swimming trunks in public feels very different than wearing boxer shorts in public.

It's the mesh briefs they sew into swim trunks for some reason.

[–] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly I can't feel the difference between swimming shorts and normal shorts, maybe except those nets inside

Boxers reveal a bulge and that is a no-no

This is especially the case if you don't wear underwear with your short

[–] Suburbanl3g3nd@lemmings.world 1 points 8 hours ago

Why is a bulge showing a no-no?

[–] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 66 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

It's not just Bikinis. It's all swim wear, saunas in Europe, baths in Japan. It's just socially acceptable and expected in the right context, and that expectation plays a huge role in comfort. The context seems to flip a switch in people's brain.

[–] KuroiKaze@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

It's definitely a part of socialization. When I went to an all nude Chinese spa I was intensely uncomfortable and decided to wear shorts. I figured they were all gonna stare at me either way so I might as well not have to think about my dick.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 47 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

People are right in saying it's context and consent, and it's not completely gendered. Men's swimsuits are basically just boxer shorts. Normally I'm not self-conscious about that, but a few months ago I signed up for a toddler swimming class with my son where I wound up being the only Dad, and suddenly I felt a bit exposed. I think the normalcy of walking around in nothing but a small pair of shorts kinda evaporated once I was the only man in the room.

[–] HenryDorsett@lemmy.world 13 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, and if you get out of the water and have a "flattering" outline in your shorts, its suddenly becomes a much larger issue being the only adult male, and with children around.... eesh.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 11 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Well, I wasn't even thinking about that, but now I've got a whole new thing to be self-conscious about.

[–] HenryDorsett@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago

Don't be self conscious, be self aware .

If your wedding tackle has shifted at all during your swim, may be try to get out away from the others a bit, not a creepy amount, but like... Be on one end of the group, turn away slightly when transitioning from water to land, place your hands "casually" in a way to cover yourself without drawing attention, all sorts of little tricks you'll internalize before you know it, but it starts with being self aware.

[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

Speedo under the trunks should help I would think.

[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 14 points 20 hours ago

I can't contribute much except that I've asked myself this question many times. I guess some underwear is see-through but other than that it's kind of the same attire.

social conditioning

[–] gigachad@sh.itjust.works 97 points 1 day ago (11 children)

We are on vacation right now and my SO actually wears only the bottom of the bikini and goes bra less to the beach, because she says it's unfair I can free my nipples and she can not. Well that's pretty fair I would say?
We are European though and probably a bit less prude than US Americans.

[–] Opinionhaver@feddit.uk 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)

my SO actually wears only the bottom of the bikini and goes bra less to the beach, because she says it’s unfair I can free my nipples and she can not

Doesn't sound like she can't.

[–] UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 11 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Society and shit. I say boobs should be free.

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago

If boobs had guns like in Austin Power, our heads would explode trying to figure out if we cared about the 2nd amendment more or being prudes.

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[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 59 points 1 day ago (9 children)

People here saying consent (fair enough) but let me tell you, clothes are suggestive. There is more to suggestion and context than the actual content. Is anybody shocked to see a nude statue in a museum or something? Or in a painting? Now how about somebody wearing nothing but a g-string and a harness? You can argue the harnessed person in a gstring is less exposed than any nude. I say no. Clothing adds to the exposure sometimes. Underwear isn't meant to be seen, so when it's seen, it prompts judgement.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

This makes zero sense to me. It's all just cloth. The person in a g-string & harness is, literally, less exposed. You're conflating the context of "being exposed" and "adds to the exposure". Those two phrases mean different things. The first is referencing how much skin is visible while the second is referring to how noticable and attention-grabbing the individual is. You would be arguing an entirely irrelevant point to what was being discussed in your own hypothetical

Clothing being "suggestive" is entirely a subjective concept. What is "suggestive" to you might just be something the other person finds comfortable. It is also the same general logic behind "look at what she is wearing, she was asking for it" and I find that really problematic.

The underwear example is also just dumb to me. It's just cloth. It isn't "meant to not be seen", it's just there to avoid regular clothes chafing sensitive areas of the body. It being seen is irrelevant and simply a coincidence of being worn under other articles of clothing. There are no inherent, underlying implications except for what you put on them through your own bias.

This just reaffirms for me that people like to add arbitrary, subjective aspects to things and then try to assert these as intrinsic facts instead of personal biases.

[–] Fondots@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I go to a nudist resort fairly frequently. Most of it is clothing optional except for the pools, so you see people walking around in various states of undress depending on the weather and what they're doing (watched a guy weedwacking naked last time I was there, seemed ill-advised IMO)

You pretty quickly stop seeing nudity as being sexy there . It certainly doesn't help that the average nudist is middle aged or older and often not in the best shape.

This resort also attracts a decent amount of swingers. While the nudists aren't particularly trying to impress anyone, that's pretty much the whole reason the swingers are there. So how do you make yourself look sexier than just walking around naked? You wear something. Bathing suits, pasties, big flashy jewelry, crazy hats, see-through dresses, ropes, etc.

And though many of them aren't much more attractive than the nudists, they turn some heads.

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[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago

There was an old Piers Anthony series about a society where the masses, mostly slaves, went naked and only the owner class could wear clothes. The more clothes, the sexier.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

See also: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheissTitillationTheory : "The sexiness of an outfit is directly proportional to the perceived possibility that a vital piece of it might fall off."

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[–] God_Is_Love@reddthat.com 15 points 22 hours ago

I've never in my life been comfortable with anyone seeing me on a bikini, no matter how good I feel about my body. The "difference" between that and underwear or virtual nudity never permeated my brain 😂

Basically I think it's weird that they're treated so culturally different and don't feel comfortable in them myself, but also support the choice of whatever bathing suits people prefer or nudity in designated areas

[–] JASN_DE@feddit.org 71 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Swimming apparel is explicitly made from slightly thicker and very different material, keeping you from looking like you entered a wet-tshirt-contest. That alone is a big subconscious help. Or are you talking about the amount (or rather lack) of clothing?

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 3 points 17 hours ago

The counterpoint is that, for many women I know, their swimwear exposes way more skin than their underwear.

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[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 15 points 23 hours ago

Do what makes you comfortable.

You'll be out with family and friends, in an environment where most any swimsuit would be expected. Any lack of confidence would come from your own internal comfort, so you do you.

As a more practical suggestion if you're on the fence, wear a wrap? Then you can decide how you feel in the moment.

[–] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 69 points 1 day ago (3 children)
[–] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Obviously consent is the non negotiable standard nowadays (or I wish it were so) but it's true that beaches/swimming pools as a social construct allow for a lessened sense of prudishness in public. Underwears simply do not belong to this construct

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[–] DearMoogle@lemmy.today 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Something about feeling like a mom I guess? Idk I don’t have kids! xD For me, rocking a bikini = feeling confident about my body. I used to wear smaller bikinis when I was younger but now I find swim shorts much more comfortable, practical, carefree. Why are us women wearing small tight swim clothes anyway, that you gotta adjust, fuss with the strings, prevent the nip slip, etc. Meanwhile men wear comfy shorts? Well it helps that I’m not at that stage in my life where I’m looking to date or impress anyone lol.

I will say that if I were diligent about going to the gym and had a rockin bod, then yes. I’d probably wear that bikini to show off my hard work😉💪🏼

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I just got done working a comic convention this weekend. You might be pretty surprised by the general lack of clothing most people wear to those things (calling it a "costume").

Just this weekend alone, I saw at least five guys walking around without a shirt, and I don't know how many women wearing things that showed basically everything. Like so tight and thin I could tell what kind and color underwear they were wearing.

And this was in Indianapolis, far from a beach or lake, right in the middle of downtown.

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[–] Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 22 points 1 day ago (4 children)

We have an ad for ice-creams in NZ that covers this topic https://youtu.be/h-Lx2ihpGbc

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