Evolution of the swimsuit

In this presentation, Jessica Rey discusses how far the bikini has come in terms of acceptance and the revolutionary impact it's made on society. The bikini was invented in 1946 by a French engineer named Louis Reyard. It was named after an atomic bomb test because he knew that it would have the metaphorical impact of an atomic bomb on society. The purpose of a bikini was to finally expose the belly button and it wasn't considered a bikini unless you could pull it through a wedding ring. Before, and even for some time during, the bikini era women would wear bathing suits that covered up a significant portion of their body. Women would use what was called a bathing machine to swim in. It was basically a miniature pool but women were too afraid of swimming in public so they swam in these. They were so afraid that they'd jump straight into the water in hopes of no one seeing them. In 1956 modern girl magazine said that it was "hardly necessary to waste words cause no girl with tact or decency would wear them." Another writer for the magazine said that it "revealed everything about a girl except her mothers maiden name." Bikinis were so looked down upon that at a lot of beaches would get kicked off of beaches because they were seen as too scandalous. By the 60's everything was so revolutionized by the "free love" era that women who weren't wearing bikinis were seen as "square." Studies at Princeton University show that men who were shown women in bikinis saw them as objects instead of human beings. Men who were shown women in normal clothing saw them as normal women. Jessica Rey closed her discussion by explaining that modesty doesn't mean women have to cover themselves in bed sheets everywhere they go, but they also don't have to walk around borderline naked. Jessica Rey's goal is to have women preserve their dignity but do it in a fashionable sense.