Swim England’s guidance on choosing swimwear has been criticised for focusing too much on the shape of women’s bodies.
The national governing body for swimming in England suggested on its website suitable costumes for female swimmers with short or long torsos, in the plus size bracket, with a “pear shape”, with a large or small bust, a “flabby stomach” or “boyish body”. The web page was later taken down.
“Ensuring you have the right swimwear for body shape is vital. It’s important to be honest with yourself or the person you are buying for. It can make a world of difference,” the guidance noted.
Simone Webb, a PhD student in gender studies, came across the guidance while searching for a swimsuit to buy. She said: “I was thinking about trying to swim again because I needed to get my cardio exercise up to track and wanted to do something warm and indoors. I was genuinely surprised and shocked that the national government body would have something like this on their website.”
She said the guidance suggested that making women’s bodies look as close as possible to a particular feminine ideal was the most important thing when choosing clothing in sport. Although Swim England’s advice was aimed at encouraging people to swim, the guidance risked deterring women from the sport, she claimed.
The guidance covered “swimwear material”, “know what the swimwear is for”, and “choosing swimwear for women by body shape”. The last section went into the greatest detail, but there was advice on appearance in other sections as well. Under swimwear material, the guidance told female swimmers: “If you have a bodily feature you like, use bright colours to highlight it. Alternatively, to hide a less loved feature, use solid colour.”
Webb said: “I can’t quite work out how it got there in the first place. How did someone write that and thought yeah this is spot on?”
A Swim England spokesperson said: “This was an old web page from 2010 that does not represent the views of Swim England. As soon as it was brought to our attention we removed the page and are in the process of replacing it with more appropriate information. Swimming is one of the most accessible activities for people of all ages and abilities. We want everyone to feel comfortable in the water and apologise for any offence this old information may have caused.”
