"No Bikini" interesting movie short

[Bob S.]

I recently found this short movie (about 8-9 minutes) called "No Bikini" about a seven-year-old girl who gets a bikini she hated because it didn't fit for her summer swimming lessons. She tried to complain to her mother, but her mother tried to convince her to give it a try.

When she got to the pool, however, she just chose not to wear the ill-fitting top. Nobody ever questioned her thinking she, Robin, was a boy. Her mother never comes to her practices so she never realizes what happens until she gets the report at the end inviting her "son" to return the next summer.

At the end, in response to her mother accusing her of going around half naked, the narration (an adult female voice speaking for Robin) states that she never felt naked.

Bob S.

[Fitz1980]

I've always felt that little girls wearing bikini tops were funny to begin with. Their chests look identical to boys'. There was recently a minor furvor in Australia for showing a topfree 6 year old's nipples in a picture.

[Arnabas]

I remember when I was little and taking swimming lessons at the YMCA, there was a girl who was swimming without a top. A couple of the boys (myself included) giggled at a girl going topless. One of the female instructors asked us why we thought it was funny. None of us could give a good answer and she told us it was no big deal. I am glad she did. I wish more people could share that opinion/

[Yuppers]

There has been a couple times where I have let one of my young girls walk the street with me while naked up top. I did get some looks but hey, she doesn't even have any breasts as she is too young.

[bill2me]

We were visiting family in NC and went to the beach with them and another couple, The other couples little girl (4 or so) wore no top. My daughters who are all in their 20s were commenting "good for her". I loved their reaction.

[walter05]

I can't imagine a girl without a top being suspected of being a boy.

[jon71]

I "passed" in the other direction. I was told that when I was real little (3, 4?) that I had such curly hair (my dad said it was almost Shirley Temple ringlets) that mom could put me in a blue shirt with footballs on it and people would say "what a cute girl". Oh well. On topic a few years ago when my girl was about 6 we were running and I tucked my shirt in my shorts and she did the same. She asked if it was o.k. and I explained that technically there was a rule against it but it was a dumb rule and no one would mind a little kid doing that but a grown woman would get in trouble. She ran like that for a while and then put her shirt back on. I hope that's a positive sign, I'd love to be raising a little activist.

[steve-o]

... we were running and I tucked my shirt in my shorts and she did the same.

Huh..? What is the rule against tucking her shirt in?

[betterman]

steve-o i'm assuming he meant he took his shirt off and tucked it into his shorts

[steve-o]

ah, OK. gotcha.

[puffledud]

But back to the movie, does anyone have a site where the movie can be seen? or downloaded?

Dave

[puffledud]

Never mind, I found it.

Dave

[puffledud]

Oh, I forgot to mention that you can find the entire movie on YouTube. Just search for "no bikini"

Dave

[jon71]

cute movie. And yes, I meant to say we tucked our shirts into our shorts and ran bare chested.

[BrianP]

I cant find it! Can anyone put a link to it on here?

[puffledud]

Try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWOfcQ4O_yY

If that doesn't work, go to youtube and search for "no bikini". You will need the quotation marks or you'll get a lot of unwanted material.

Dave

[OZJames]

I just watched the No Bikini movie. I think it is fantastic and should be compulsory viewing for all parents of young girls. It makes the point, without saying it, that it is ridiculous to dress young kids in sexually provocative "high fashion" clothes that are really only suitable for adults. Children these days are thrust into the grown up world of fashion and sexuality FAR TOO YOUNG.

In Australia there has been a reaction against childrens clothing retailers who use young kids posing sexually, advertising "fashion" children's clothes.

Kids should be kids for as long as possible.

[JRH]

Oh, I forgot to mention that you can find the entire movie on YouTube. Just search for "no bikini"

Dave

Dave, where did you find "No Bikini" on You Tube

[Fitz1980]

<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lWOfcQ4O_yY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lWOfcQ4O_yY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

Here you go. Click on that window.

[Arnabas]

Awww, that was pretty good. The ending was annoying though. I was hoping that she'd be able to say something back to her mother to make her mom understand a bit better....

I liked it. I don't understand why we spend so much time and effort being concerned about things that really don't matter.

[Kari P]

In the movie the girl looked like a girl so much that I cannot understand how the teacher could have taken her as a boy. Maybe it was a joke by her?

While the children were changing their clothing the boys should have seen that the girl was a girl. I thought the changing room was unisex, and that's considered acceptable for so young kids in Europe, I think, at least in Finland it would be normal.

Yes, flat-chested girls should not have to wear a bikini top at beaches and swimming pools.

[ranul]

an error has occured please try again

[Naturist Mark]

In the movie the girl looked like a girl so much that I cannot understand how the teacher could have taken her as a boy. Maybe it was a joke by her?

The idea is that the gender roles are so prescribed that it was enough that she dressed like a boy and acted like a boy for her to be perceived as a boy.

[owl_tn]

The idea is that the gender roles are so prescribed that it was enough that she dressed like a boy and acted like a boy for her to be perceived as a boy.

I was certainly glad to see shots fired at that issue (gender roles) just as much if not more than the issue of false modesty. Bravo.

[Naturist Mark]

an error has occured please try again

Yep, the short film is actually posted twice on YouTube - and both display the same message now - so clearly this is an intentional error.

I suspect someone complained that a film showing a 7 year old girl topfree is child pornography ... so YouTube suspended it for "review".

[Arnabas]

It's playing alright now-- at least for me-- so hopefully if Youtube was investigating it, they decided it was acceptable. I'm glad for that, because I wanted my wife to see it. I think she'll appreciate it.

[Arnabas]

Also, on the topic of the changeroom, I got the impression that the boy with whom Robin (Robyn?) was having a bit of a rivalry *knew* she was a girl. From the way he looked at her in the lineup at the start of the first class to the changeroom confrontation (which to me implied that they were changing under their towels) and the final meeting after she got the medal, it just seemed to me that he knew she was a girl.

[Arnabas]

As I was fooling around on Youtube yesterday, I came across a video about bullying in Japanese schools. They were filming part of the video in a school where the kids were encouraged to go shirtless (part of training them to endure the elements-- that's off on another topic...) I was interested in the way that there was no differentiation between the boys and girls. Both genders went topless without anyone even thinking about it.

[Kari P]

As I was fooling around on Youtube yesterday, I came across a video about bullying in Japanese schools. They were filming part of the video in a school where the kids were encouraged to go shirtless (part of training them to endure the elements-- that's off on another topic...) I was interested in the way that there was no differentiation between the boys and girls. Both genders went topless without anyone even thinking about it.

I happened to see that same video! Yes, boys and girls, shirtless and in shorts, also during winter season. Not all but most of them were dressed that way in class and during breaks outside. These children were young. I don't remember if it was said how old children go shirtless in school.

[bgnaked]

As I was fooling around on Youtube yesterday, I came across a video about bullying in Japanese schools. They were filming part of the video in a school where the kids were encouraged to go shirtless (part of training them to endure the elements-- that's off on another topic...) I was interested in the way that there was no differentiation between the boys and girls. Both genders went topless without anyone even thinking about it.

Sounds fascinating, post it!

[Arnabas]

It's here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XX30-Ez8xg

[zharth]

That was a good film short. I remember being teased once for not wearing a top at the pool when I was a kid. Except that I wasn't actually a girl...

[MichiganMe]

When I was about 12, my next door neighbor, also about 12, came out without her shirt. I was not the bit fascinated or non-plussed, but thought I should mention it to her. She had forgotten that she had no shirt. In Ann Arbor, I've seen little kids stark naked out in their front yard on a busy street. On network TV I was watching a show on some street festival taking place in NYC. In the background, a woman walked by topless. The producers failed to notice her! Little girls or women, they should be able to go top free anywhere men can (and men should be able to go top free everywhere). In a few places (New York, Ontario, and, I think, even Ohio,) that is the law. Of course, you won't see many women exercising this option even on the beaches.