What About Mixed Swimming?

by Travis L Quertermous

From The Reminder, June 19, 2011

When I was a boy, my grandmother used to preach against the evils of what she called “mixed bathing.” What she was referring to was men and women swimming together in public. The older generation called swimming “bathing.” Even today, swimsuits are still called “bathing suits” because of this.

As the weather gets hotter, swimming becomes more and more popular. Men and women head to the public swimming pool, the lake, the ocean, or a water park to cool off. Most never stop to ask themselves if God is pleased with such activity. We believe mixed swimming is wrong for two reasons. First, God requires us to wear modest, decent clothing in mixed company (1 Tim. 2:8-10; 1 Pet. 3:3-4). Now there is no way that any swimsuit today qualifies as modest or decent! It’s the equivalent of wearing your underwear in public! None of us with any shame would even dream of such—unless it’s at the pool or the beach.

Second, it places temptation before others of the opposite sex and it is always wrong to do so. Granted that one should not think such sinful thoughts, but that does not excuse those who put a stumbling block before others. One study of mixed swimming found that more than 60% of men and women agreed that men go to watch the women; that 30% of the women went to be watched; and that 59% of women agreed that their swimsuits were too revealing. Friends, that is not an activity Christians or their children need to be involved in.