Each of us has our own ideas about what is appropriate in certain circumstances and what is not. What is acceptable to do and what looks like a complete breach of social etiquette - even if our ideas about etiquette don’t actually coincide with the generally accepted ones. That's just the way we are, humans.
The story we are about to tell you today, told by the user u/Just_Walk_7693, is exactly of this kind. A tale about how a pool party host too loudly condemned one of the guests for an allegedly overly flashy bikini - and how the guest's husband angrily stood up for her. However, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post and his wife recently attended a pool party thrown by their acquaintances
Image credits: Armin Rimoldi (not the actual photo)
The author's wife has an amazing figure, according to him, but mainly prefers not to show everything off
Image credits: Just_Walk_7693
Image credits: cookie_studio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
So when the woman showed up in a bikini it was a bit of a shock for many of the guests, including the host
Image credits: Just_Walk_7693
Image credits: Kindel Media (not the actual photo)
The host and her friends had been insulting the woman under their breath for nearly 30 minutes and then dubbed her 'attention hog' loudly
Image credits: Just_Walk_7693
The husband saw red and snapped at the host in return, and then the spouses both stormed out
So, the Original Poster (OP) is a guy in his early 30s and his wife is a few years younger. The man clearly loves his wife very much - this is clear at least from the original text, since the dude devoted two whole paragraphs to praising her virtues. Both moral and physical.
In short, the author's wife has a great figure, but is modest enough not to show everything off. The man claims that his wife is a very pleasant person to talk to, and they have many friends. And recently, mutual friends invited the couple to a pool party.
Several dozen people were present, including four children under 13. And when the author's wife came out in her bikini, the host and several of her friends definitely began to behave colder - both with her and with the spouse. Moreover, for almost half an hour, the OP heard them discussing her in low voices, clearly not mincing words.
We don’t know for sure - whether they envied the OP's wife's beauty, or were just outraged by her swimsuit. But, according to the author, there was nothing vulgar there. Most likely, the bikini was even more covered up than many of the guests, and there was a scarf around her waist too. But in combination with the woman's figure and shape, it really made an impression.
And so, when the wife, taking off her scarf, entered the water, the host couldn’t help exclaiming something like "Oh, come on!" and added that the woman must be an 'attention hog' (yes, in the original there was a way more offensive word, as you can probably guess). And then our hero saw red...
The man pounced on the host with insults, declaring that she was an envious (well, it rhymes with ‘witch’) and an awful host. After that, he and his wife stormed out - however, having cooled down a bit, the guy began to doubt the righteousness of his wrath.
Firstly, the word he was offended by, in combination with 'attention' loses some of its insulting power. Secondly, there were kids there who became unwitting witnesses to his lack of restraint. Thirdly, the author and his wife were one of three Indian couples invited to the party, and the man now doubts that his ethnicity was decently represented.
However, according to the author himself, most of his friends who were there say that it was more funny than offensive, and that they are more on his side. Be that as it may, the man decided to seek support from netizens too.
Image credits: Mikhail Nilov (not the actual photo)
Most likely, in fact, neither the host nor her friends have anything against the bikini per se - they just didn’t expect that the author's wife would look so impressive. After all, many people have complexes about wearing a bikini. Thus, according to the results of one of the surveys conducted by Fitness Planet, 46% of 1,000 respondents admitted that they feel insecure in a swimsuit.
Moreover, the same survey claims that 33% would even rather go to the dentist than wear a bikini. "Swimsuit anxiety spans multiple levels: a culture communicating that females’ value stems from our attractiveness to others, internalized body dissatisfaction from social media, and the type of swimwear available," Psychology Today quotes Rachel Goldsmith Turow Ph.D.
So the only question that really remains is whether the original poster's harsh reaction was justified. People in the comments were divided, but most still agreed that he was basically right. “Just because you were in their home doesn’t mean they get to berate your wife,” one of the commenters wrote. “You did well defending her in front of many people, not many husbands will do that.”
In any case, marriage is about being confident that your partner will protect you in any situation. And the author demonstrated exactly that, the respondents are quite sure. “Surely could have handled it better, but it's kinda commendable you stood up for your wife in a covertly hostile situation,” another person summed up. And how would you, our dear readers, act in the described situation?
People in the comments mostly sided with the man, praising him for standing up for his wife in a hostile atmosphere
