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The Need for Bikini Science Terms In order to study Bikini Science one needs to invent some terms. This will allow us to speak about the body, the costumes, the time, and the locations with precision. An Inventory of Terms Needed Language we will need to talk about Bikini Science includes: A consistent set of labels of body parts, especially parts that may be exposed via bikini. The nomenclature of the swimsuit. Identification of major fashion lines. Activities related to bikini behavior, including sunning, swimming, walking, as well as the mechanics of changing clothes. Identification of locations as well as the era or date as well as the time of day. All of these variables apply to a Bikini Science subject, be he or she we wearing a swimsuit, underwear, or street clothes, or inside or out. Other significant variables in the eroticism of the swimsuit scene include: props, other players, body marginals, media, and the suggestion of risk. Terms Tactical to the Bikini The very nature of the bikini--a swimsuit composed of two parts--suggests our analysis treat tops and bottoms individually as well as in combination. In other words there are primitive elements as well as compounds. A Soutien-gorge is the genus of bikini top and a Culotte is the genus of the bottom. Both contain many individual species. A bra for example is a top that circumnavigates the chest and possesses two shoulder straps. A halter has straps that tie behind the neck. A bandeau is strapless. A nombril is a culotte with a waistline below the navel. A tanga is a culotte that exposes bare butt. A pantaloon has a legline that extends down the thigh. And so on. Where to Find Terms Bikini Science terms are immersed through the fabric of the environment. Costume terms are organized into genus and then species; genus include Maillots and Bathing Dresses as well as Soutien-gorge and Culotte. Costumes also include Bikiniology, which deals with a lot of bikini behaviors: strapoffs and reties, fasteners, materials, see-through and transparency, crochet, foundations, layering, tans and tan lines, underwear, and tags. In the Professor the Exposures review the basics and inventory all the Primary Exposures. Origins of this Approach This approach builds upon the work of Roland Barthes, who writing in The Fashion System, adopts the idea of a classification scheme for clothes from biologists, as well as a notional method which describes variance (e.g., longsleeve, shortsleeve). This kind of thinking is applied to Bikini Science. We present a genus and species classification system, modifiers like color and fabric, and exposures and actions. Our quantum of time is the Scene, which may run from one to many pictures but which is largely bounded to one location and time interval. Although any individual bikini is a snapshot that appears static, it is in fact always an instant on a continuum. One might think of it as a moment during a walk by a bikiniite from the pool back to her motel room. And in a larger context it is a moment in history that is sandwiched between the deux-pièces and the topless g-string. The language of Bikini Science involves nouns--descriptions of body and costumes. And it also involves adjectives--how much or how little. And it also involves verbs--the mechanics of actions. These actions have momentum, and although each Scene only catches an instant, together the Scenes reveal cultural momentum as well. Our terms allow us to label, quantify, and measure our behaviors over time. |
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