I went to high school one decade ago this year during the midst of the "boxers revolution." There were 3 guys I knew of that wore tighty whities in high school and I was one of them. After talking to my friends little brother, he said NO ONE wears briefs of any kind anymore. Why do you think teenage guys aren't wearing briefs like they did in the good ole days?

Unfortunately, tighty whities are not my favorites (nor are the boring boxers most guys wear), but I have a suspicion as to the whyness in this area.

Tighty whities are associated with, for lack of a better term, "dorkdom." There was a film a few years ago when three guys (Matt Lillard, Seth Green, and one other guy) get caught out in the wilderness, and end up almost naked, and the two "cool guys" are wearing boxers, while the dork/nerd played by Seth Green is wearing tighty whities. It's meant to show he's uptight and uncomfortable, his sexuality is repressed, and that his mom probably bought those for him. I think that's what most (straight) guys associate tighty whities with.

This whole idea that one needs the "room to move" which boxers provide is total and utter bullshit, but that's what most guys who wear them will tell you. I think it is actually to hide themselves as much as possible. While tighty whities are not flattering in my opinion, at least on occasion you can see an outline or an indication of genitalia when someone wears them, whereas with regular boring boxers it is nigh impossible. And that's what it comes down to--don't give other guys the temptation to look at you.

And straight women don't help in this regard either. Most of them aren't that comfortable with looking at men's genitals at the best of times, and they certainly don't want to see "soft cocks" if they can help it. Thus, boxers are their apparent preference. (The Undies Drawer blog post a while back that showed that women's magazine's picks for best men's underwear bears this out...the concern there was more for designers and labels rather than shape, comfort, or visual appeal.)

Anyway...

Although 'dorkiness' is doubtless a factor, I think there's a much more powerful cultural change here: Briefs tend to form some sort of shape around the genital area. Although that shape often wasn't genital-like or even suggestive, there was a growing awareness that it revealed enough to affect your social standing. Guys are reluctant to be visually categorized as a small-bump, balled-fist, floppy-bag, etc.

Let's roll back the clock a moment. I grew up during that period, so here's how I perceived it as it happened...

In the 70's there seemed to be no social stigma to showing guys in briefs, and tidy whities showed up in family movies and TV shows all the time. Bobby stripped down to his underwear in an episode of the Brady Bunch; I think the only reason I even noticed was because he was wearing Jockey briefs like my older brother, so as a little kid I associated that with 'big boy underwear.' (Mom had always bought me Sears Best briefs.)

A classmate's harmless comment around 5th grade made me suddenly aware there were several visual 'categories' of shapes-in-briefs, and I was in a category all by myself. I became quietly obsessed in the locker room trying to figure out why the various shapes were different from mine. I didn't realize it at the time, but I'd hit puberty a bit early so I'd established a habit of tucking my dick between my legs. That gave me a profile unlike a typical schoolboy my age.

After that I paid much closer attention to underwear in TV and movies, especially if it showed anyone approximately my age. The epitome was Bless the Beasts and the Children which showed a lot of boys at camp exactly like it really was: nobody wore pajamas so all the boys wore just underwear in the night scenes, mostly tidy whities. I think it must've been their real underwear because I saw the same variety of shapes and the same mix of underwear brands as in gym class. (I remember Billy Mumy's looked almost like mine for one shot, but I was disappointed when it didn't stay that way!)

I was just a growing boy who was curious about his body image, but I probably wasn't the only one becoming aware that briefs could be scrutinized. In the 80's underwear depictions gradually shifted to boxers, and when briefs did appear they were increasingly groomed to a non-revealing bland appearance. Somewhere I read models and actors were encouraged to wear snug speedos under their underwear. There was a growing reluctance to appear candidly.

Okay, long story.

My theory is that the culture has shifted to the point where teenagers are reluctant to risk anything briefs might reveal. It's not just their genitals, it's the shape briefs might form around their genitals that might unfairly affect their social standing.

Some good insights here. I agree that a lot of what people wear seems to be culture driven, whether that factor is dorkiness, the "shape" factor, or anything else. I also went to high school during the boxers revolution and I wore boxers mainly because that was what everyone else was wearing. I also think that a lot of it is fashion driven. When I was in high school, everyone wore their boxers so low that the bottoms of them could show if they were wearing shorts. And more recently, fashion has dictated that people wear their pants so low so that the waistband (or more) of your boxers can be seen. So again, I personally think fitting in with whatever culture you happen to be living in is perhaps the prevailing factor.

I also think an important factor is (at least for the hetero community) what girls want to see guys in. I remember once when I was a young teen a really hot girl asked me what kind of underwear I was wearing. That day ended up being the last day I've ever worn briefs!

And to respond to an earlier comment, while I am partial to boxer briefs and trunks, sometimes I do need extra room to move, especially during hot and humid weather. So at least for me, that argument does have some validity.

-Rico

Tuck--yes, I think you've elaborated it quite well. The fear of seeing and/or being seen is a huge factor here.

And certainly, Rico, some guys do need the room to move; but let's be frank here--most 14-year olds don't. (There was a Malcolm in the Middle episode which had that exact point...)

LOL good point Dr. Phil!

Re: the fear of being seen, I wonder if people are getting more self-conscious? At my high school, we had "public" showers in the locker rooms, so everybody basically knew how he compared to everybody else, and I guess it was less of a big deal.

I also was on the swim team, and when we had swim practice it would always start that all the guys wore speedos underneath trunks, and then as practice wore on, one guy would be the first to take off his trunks, then one by one everyone would follow until everyone was wearing speedos. So I guess what I'm saying is that there's perhaps a bit of a fear factor, but at least where I'm from, the fear of not fitting in with everyone else was the most important thing.

-Rico

Rico, I think that is a large factor (i.e. increased self-consciousness). But I think another factor that plays into all that is homophobia. There's this idea (especially among teenagers) that if another guy finds you attractive, it somehow demeans you and makes you less of a man by association. So, the idea behind this whole movement is to not give anyone else the possibility of "temptation" of looking and seeing anything worth looking further at, if that makes any sense. So, boxers are the only "manly" option, while more brief styles would be considered feminine and "so gay" because of what they might suggest...

Your swim practice sounds odd--I thought in most places, Speedos is Speedos, as it were, and there was no getting around it, so that was that. Then again, practicing with trunks over Speedos initially might be like practicing in a drag suit, so there could be a "practical" reason behind that. (Of course, these days practicing in a Speedo is drag suit enough, with these high-tech body suits and jammers and such which are available...and have made the Olympics so boring to watch these days...)

Dr. Phil, I agree that homophobia is probably a big part of all this. But I also think it's possible that part of the gay-association with underwear is due to the marketing, as the gay community seems to be the primary target. I know that I only became an underwear fan after a gay friend of mine convinced me to buy some unicos! But I also wonder how much of this is due to homophobia as it relates to American culture. I've had the opportunity to visit both western and eastern Europe, and in some of the countries, when I checked out the underwear selections at the stores, bikinis, briefs, and trunks were the main choices - boxers were much scarcer, and when you saw them, they were labeled "American boxers" lol! So I wonder if part of this is due to Europeans being less homophobic. It seemed that the more revealing underwear styles were marketed to the general community, and not primarily to the gay community. But I'm not European, so it's hard for me to say. Comments?

That does sound reasonable to me, Rico. I lived in Ireland and Britain previously, and traveled to other places. "French cuts" on briefs and so forth were commonly available in Switzerland, and didn't seem to have anything negative attached to them; likewise in Ireland and Britain, it was fairly easy to find more brief-type styles. And of course, at the beaches and pools, it was more common to find Speedos as a matter of course, even for the non-totally-hot-athletes and such...but that is beginning to change, as it tends to be older (40 or up) guys, at least in Ireland, and when I visited Switzerland as well, who would wear Speedo-type suits, while all the younger guys wore shorts or board shorts, or the occasional midcut trunk. So, for my age, I was in the minority there! Thus, even in countries where homophobia is still a problem (i.e. Ireland), there seems to be a different thing operating. I know that's the case in Eastern Europe, where all men wear Speedos at the pool, whether they're old, fat, wrinkly, or hairy...and I'm all for that! Hmm...

Great insights guys! I am happy to see that people actually put thought and effort into this discussion. Back in high school I wore tighty whities under my boxers so that I would still be comfortable without being ridiculed. My buddy, who was also a tighty whitey guy, saw my briefs waistband sticking out of my boxers and decided to depants me in the locker room. After that, i was picked on more for hiding the fact I wore briefs than if I would have actually just worn them proudly. Needless to say I dont care who sees me in my tighty whities but I am sure a lot of guys want to avoid the potential ridicule from their male peers in the locker room.

UndieLoverLandon--gosh, that's harsh. I'm sorry that happened to you.

I remember there was a guy a year older than me in the late 80s, during the time period when Milli Vanilli was big (before they were "outed" as talentless fakers), when the thing to do was to wear spandex bike shorts. Some people started doing interesting things with layering, but this particular guy (who looked like a more manly version of Joey from NKOTB) would wear tighty whities under his bike shorts, and then at least one or two more layers over that. I thought that was hot as hell...

So, layering is a good thing in my book! Well done for forward thinking on your part! (And considering the main Undies Drawer blog has just posted on those boxers that have a brief inside of them, that was truly forward thinking!) It's unfortunate that your peers did not think so, and that the hybrid of boxer briefs did not emerge to salvage things just yet.

i remember when i was at school it was all cheap briefs and no one cared,gradually boxers were brought in and there was some teasing towards the briefs wearers,now we are older and no one cares again but it is now mainly boxers

I like Rico's theory that peer pressure / non-conformance is a major factor because it fits my observations just as well as the theory I gave. (You could even argue his theory fits my story even better than my own theory did!)

Well I will never forget the reason that I changed to boxers in middle school. My cusin was the coolest guy I knew, and fours years older than me. One night when I was 9 he snuck me out of the house with a couple of girls and we went swimming I never heard so much laughter as when my jeans hit the ground and I stood there in all my briefly glory. Thenext day I told my mom that I wanted to wear boxers and not brief like I had worn for so long. Next time we went swimming I was proud to be seen in my Tazmanian Devil boxers. We started dressing out in gym that school year and it was about 50/50 of boxers to briefs then as the year went on it was more like 95/5. My best friend always wore his briefs and I was more than happy to de-pants him right in themiddle of basket ball practice.... god I miss those days

so it was peer pressure that people are changing over, but some go back to breifs like me