Thoughts on just being a guy

[sebbie]

Part CV

So, human sexuality is this goofy combination of physical sensations having to do with nerves and touch, and the mental/psychological part which frequently but not always has to do with the visual. Once a guy reaches puberty, it takes awhile for all of this to settle in. I’ve sometimes thought that as adults many guys still do not fully understand the complexities of the situation they must now confront.

If I were to watch TV or the movies, I would probably come to the conclusion that sexuality is all about the attraction that two people have for each other, normally on a visual level. Yet there have been movies made which focus on the idea that even blind guys can and do regularly get turned on sexually obviously without visual stimuli of any sort.

Generally the commercial movies end up being focused on relationship sex mostly straight M-F sex but a minor category being movies that contain some aspect of gay M-M or F-F partner sex. This latter category generally is treated not as would otherwise could be major commercial releases but as something generically called “art” films, and a subcategory designed to appeal to people who are not, you know, straight. This is a relic of the old days when it was generally believed by the public that gays somehow had something “wrong” with them. But then apparently the movie market says that relationship movies that make lots of money need to feature people who are having sex with a partner of the other sex and whatever else there is has yet to be fully sorted out.

Another interesting aspect of all of this is how the porn sites subdivide and categorize videos. Apparently a lot of people want to watch heterosexual couples engaging in penis-vagina sex with nothing left to the imagination about what part fits where, and this becomes a giant straight category.

Then there is another big category of videos that feature a guy having some form of sex (usually oral or anal) with another guy. And this becomes a portion of a giant “gay” category of porn videos.

But there are other videos—solo sex videos—in which, at least on the male side, is revealed how a guy might engage in doing himself to orgasm (or just get really turned on) without a sexual partner. Oddly enough, all these videos get tossed into the gay sex pile apparently as if the only guys who masturbate are, in fact, gay.

Of course, this is a patently false assumption. I do not doubt that there are some gay guys who would be interested in this whole subject matter of how to engage in solo sex, but, oddly enough a pile of straight guys might be more than a little interested as well.

Think about this. As a young teen I was learning the nuances of who I was as a guy and I seemed to uncover a new way to enjoy my own body nearly every day. This all would have been great fun had I not been so worried and apprehensive about what I was doing by, to and with myself. And everything I was learning was a dark secret not to be revealed to anyone.

Of course I had male peer friends. But the last thing I would have ever have done would have been to get up the nerve to ask one of them if he was having the same “problem” as I am having and surely not quizzing him about what he was doing specifically to deal with the ongoing situation. A worst-case scenario would have been for the guy to come back at me and say he had none of this problem I had described, why am I asking such silly questions. Worse, he might respond by saying that engaging in such solo activities was something real guys (as in guys interested in females, sexually) would never do that. Further, if I liked doing that to myself that was a sign that I was actually gay at least in part. Real guys were female-focused for all their turn-on activities.

I would have been devastated had that happened and certainly I did not want to even begin to verbalize my thoughts on the subject. I would argue that growing up the vast majority of guys exist in the place I was in, never learning more from others than I did. The vast majority of guys never get to the point where they even talk openly about such questions for the reasons I have cited, let alone get involved in a circle jerk or other overt sexual activity with one or more male peers. And they enter adulthood, marriage and all the rest still being stumped by what exactly was going on down there when they were teenagers.

Then there are the physical aspects of it all. Growing up I quickly discovered that it was fun to wear snug-fitting clothing, items such as underwear, swimwear, snug-fitting jeans. I was relying on peer observation. I noticed that other guys my age seemed to like some of the same clothing items I did—cousins who wore tight jeans and wore swim briefs to bed, for example. The mystery always was whether they were doing this because these items tended to arouse them as well, or did they wear these items simply because that was the popular style of the day. I would have never dared ask this question openly, just observe, and to this day I still have no idea what the answer might have been had I ever dared ask the question. It was just something guys did not want to talk about with anyone.


So fast forward to adulthood. A lot of guys grew up in a system that probably was no more open about such issues than the guys were when I was growing up. If any adult male is OK with getting into the “gay” section of the porn video sites, many of the questions you might have had with respect to whether or not what you did by yourself as a young teen was normal or not can probably be answered, and you might just uncover some fun new ways to masturbate that had not occurred to you before. Some guys are quite creative in this regard, and may be able to teach you a thing or two with regard to how to do techniques for messing with your own body down there.

Of course, you may not want to do this because you believe what you were told by peers when you were 14 that masturbation was something only gay guys were interested in doing and that if you like it that much then surely deep down you must be gay. If you believe that, I am not going to try and help you. On the other hand…

To be continued…

[sebbie]

Part CVI

Like many of my readers I am sure, I have time that I use better when writing on a variety of topics. The other “problem that I have being here is that somehow my mind drifts toward thinking about how I can use the free time to pleasure myself. Nothing remotely dangerous of course, and nothing even involving a sexual partner. Just me here, sitting alone, thinking up ways to make myself happy. My overall happiness almost always entails creating some neat sensations down there. When I was younger—much younger—I was at least a little bit embarrassed that I was having these thoughts—thinking about ways to make my private parts do stuff that would make me feel good in my head. One of the loopy aspects of all of this is that most people seem to think it is OK to feel good in your groin area if you are in a relationship with a partner, but if you are alone, this means that if you start to figure out ways to pleasure yourself sexually you are somehow doing stuff that you somehow “should not be doing.” Culturally, there still exist strong forces that say male self-pleasuring is something that should never be done—a definite no-no. Never mind that every guy engages in it and I am not even sure if some guys more than others.

Over the decades I have managed to build a large collection of items that I like to use when I am feeling like I am feeling right now. None of these items are dangerous though a few some might see as silly. I have a very large collection of swimming briefs and thongs, jock straps some with cups and some without, compression gear, running tights, and really snug fitting compression tees and blue jeans. Plus some one-of-a-kind items I won’t go into explaining here. And of course I have always been a big fan of tighty whitey and even thong underwear, so I have plenty of those as well. As a single guy living alone who thoroughly enjoys pleasuring myself, it has been great fun to have such a collection. I keep finding different ways to have fun and I have not run out of ideas.

Today I am doing some layering. I have long thought layering garments over other garments was a fascinating way to stimulate myself, with more fun happening as the fit gets snugger and the layers increase. I would recommend this approach to any guy who wants to determine exactly where his psychological and physical limits in this regard are. Young guys tend to be very wary of getting into a situation where they might go off in an unreasonable time or place, and many are so anxious that they avoid wearing any clothing that could accidentally get a guy in that situation.

As I grew older I discovered that I had attained somewhat more ejaculatory control than I had as a teenager, and wearing clothing in public that made me feel horny was no longer something that I needed to be that concerned about. The net impact was that I started wearing snugger and tighter fits as daily wear though gradually getting tighter and tighter. Some guys seem to think that the only fun part of being horny is getting to the ejaculation part, but that is not true. It is the trip not the destination—the path a guy takes from the moment he says to himself that “I feel horny” that is the really enjoyable experience. The ejaculation part—however much mind-blowing fun—is merely the cherry on the top of the bowl of ice cream. It is the journey that got you there that is the really important part.

So, I am doing some layering today. I start with a little thong underwear—the kind I like are the once where the pouch holds my penis and balls securely and the rear that cinches up really snug between my glutes.

Over the thong goes an old school jock strap, and today it is one without a hard plastic cup.

Over that goes an old pair of black Bollinger compression shorts that fit really really tight. And a black compression tee on top.

I bought some really neat ultra-snug-fitting blue jeans from Hollister around Christmas time and I have not had a chance to wear them to go anywhere. Made of stretch denim size 30W x 30I, these get pulled up over all the other layers and fit through my thighs and calves like a second skin. I think they look great as well. This is the same size I wore when I was 19, but I fill them out a lot better now.

I am now feeling, well, both cheerful and horny as I write this all down. I like how I am feeling very much and I am most anxious to soon get on one of my stationary rowing machines for a half hour more today. Clad this way I know the time on the machine will pass quickly and I love how that thong cinches up between my glutes with every stroke of the machine.

Enjoy!

[sebbie]

Part CVII
Guys have always had something of a love-hate relationship with their cups. The whole idea of wearing a hard cup as part of a guy’s protective gear for participating in certain sports—football, baseball, Karate—d oes not come easy for most guys. Another basic problem is that more often then not guys are often first confronted with the idea of wearing a cup at about the same time they are confronted with all sorts of other things happening down there—things that they have had little experience with trying to control effectively. Everything that happens down there seems new and strange, with the whole idea of the situation somehow being exciting and, at some level wonderful being only an afterthought.

Any “normal” guy is quite sensitive to any situation where he thinks there is a possibility that his penis will be touched in some new or unexpected way. Loose-fitting shorts present less of a problem in this regard than snug-fitting shorts. In swimming, jammers somehow are usually less of a problem than a swim brief might be. But anything that fits snug in the groin and around the penis is a potential “cause” for concern.

Too, every guy at some point believes that he is the only one among his male friends that has this problem, and that he somehow has an issue because he gets hard (or at least semi-hard) when confronted with whatever clothing situation he is facing. The other guys like to act as if they have no issue with all of this—and true, there is an “I’ve gotten used to wearing this so Ha Ha you may have an issue but I surely do not.” The thought that there are other guys who can “tolerate” wearing nearly anything down there no matter the fit is not reassuring.

Hard cups designed for use with athletic supporters, as well as the traditional rubberized athletic supporters have been around for a long time. But over the years manufacturers have made a number of changes designed to make the cups more “comfortable” to wear. The question here is what specifically are we now referring to when a discussion of a hard cup designed to secure and protect a guy’s penis is the issue at hand.

Part of this relates more generally to a guy’s anatomy and the fact that males have male organs that are largely separate from the rest of the male body and for various reasons these are constructed in such a way to be at least somewhat out in the open air. But then if a guy wants to participate in an athletic sport it is probably best to tie everything down somewhat and for the male organs to not go flopping around every which way when the guy is merely actively engaged in the sport. One of the functions of a swim brief is to secure a guy’s male body parts so they aren’t flopping around back and forth with every swim stroke. In short, a snug fit makes a whole lot of sense when swimming on for a variety of reasons. There are other styles—jammers, square cuts—that could also secure the male body for swimming as well, but to do so the fit would need to be as snug as the brief. No loose-fitting shorts would work at all without at minimum having a lining mimicking a swim brief, and then there are other issues if the goal is to be able to move quickly through the water.

Up until about 25 years ago, the vast majority of athletic supporters and cups designed for sports like football and baseball were all made in a similar way. The traditional supporter was made of rubberized elastic material with a waist band typically 2 ½-or 3-inches wide, leg straps but zero coverage in the rear, The cups all fit the same way and looked pretty much the same. The design was made to just barely have enough room to contain a flaccid penis (there were sizes as SM, MED and LRG). Getting your first cup and strap was a male “rite of passage” so to speak. The cup size varied with the waist size. This was a bit odd in part because there is no particular reason why a guy’s waist size and his penis size should be linked. Some guys with big penises have slim waists and some guys with big waists have small penises. But the manufacturers somehow assumed that the guys with the bigger waists must be older and this have bigger penises as well!

The cups were really interesting too. Assuming you were not wearing a strap with an waist too large for you, the cup would press firmly against your groin. And the cup was flat and had just enough room to contain your flaccid penis. The very logical question any guy would have is what would happen if he started to get erect while in the strap and cup. Turns out, this could be stressful, annoying, perhaps a trifle painful or maybe just a bit of fun as well. The cups were designed to keep the guy’s penis “firmly” in one place. With a bit of a hard-on, the guy would see if he could surreptitiously “adjust” the cup in an effort to find a more comfortable spot for his penis to be, but adjusting the cup from the outside usually tended to make the situation worse not better. The guy’s penis would say “I like that” and respond by getting harder not softer only making matters that much worse not better.

So then the “Banana” cup (a trade name) appeared. This was and is a bigger cup with lots more room for a guy’s penis to flop around some inside the cup even if semi-erect. My problem with that is generally I am not sure it is a great idea for a guy’s penis to be flopping around inside a hard cup with every move in a sport. The idea that in sport, a guy’s penis is firmly pinned down in one place still makes a lot of sense to me.

Traditional jock straps and cups are seldom worn for team sports any more. There are on-line companies that sell them though the most important manufacturer, Bike, has ceased operations, and old Bike straps in great condition now fetch a premium price on Ebay. Sport now is largely done employing compression shorts instead of a traditional strap—shorts with a pocket to hold a banana-style cup. The traditional straps and cups that are being sold nowadays primarily go to the guys who like to use them for “recreational” purposes that do not include engagement in a team sport of some sort. On occasion I have worn a strap and cup when doing yard work.

To be continued…

[sebbie]

I’m fully strapped and cupped this morning. I’m going out to do a little yard work before the temperature gets too high. I found a little “Riddell” strap with a pouch that holds a cup. The cup today I would describe as a “mini-banana” cup. I think it’s actually a boy’s cup that is shaped like a much smaller version of an adult-sized cup. My penis has a bit of room but not enough to flop around. There is a steady, neat pressure than does not abate on the sides and top of my penis. It’s a neat but subtle sensation, and one I will have to cope with as I do my work.

If I try to touch my penis all I can feel is the hard cup. But oddly enough that still feels neat this morning.
Underneath the strap I have a pair of way undersized tighty whiteys which adds to the fun. Over everything a pair of Tesla compression shorts, and over that a lightweight pair of sweatpants.

I am all set for my yard work. I will likely ooze a bit while I am working but I am always good with that.

Some of you reading this may have never strapped and cupped yourself, and for others, it may have been a long time. This is safe, neat fun. I highly recommend doing so. You might find that you enjoy yourself too and especially like being strapped in for doing normal outdoor work. I certainly do. The experiments are very worthwhile and enjoyable.

[sebbie]

Part CVIII

I have grown very fond of edging employing a $15 penis pump from eBay, and have come to believe that getting into and using one of these is just another male “rite of passage” that goes right alongside other male rites of passage such as crawling into your first swim brief, your first jock strap or your first thong. In each of these instances, a lot of males initially seem to be more than a little apprehensive with respect to what might happen to them “down there”, and whether or not psychologically they could deal or cope with what could happen to them.

Therefore, once a guy gets up his nerve to any one of these, in general he wants a degree of privacy to make certain that nothing embarrassing happens that he has to somehow explain or get teased about.

I clearly remember how I tried to deal with the experience of getting into my first swim brief. I was quite apprehensive, to say the least—actually climbing the walls psychologically. I realize that some of that was fear of the unknown, and my penis was simply dealing with the psychological turmoil I was facing. Psychologically scary but really terrific fun at the same time. My penis was sending sensations to my brain I had never felt before (so to speak).

I did not participate in any sports in high school where a strap was mandatory gear. But I was always very curious as to how the guys who got to wear straps (I saw that as being a major benefit to being an athlete) felt wearing them, so the first thing I did after I got out away from my family was to go out and buy myself a strap. Same deal as the swim brief. I was scared but still loving the fit and feel. Soon I was building a collection of straps. I got hooked on the ones that had hard cups that pressed firmly with constant pressure on my sensitive areas. I started wearing a strap and cup even under jeans when doing yard work, and my collection kept growing year-by-year.

Men’s thong underwear did not really come to the US until the late 1980s but when I saw them in the stores I knew I wanted to try them. Same deal, exactly, but I was much older then. I quickly discovered that the area between my glutes was, well, psychologically interesting, and a great way to generate interesting sensations was with a thong that had a back consisting only of an elastic cord that easily cinched up snug between the glutes. As I walked I could feel the cord brushing between my glutes with every step and I was soon, almost instantly, feeling horny. It helped that my penis was encased in a snug pouch too. I started thinking up fun combinations employing thongs with a strap and cup over. I enjoyed myself tremendously, edging my way through the day (and also often, the night).

So, I was serious when I started reading about the use of vacuum penis pumps, sometimes called VED devices as a means of improving erectile function after RP surgery (which I had 6 years earlier) but also as a safe means of maintaining and improving penis health (the blood vessels in the penis atrophy if not regularly engorged with blood). So the urologists are suggesting the use of a VED device as a safe way for anyone who wants to improve their ability to get and maintain an erection with those who have had prostate surgery simply being one category.

I started thinking about “old times"--the fun I had getting into my first swim brief, my first strap, my first cup, my first thong, and some of the grand old feelings of incredible terror mixed with delicious fun came back to me. Getting into the pump was going to be, well, interesting. I ended up going on eBay to discover literally hundreds of vendors selling VED devices without any indication as to them being a medical device but merely a sex toy of sorts, and for the same reason I knew I had to have a swim brief, a strap or a thong, the VED was just another male rite-of-passage, I went on a couple porn sites and found 19 y/o guys enjoying themselves inside VED tubes. Clearly the market for these was drastically bigger than just for guys working on ED issues!

I really like being in such a “predicament” and, as I say, the pure pleasure of getting my first brief, strap or thong was being repeated. The VED device arrived, and of course I was on a psychosexual “high”. I loved the situation I was in. That was in January of 2020.

Since then I have been in a penis pump on a very regular basis—sometimes every night, but sometimes taking a break for a few nights. Taking a break often makes me feel hornier when I do get back in, and I really truly enjoy that.

This is great edging fun. The whole idea is to see how much tension a guy can stand without going into an orgasmic spasm that you cannot control. But the even more interesting situation occurs AFTER you get out of the pump. Lube yourself up with a water based gel lubricant (gel soap works fine) and then see if with manual stimulation you can improve your erection further by applying your fingers to the most sensitive areas. Again the idea is to edge yourself to the very point where you think you might go into an orgasm, but not quite.

So, I was having really great fun last night edging. I love to edge using the penis pump as a starting point. And I decided to not get off at all, but keep adding to the intensity with the thought of maintaining this all night long. So, what did I do? I found one of my old thongs with the elastic cord back and crawled into that. Great fun given the state I am in from having applied the pump and then played with myself afterwards. The cord immediately started giving me some neat sensations.

Then I pulled on a little swim brief—this one my dark navy “Harry Potter swim team“ brief with the gold diagonal slashes across the front right side. This brief is not skimpy, just snug, and holds my penis firmly in the “up” position to be touched and fondled. Then I crawl into bed and (try to) sleep. I fall asleep touching myself and enjoying some really super-neat physical and psychological sensations that begin at the underside of my penis.

I really sleep well in this state, and by morning I am steel feeling quite hard and horny. The entire scheme sustains itself while I am asleep. RP surgery removes the prostate but leaves the Cowpers’ glands intact, meaning that when I am horny I still precum. Of course, when I awaken I want to check if I have pre-cummed during the night. The inside of the thong pouch reveals what happened during the night. A really neat sticky precum stain about the size of a coin half-dollar. I had enjoyed myself the whole night or the sticky stain would not have been so big.

All is well, and I am still feeling horny. I will spent the day wearing an undersized blue jammer and then see what happens tonight. I am enjoying myself in ways I could not have imagined when I was a teen-ager. Getting your first penis pump is not unlike the sequence of events when I got my first swim brief or strap—a neat male rite of passage.

What happens tonight? Will I remain as horny as I am right now? I will see!

[sebbie]

Part CIX

Every guy has a preference as to what style and fit of underwear he likes to wear. These preferences do not necessarily remain constant throughout, say a year, but may vary depending on a number of factors. For younger guys at least, maybe older guys as well, a continuing concern is that of “will anyone see me wearing this, and if so, who?” Young guys constantly worry about being teased or worse, if seen wearing underwear in, say a gym locker room, that varies too much from what the other guys are wearing in the same situation. So there is a “herding instinct” that goes on in that guys are interested in figuring out what other guys their age are wearing in order to conform to “the norm” in any situation.

In temperate climates, climates such as where I grew up, the temperatures can vary widely from the summer months to the winter, and a practical consideration is whether or not the weather has turned cold enough to merit wearing say, pair of long johns versus a brief. I presume that guys living in a warmer climate, say Florida or southern California, do not need to be very concerned about all of this at all, and wear pretty much the same cut and style year around.

Then there is the issue of being in a relationship where for whatever reason, a guy knows that his underwear might be seen by the other party in the relationship. Something nicer (more expensive) and maybe even sexier (whatever that is) may be the appropriate choice. This is where the market for underwear costing $25 a pair designer underwear potentially comes into play, not the 3 for $10 (or even 5 for $10) cotton briefs from the discount house.

The other big issue is that what is popular among men as to the go to underwear does not remain forever constant, but changes over time, and some of these changes are quite dramatic.

I grew up as a teenager in the 1960s. Practically every one of my peers wore white cotton briefs with a fly, or maybe occasionally what were called boxer briefs that were the same design but with a slightly longer but still short leg (maybe a 2-inch inseam). The white cotton fly front brief was so popular that in a group of students maybe one in 25 or even one in 50 wore something different. Talk about herding instinct. In the winter, a lot of guys switched over to a white cotton long john that fit snug all the way the thigh and calf so that a guy could pull on jeans over without it being readily apparent that he was wearing long johns. But I presume guys growing up in warmer climates just stayed with their white cotton briefs year around.

The cotton briefs always fit quite snug. The guys were at the age where they were growing rapidly and as a result guys quickly got used to a snug fit. After all the underwear were still in good condition even as they kept fitting a bit snugger and snugger. So guys got “used” to being in briefs that fit quite tight.

Thinking back, this was also a period of time many guys chose to wear swim briefs for regular swimming and related activities. The fit of the briefs was not significantly different from the fit of the combed cotton underwear. Guys had seen all their buds in the cotton briefs anyway, so seeing your buds in a swim brief was nothing that was considered odd at all. Lots of guys did this.

Early in the 1960s, nearly every cotton brief was white, this in part due to the fact that mom washed the briefs with the other white clothes. Had they been dyed there was the problem of how to wash them for fear that the less than colorfast dyes would soak into the other while clothes. Besides, a colored brief was considered by the male tribes to be effeminate. Guy’s briefs were white and always had a fly. Colored briefs and especially colored briefs without flies were “for girls” and the kind of thing a guy in a gym locker room would be teased about. Of course, the swim briefs of the time were both colored and without a fly but that was swimwear not underwear so that was OK. Besides, a guy usually did not wash his swimwear in the washing machine but merely rinsed it out.

By the mid 1960s, manufacturers were starting to experiment with more colorfast dyes for combed cotton, and we started seeing the first combed cotton briefs in color. Still only the truly daring guys were going to be caught wearing these in the gym locker rooms. Now date night---that COULD be another matter. Still, the guy dating a girl did not want her to see anything that would lead her to believe that he was gay in any way, and a colored brief may leave an unintended impression. So I suspect gay not straight guys were often the first to adopt the idea of wearing a colored brief.

By the late 1960s into the early 1970s, there were several interesting developments. First, the briefs were getting briefer, at least some of them. Second, more and more you were seeing colors other than white as dyes became more colorfast. Third, as the briefs became briefer, some of them were starting to be marketed to guys as “fly less” briefs. And fourth, there were some briefs being marketed to men that were made of materials other than cotton—nylon briefs and even stretch nylon briefs made of material that easily could have been used to make (horror of horrors!) a woman’s panty!

Given the male herding instinct with respect to the idea that a white cotton brief was the only appropriate male underwear, all of these developments took time for guys to assimilate. What if a guy showed up in a gym locker room wearing a colored brief that was skimpier than a white cotton brief? And what if the brief lacked a fly? And what if the brief appeared to be made out of a material that was not the usual combed cotton? What do these three “features” say about, err, the guy’s “sexual orientation” for goodness sakes? What is this guy trying to do in picking this style of underwear? Isn’t a fly somehow “proof” that a guy has a penis? How does this underwear style “work” when a guy steps in front of a urinal?

All of these are great unanswered questions that members of the white cotton brief herd must have had. It took time for guys to figure this all out—to adapt to the new trends and styles (styles that many guys believed mist have started among gays and then spread). Many in the herd never adapted to the new trends but some, perhaps those more secure in their sexual orientation, did.

The other fascinating trend in the 1970s was the changes that occurred over the decade in the sizing and fit of swim briefs. The swim brief that Mark Spitz wore in the 1976 Olympics was actually quite large, with maybe 4 or 5 inch wide sides, but the briefs the competitive swimmers all wore kept getting skimpier and skimpier as the decade went on. The Europeans in the international competitions first showed up in briefs with much narrower sides, and then the American swimmers would follow at the next big competition.

All of this was happening even as underwear manufacturers were gearing up for the manufacture of more and more bikini style briefs for men, and increasingly briefs that were made of nylon or other swim brief like stretch materials other than cotton, came in an array of colors not white, and of course, were fly less.

Goodness, if the hunky swimmers in international competition wear this kind of swimwear, why was it not OK for a non-athlete to choose a similar style for his own underwear? The swimwear choice of a world class athlete did not somehow change his sexual orientation from straight to gay, so why would a bikini-style fly less brief worn by a non-athlete do this? The herd pondered the question. Maybe guys should be allowed to select whatever underwear they felt like wearing and not simply adopt whatever the other members of the herd wore. Is it a good idea to tease guys for having the courage to wear underwear not exactly like what the other guys wore? If a guy wants to be an individual in hois underwear choice, what is so wrong about that?

Lots of questions here: Few answers!

To be continued….

[sebbie]

Part CX

Several trends dominated men’s underwear in the 1980s. By then the idea that every young guy could only be seen by his peers wearing white cotton briefs (aka tighty whiteys) had gradually faded. The same change happened for older adults. But, if white cotton briefs were not the “go-to” design that guys just wore without thinking about even making a conscious decision, then what was the alternative going to be? This was a puzzle of sorts. Maybe some guys did not like having to think about trying to make a choice. The old system of just buying white cotton briefs at least was simple. likef a guy knew his waist size, he was good to go, so to speak.

Underwear manufacturers were coming up with new cuts, fabrics and colors. The two main trends away from white cotton briefs were going in two completely different directions. One major trend was cotton boxer shorts typically with inseams that went all the way to mid thigh. Somewhat coarse-textured plaid fabric was the favored design, most commonly in various shade of blue, but less often, red.

But the other trend was toward brief designs that broke all the white cotton brief rules.” First, the briefs could be purchased in a variety of colors, often a three-pak or a five-pak each in a different color—maybe somber gray or black but also colors like navy blue, dark red and forest green. And guys might be able to choose whether the rise needed to cover the belly button or not. Lower rises that let the belly button breathe, so to speak were in.

Then as the rise came down the issue became whether the underwear needed to have a fly or not. With low rise underwear it may be just as easy to face the urinal with the penis over the elastic waistband rather than through the slot of the fly. This is an interesting question that has never been totally resolved. But the bottom line is that some guys started buying briefs that were not only colored but lacked a fly. Only a few years earlier such brief fly-less underwear for men would be considered too “girlie” to be a viable choice.

Then there was the problem of the high school student in the gym locker room. Some of the old worries guys had about being teased or bullied in the locker room for their choice of underwear design remained, with the guys at school largly opting for those oversized loose-fitting plaid boxer shorts. Those were the new “safe” choice for guys who worried about getting bullied because they were wearing something too girly/sexy/gay-looking.

The market for the trimmed-down briefs was now really with the guys where were a bit older, in college maybe, and at a point where they were less prone to bullying, if at all. By that time guys usually were more confident with who they were sexually and less prone to thinking that underwear choice and popularity at school were somehow linked. And the underwear manufacturers were ready and waiting.

At this point there were racks of colored brief-style underwear is all sorts of cuts and designs, ranging from something large enough to simply be called a fly less brief. That was followed by what were called bikini briefs with sides maybe an inch wide. Next up was the so called “string bikini” where the sides merely consisted of a narrow elastic waistband with triangular pieces of cloth making up the front and the back and sewn together at the bottom.

Then there were the fabrics, cotton mixed with Lycra® but then, more prominently the polyester/Lycra blend fabrics that were very slick, snug and stretchy. Would such styles and snug-fitting fabrics give me a hard-on, and, if so was that really such a bad thing? Guys have always had a “love-hate” relationship when contemplating situations that could lead to an inadvertent hard on, because this could lead to an embarrassing situation if in a semi-public setting such as a locker room, but even the thoughts about how this could happen were fun . Maybe the underwear would be used primarily as sleepwear, well maybe the sleep that “takes a break” every once and awhile. Every guy knows exactly what I am talking about, and if the new underwear sort of helps things along, what is terrible about that? Quite the opposite!

So guys did but these new underwear designs and in large numbers. Whether such underwear got a lot of use as daytime wear may be beside the point. Underwear is more than just for daytime wear. There are other situations where the right pair of underwear could be a valuable “accessory” and guys need not be so prim as to not be able to admit that.

Thong underwear for men did not make it to the US until the late 1980s, though rumor has it that adventurous Europeans were wearing the design earlier than that, Only the daring men in the US were willing to experiment wearing thongs. That is a topic for another day. I am finished for now.

To be continued…

[sebbie]

Part CXI

Then the men’s thong underwear! Ahhh, the thongs! In the US, thong underwear for men did not show up in any numbers until the late 1980s. I recall finding my first pair on display in a store in about 1989. On even seeing the packaging I was already hooked on the idea that a thong would be really fun to put on, let alone wear as underwear for any length of time.

The first thong I encountered carried the “Hom brand”. Apparently these had been selling quite well in Europe and there was no reason not to introduce the same thing in the US. I immediately bought 3 pair realizing that if they did not cut it as regular underwear they would still be fun to use for masturbation.

The Hom thongs were really skimpy, with only a ery narrow round elastic cord as a back. I kept saying to myself “these should come with an instructional pamphlet as to how to get into them. I deduced that it was important that the snug pouch contain both my penis and balls, but there was barely room if I were completely flaccid (and in mere seconds I was not anywhere flaccid). How was I to get everything inside if I already had a stiffy? Good question.

But part of the fun was that there was no practical way for a guy to get his penis and balls in the pouch without some significant “manual manipulation”, and this only made matters worse (or maybe better, depending on how you read the situation that you were in). Surely not for the faint-hearted.

Then there were other problems. This much manual manipulation meant I was precumming in small drops of clear viscous fluid, putting stains on the front of the thong, but particularly in the penis-up position, which was the best way to be if my balls were to be completely inside the pouch. But my balls kept falling out and dangling below the thong. That was no good.

I soon discovered that the only way to keep my balls in place was to pull the cord back really snug as soon as they were in position. But this caused other “problems”. I quickly learned about a very sensitive spot on my body, just behind my balls, where a bunch of “sexually active” nerve endings terminate that is called the perineum. And, I discovered that thongs have a bit of a lump or knot right at the point where the pouch attaches to the cord back. Pulling on the cord put upward pressure on that knot and sent the perineum into overdrive. The perineum must be wired directly into the Cowpers. The net effect was that if I was already oozing precum before I was really oozing now. So the perineum is a fun place for any guy to explore by simply trying to get himself into a thong made like this. I suddenly realized that the guys in Europe who had been wearing these designs had discovered a few things a lot of Americans didn’t know about their own bodies.

Then there was the effect of the cord. I had never before really thought of my anal area as being sexually-active but I guess I should have given its proximity to the prostate and the internal part of the penis. So I am being pressed on the perineum and being stroked by an elastic cord while cinched up tight between my glutes. Are these practical daily underwear or simply an elaborate sex toy?

The next big event was when Jockey introduced their thongs about 1990. I bought a few of those too. Instead of the elastic cord they had a narrow elastic band only about a quarter inch wide. If anything they were skimpier and snugger fitting than the Hom brand. Some of them were made of a stretch fabric that actually stretched quite a bit, but only under extreme conditions. This meant that they were even tougher to get into and wear correctly.

Still, over the years, I did actually get to the point where I could wear a Jockey thong as underwear when I went out. There were all cotton versions as well as the “meaner but more fun to wear” stretch fabric versions. I owned some of both.

Like I say, I got hooked doing this many years ago and still enjoy messing with myself this way a lot. On occasion I will wear a thong as sleepwear only to discover that by morning it still has multiple precum stains. I suspect a lot of guys would terrified to do this, but it is really great fun. You might learn stuff about how your body reacts that you never knew before.

My Hom thongs deteriorated many years ago, but interestingly the original Jockey ones, many of them at least are still in reasonably good shape, particularly for a stretch fabric now about 30 years old.

I found one of them this morning—one of the “meaner,” stretch fabric versions—and crawled into it. Just as in olden days my balls kept falling out of the pouch and I had to keep tugging at the back. It did not take long for me to start oozing again. (See photo) This is still a great way for a guy to enjoy himself. Sadly, Jockey quit making this particular design some decades ago and I have yet to find a currently available thong that is quite as much sheer fun to wear.

To be continued…

[sebbie]

Part CXII

As the 1990s continued onward, it was becoming clear that guys young and old were moving more and more away from the traditional white cotton briefs that were nearly a uniform for guys of any age a decade or two before. Teen guys more and more seemed to favor the loose-fitting plaid boxer shorts with inseams that went to mid thigh and the go-to style that would not lead to any teasing and bullying in the gym locker room. Jeans were loose-fitting then as well which meant that the bulky styles posed no barrier to getting dressed in jeans.

Most interestingly, the shift to loose-fitting boxer shorts and away from brief-style underwear coincided almost exactly with the period in which guys no longer wanted to be seen in brief-style swimwear, even the guys who were involved in team swimming were looking to wear something that covered their thighs when at the pool. And jammers started reigning at the pool.

But guys where weren’t in swimming competition opted for loose fitting board shorts that extended to the knee or nearly so. They did not want to be seen in anything that fit snugger like a jammer did. A sloppy look ruled the day.

Meanwhile, back at the underwear racks, another interesting trend was underway. To get a measure of what the adult males were increasingly wearing it is good to walk the men’s underwear aisles at what were the then three big discount stores in the US. That is where most guys shopped for the underwear they would be using for daily wear. There were still lots of cotton briefs not only in white but in various somber tones such as grey, black and navy, as well as boxer-briefs in cotton that were made like a brief in the same cotton but with longer legs, maybe a 2-inch inseam. And of course plenty of the loose-fitting plaid boxer shorts so popular with the teen males who wanted to make sure they conformed to what the other guys their age were wearing.

But each of the discount houses had their own separate racks of proprietary store-brand briefs. These were unlike the white cotton briefs in that the material was smoother and came in either a cotton-Lycra blend or a still smoother polyester-Lycra blend. The designs all came in both materials. Apparently some guys preferred the absorbency of the stretchy cotton blend while other guys obviously preferred the slick feel of the polyester-Lycra blend. Some of the latter were very similar to a swim brief. For guys who thought it neat or fun to see what they would look like in a colorful Speedo® this was an opportunity to find out while maintaining the “image” that this was still just underwear.

Each of the three big discount stores had their own proprietary brands. Walmart had cut this deal with Jockey for them to supply discount underwear under the “Life” brand while still keeping the upscale Jockey brand for the department stores. Meanwhile, Kmart was having success with their store brand underwear under the trade name Joe Boxer. And Target’s store brand was “Merona”.

The racks of designer discount underwear at the three discount houses were very similar. Guys could choose between a brief with a higher rise (though still lower rise than a standard tighty whitey) in an assortment of colors and either in the cotton/Lycra blend or the Polyester blend. The cotton-blend fabric was sometimes available with a fly but generally not for the stretch polyesters. Sides on this style of brief probably averaged about 2 inches.

Next in terms of fit was what was called the bikini brief, typically with sides of ¾ inch to 1 inch. Again, same choice of fabrics, but bikini briefs had no fly. Given the low rise the guy could just pop himself over the waistband when at the urinal, or at least that was the theory.

Next down was what they called the string bikini. But the string was simply a narrow band of elastic maybe ¾ to ½ inch wide not a string or cord.

Then finally there were the thongs, typically not as “mean” as the real Jockey thongs were. They were made from cotton/Lycra blends or sometimes stretch polyester/Lycra, and typically the back was a wider band of fabric covering elastic maybe ½ to ¾ inches wide. I guess the idea was that guys who were apprehensive about having an elastic cord or narrow band cutting between their glutes would be more willing to try the style if the back merely covered that area rather than cut into it.

As guys get into their teen years, increasingly they are permitted to pick out their own clothing items at least within reason. Parents often put bounds based on practicality. So guys realize that a package of briefs, boxer briefs or loose fitting boxer shorts would immediately would meet the parent’s approval, as being both practical daily wear and easy to launder.

But the stuff on the racks I describe was another matter entirely. Is this stuff practical for daily wear, even one of the brightly colored briefs or bikini briefs? And does underwear without a fly make sense for a guy at all? And do these get laundered with the other white underwear? This is the likely parent disapproval set of issues.

Complicating all of this the guy is trying to gauge if he really wants to be seen wearing something like this in the gym locker room in the presence of his male buds. For that matter, is this something a guy could wear when on a date with a girl his age? These are complicated questions that have no easy answers.

Still, in the back of the minds of guys, at least a lot of guys, they are seeking a few pair of underwear specifically for the purpose of being fun to mess around in aka masturbation. For some guys wearing something snug and skimpy, this could easily lead to, well, you know. But that too is kind of a problem, because if every time a guy crawls into one of his selections he starts to get an instant woodie, that could mean that such underwear is not practical for daily wear at all.

For a host of different reasons, I am thinking that the underwear on these racks, from the skimpy colored fly-front briefs, the bikini briefs, the string bikinis and the thongs were mainly marketed to guys who were out on their own, maybe in college, and not living at home with their parents. Being out on your own often gives guys new opportunities to just kick back and enjoy themselves in special ways that were difficult when the guy was living at home. And the guy is doing his own laundry so a cum-stained pair is no problem at all to take care of.

But these racks have all disappeared from the discount houses. The market must have largely disappeared as well. Kmart no longer exists with any more than a few stores at most, but they kept selling Joe Boxer cotton thongs and bikini briefs nearly to the end. Walmart and Target quit a selling thongs decade or more ago. I checked all three Web sites and merely finding a men’s bikini brief of any sort is difficult. What remains are an occasional cotton one—not too skimpy, but not much else. Walmart is still selling a few pieces of “Jockey Life” branded underwear. I saw nothing at Target under the Merona brand tho I have not checked any physical stores lately.

In the last two decades what guys buy for underwear has changed a lot. Maybe guys rely on Amazon or eBay for the skimpy styles any more to the extent that demand exists. The current thing appears to be underwear that provides the look and feel of athletic compression shorts.

To be continued….

[sebbie]

Part CXIII

Then by the end of the 1990s, things had changed drastically. It is always amazing to consider how college and professional athletes influence clothing designs for other guys, but that is something that has long gone on. Most interesting to me is the impact on what guys wear and do not wear as undergarments, not only when participating in an active sport, but how many of the same ideas spill over into non-athletic wear for school, work and leisure.

The late 1990s started the era of compression gear for athletes that had only been a minor part of sport prior to that. The Under Armor company was founded with very limited capital by a 24-year old ex-University of Maryland Fullback Kevin Plank who disliked how the cotton tee shirts he was wearing under his jersey seemed to retain water from sweat rather than quickly dry out, and so he started by making a compression poly-stretch fabric tee shirt that he discovered had a natural wicking action and quickly dried. He soon had contracts to supply compression tees for a number of college teams and this was quickly followed by compression pants.

Wikipedia explains all of this in a lot of detail here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Armour

College and professional football players generally must wear straps and cups, but in an era when (sometimes female) reporters are allowed locker room access, there is a modesty issue here should the camera see something inappropriate for TV, so players by regulation are required to wear something OVER the strap and cup but UNDER the football pants. I suppose and ordinary brief would do, but wouldn’t a pair of compression shorts work a lot better,
and then for cold weather, instead of showing bare skin below the knee, why not simply go with a pair of compression tights that extend to the ankle?

Guys took notice. The players wore compression tees under the jersey, ones with long sleeves in colder weather, and compression shorts or tights under the football pants and hiding the strap and cup.

Meanwhile, over in professional and college basketball, played indoors, the athletes began wearing (usually white) short sleeved compression tees as the first layer before the sleeveless team jersey went on, and, guess what? Compression shorts (again usually white) with legs that extended near the knee were peeking out from under the team shorts.

If these items made sense for serious athletes, why not also for more casual active wear for non-athletes. Besides a lot of guys have always had this closely-guarded secret “thing” for finding an “excuse” to wear skin-tight compression gear. I can think of any number of reasons why guys might feel this way, and, the perfect excuse when with your buddies (or even trying to come up with a motivation that would seem rational to your parents)—I am just wearing what the big athletes are wearing.

Starting around the year 2000, sales of snug-fitting compression gear at Under Armor soared, and companies like Nike and Adidas had to come up with their own versions of much the same thing. It soon became a compression gear free-for-all. The guys who had always simply wanted to find out how it would feel to wear such skin-tight gear could now freely do so without having to dream up elaborate explanations for their parents and buddies. How does it feel to get a hard-on in this type of skin-tight gear? That was now a realistic empirical experiment that could be conducted.

Compression pants come in a variety of lengths, with the most popular being the length that stops about mid thigh. The look had become so popular that underwear manufacturers started to take notice. Why not stretch underwear of a cotton/Lycra or even polyester/Lycra blend with a similar fit but for daily wear under street clothes. And the tees—obviously loose-fitting tees should be replaced with cotton or poly/Lycra-blend fabrics that fit close to the body, like the athletes wore.

So underwear styled like athletic compression gear almost overnight took over a major share of the entire market. Gone or nearly gone were the tighty whiteys, the colored briefs, bikini briefs, string bikinis and thongs, not to mention a lot of the loose-fitting plaid boxers. Instead, there was now a bunch of underwear with the same fit and coverage as the compression shorts worn by athletes. This was a strange turn of events for sure.

The one remaining issue was whether this underwear should have a fly or not. Versions without a fly COULD be worn as an outer garment, but generally if there was a fly in the design that meant that the garment was intended always be worn under another garment.

For that matter, some compression shorts have a fly but others do not. I assume that I should pull a loose-fitting pair of shorts OVER the ones with a fly, but it is OK to wear the ones without a fly as an outer garment. I assume other guys view this likewise.

To be continued…