Is the stigma for briefs still a thing?
Posted by SeriesAgile3947@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 109 comments
I was talking to someone recently and the topic of underwear ended up since the shops still sell briefs the underwear with no leg fabric for guys anyway do people still wear those I remember it was very looked down on if you did past the age of like 8 I never actually knew why I just knew everyone switched to boxers or boxer briefs is this actually a long time thing that briefs are not commonly worn in adult life and woman find them pretty repulsive or unattractive because were im from they became pretty socially unacceptable is this still the case I assume not since shops sell them still. My point basically is iv always heard the stigma that briefs shouldn't be worn since they are for kids and not for adults they are also seen to be unattractive romantically
Murky_Butterscotch_7@reddit
Haven’t worn boxers since I was a kid. I thought only children wear them 😂. Most lads wear briefs/slips (at least in my gym anyway)
SeriesAgile3947@reddit (OP)
I thought most lads wore boxer briefs
HighOnOnionFarts@reddit
So what?
There's no stigmata these days
tucnakpingwin@reddit
Straight men still mostly seem to be hung up on this, whereas gay men have embraced briefs and actively seek sexy pairs of briefs.
Avoid white Y-fronts, stripy or other old fashioned designs unless you’re over the age of 60, especially if you tend to dribble when you pee. Look for fashionable brands such as Calvin Klein or Fenty, and if comfort is your goal, Lululemon briefs are the single most comfortable pairs I’ve ever worn.
If it’s sexy you want, look for Aussiebum or Andrew Christian. They accentuate the assets, front and rear, though are often made of synthetic fabrics.
Briefs don’t have to be ugly, childish or depressingly old fashioned anymore.
Difficult-Flight9051@reddit
What do you mean by "if you tend to dribble when you pee". Surely if that happens you sit down to pee and then wipe, instead of choosing underwear design to conceal it
tucnakpingwin@reddit
Men’s urethras are designed in such a way that a small amount of urine can get trapped within the urethra, and this can then dribble out when you move around. I’ve worked in healthcare and seen many men’s underwear; also, as hinted at in the post, I’m gay, so have seen many more men’s underwear; and finally, I’m a man who too has a poorly designed urethra. It’s a thing, unfortunately, and when it’s happening in white Y fronts, it is glaringly obvious to all who see you in your pants, and doesn’t look great.
There’s a thing you can do whereby you put two fingers behind the balls and lift upwards whilst using the other hand to “milk” your penis, to remove the last drops, though most men aren’t aware of it. It’s especially useful for middle aged men onwards as the prostate enlarges and causes more urinary issues.
Difficult-Flight9051@reddit
Well more men should be aware of the two fingers behind the balls move. Everyone should start doing that. Instead of walking around in piss stained underwear. Tf...
tucnakpingwin@reddit
And people should be more understanding of urinary health and bodily functions rather than shaming those who lack knowledge. If you notice my comments, I made people aware without attaching stigma to the topic, something you’d do well to take notice of given the topic of OP’s post…
Difficult-Flight9051@reddit
You didn't mention anything about the two fingers trick in your og comment, you only mentioned it as a reaction to my comment. Also walking around in pee stained underwear should be unacceptable. There should be a stigma and everyone should learn to figure it out. Women have to learn to keep perfectly clean very early on, and have a lot more going on where staining can happen than men do. I'm sorry but adults of all genders should be on top of their hygiene.
neilm1000@reddit
I don't know why you're being downvoted for this incredibly obvious statement.
heyitsed2@reddit
I think it's more about their attitude...
tucnakpingwin@reddit
I’m so sorry that I didn’t include my second comment within my first comment, how foolish of me to not realise I must preemptively deduce where the conversation would go /s
How do you expect people to engage with appropriate hygienic practices without being taught?
“women have to learn to keep perfectly clean…”, where do you think they learn it from? They learn it by being taught it. That men aren’t taught such things is a failing of the patriarchal society we live in, as is the shame women feel over everyday bodily occurrences that happen to them. You clearly have a point to try and make about how men should do better, and whilst in many ways I agree with your sentiment, you are going the wrong way about achieving it. Do you tell women that they shouldn’t walk around with blood from their menses leaking into their underwear?
If urine is objectively horrifying for you, then so must menses, mucus from a runny nose, sweat from heat or exercise, etc. If they aren’t, then this is a double standard that serves no purpose but to be argumentative for the sake of arguing.
Difficult-Flight9051@reddit
The point was that you weren't educating anyone at all. You were just giving advice on how to conceal the issue in your original comment. Had I not said anything you wouldn't even mention it. So don't go telling me how people need to be taught when you could have written that great advice in your first comment but chose not to (for whatever reason) and then say nobody's teaching men. You literally had the chance to put it in your first comment.
You think women don't get told not to walk around with blood stains on their underwear? Women are terrified of stains. They have each other check them from all different angles to make sure there are no stains, and are constantly anxious about leaking on their periods. They carry spare underwear in case it does happen. What are you even talking about? It's completely unacceptable for women to walk around with any types of leaks.
Urine itself is not horrifying to me. No bodily excretions are disgusting to me. The fact that someone would walk around for a whole day in piss stained underwear is what's repulsive.
heyitsed2@reddit
It's a little dribble of pee, people with sweaty pits are probably more urea soaked than a man with a little pee dribble. It's not like men are walking around with their piss dribble pants on show like they're proud of it are they. Jesus.
clrthrn@reddit
I can tell you are not a parent. Come back after you have pushed a new human out of your body and talk to me about women and leaky pee. I am a woman and thanks to childbirth, if I laugh too hard then I have a problem. A very common situation for a ton of women and a delightful side effect of having a child.
Legitimate-Dream-111@reddit
Perhaps you should get back to bed. Seem a little cranky.....
UselessMongo@reddit
You’re coming across as a prize arse. Have a dribble free day.
neilm1000@reddit
A friend of mine confused this with jelqing. That was a simultaneously weird and hilarious conversation.
Clear-Security-Risk@reddit
Ha I was going to say this. Learned it on QI. Works amazingly well and do it all the time since learning. No wee stains here.
Ecstatic_Food1982@reddit
This guy briefs.
REDARROW101_A5@reddit
Personally I am stright and I wear them, because I find them comfortable rather than boxers. I only wear boxers to the swimming pool.
ermCaz@reddit
Same, boxers feel horrible and briefs keep me from sitting on my nuts cause they're a bit tighter. Hate my junk feeling loose 🤣
tucnakpingwin@reddit
Good for you! (I mean that sincerely, hard to tell through text haha) They offer great support, and my favourite feature is that they don’t bunch up like those baggy boxer shorts some men wear.
Clear-Security-Risk@reddit
Gay man to the fashion rescue. Thank you, Sir!
Martipar@reddit
I've tried all sorts of briefs, none of them give me enough room.
PootMcGroot@reddit
Very attractive men look fine in anything.
If you're not that - a boxer brief is probably your friend.
Briefs from a solid structured brand is fine. Plain white Y-fronts are not, unless you're a model.
Tradtrade@reddit
as an adult woman I see briefs as something children wear. I absolutely don’t care how good looking a man is I personally could never think one looks good in briefs. But my opinion on this doesn’t actually matter but I do disagree with how you see things
PootMcGroot@reddit
Very, very attractive people look great in potato sacks.
Tradtrade@reddit
No, no one (to me) looks good in children’s underwear
REDARROW101_A5@reddit
Well all those Muscale Men I see in Gym Mags must be Children then... because they wear them for photo shoots.
Tradtrade@reddit
Do you think men pack on huge amounts of muscle, paint themselves orange and pose in a posing pouch…for women?
REDARROW101_A5@reddit
Funny you think that because they do, because a lot of is vanity. Women ogling over men in tight briefs is no different then men doing the same with women in Bikinis.
Tradtrade@reddit
It’s a pillar of gym bro culture that peak male physique is for dudes. It’s a very well known bit of bro science lol just like the day you start lifting is the day you become small. A moderate amount of abs, chest, fuck the rest is the general woman-aimed physique. Are you into the gym or body building much yourself?
REDARROW101_A5@reddit
Actually it's mostly biological science when it comes to fitness of body for attraction, but do go on.
Also personally I am not into body building, but I am into trying to maintaine a healthy body.
Something that humans genuinely need to be...
Tradtrade@reddit
Yea, a normal healthy body is not ‘muscle man’ in a posing pouch. Ask any really jacked guy, it’s for themselves and for their hobby community. Men can just do things because they want to and not have it be about women you know
REDARROW101_A5@reddit
Well there you go when it comes to you complaining that men look like children in briefs.
I am sure there are a good number of women who don't mind what a man wears, so maybe stop trying ti push your opinion.
Tradtrade@reddit
I’m not saying they can’t do it! I’m saying it doesn’t look good to me! They can wear what they like they can build traps like a thumb. It’s their body. It doesn’t matter at all that me and my friends don’t think it’s attractive wtf?!
PootMcGroot@reddit
You viewing it as "children's underwear" is very much a "you" thing, not something broader.
Our personal tastes are based on our personal lives, any everyone's had a different life.
Tradtrade@reddit
I know, I made that point several times. I think it’s gross, you can think it’s hot.
PootMcGroot@reddit
Y-front briefs were literally the standard underwear from men, for decades, for over 50 or 60 years.
If anything, it's associated with the elderly, because it's old-fashioned.
KingGeedo91@reddit
It’s also associated with children’s underwear. It’s ok to admit that.
PootMcGroot@reddit
It's associated with men's standard underwear from the 50s to the early 90s?
I'd guess 99% of people who wear them today are over 60, no matter how hard Calvin Klein try to bring the style back.
Maybe you associate them with that if you were a kid 40 years ago, before everything became boxer briefs or similar?
KingGeedo91@reddit
I’m mid 30s. When I was a kid it was very much ‘y fronts are for kids and you move on to boxers once you realise that’. I’m just pointing out more than one perspective here is true amongst the general population.
Tradtrade@reddit
Right, but you see that part where I clearly say that it’s my opinion and is probably generational?
PootMcGroot@reddit
I'm not arguing with you - everyone's view of everything is personal opinion-based and generational.
However in other posts in this thread you're linking people not hating Y-fronts to Japanese schoolgirl fetishization, which I think is profoundly dangerous and frankly insane.
Tradtrade@reddit
You can think that but I see all of it as child like clothing. I have said repeatedly it’s my opinion.
PootMcGroot@reddit
Not sure I started defending Y-fronts 😂. I think they're a daft style that doesn't suit many people.
But in 2026, I think most people associate them with grandparents, not kids. They've not been a popular style in 30 years.
Tradtrade@reddit
What age are you?
PootMcGroot@reddit
Old enough to know Y-fronts have been out of fashion for 30 years.
How old are you - I'm guessing 60s? I suspect it's an age presuming what was true in their 20s or 30s would be true forever.
It isn't.
Tradtrade@reddit
I’m in my 20s
PootMcGroot@reddit
Well, I don't know where you live, but your opinions are unusual for most of the Western world for your age bracket.
Y-fonts have been associated with elderly and older people my entire life - people who grew up in the 50s to 70s.
Tradtrade@reddit
What underwear do little boys wear?
PootMcGroot@reddit
In my country, from my knowledge of my kids and relatives? What would be called "pants" - ie briefs without any opening - Y-fronts just aren't a thing, outside of adult underwear.
I have no idea why you're trying to drag this conversation about the "stigma" of briefs - ie because they're viewed as old-fashioned grandfather pants - to something grim and weird.
Tradtrade@reddit
Based on what? How much do you know about uk women in their 20s?
notouttolunch@reddit
More than you, apparently.
You only had to read the thread to realise you're a minority.
Tradtrade@reddit
Do you think reddits main demographic is women in their 20s? Or is this a case of lots of men down voting an idea they don’t like? I guess we can’t know
notouttolunch@reddit
I think it's just you who is out of touch with reality.
SnooMacarons9618@reddit
I suspect you will get people disagreeing and saying how they don't look like kids clothes at all, and if they do you are a perve or something.
I come to this conclusion because I find shaved women to have look very pre-pubescent, and that is about as far from appealing as possible. The few times on reddit I have shared my view I have met outrage. I *suspect* it's just if someone finds something childlike that another person finds attractive, they seem to massively over-compensate.
On the actual subject, I would never wear briefs and agree there is something childlike about them.
Tradtrade@reddit
It’s like the whole school girl uniform or incest or age play being sexualised thing. I am very very suspicious of people who are into that
SnooMacarons9618@reddit
Yeah, really what on earth is that all about, it's not even hiding it. Personally I don't actually think people who like that kind of thing are really closeted paedo's, but it's still pretty suspicious.
notouttolunch@reddit
Very attractive people look great in no clothes at all...
rynchenzo@reddit
No, they look ridiculous Y fronts
overisin@reddit
As a 49 year old, it's briefs to exercise in (holding everything securely in place) and boxers at all other times.
PruneThink7818@reddit
Not much evident stigma here in Southern UK. Like many in my (mature) age group I wear boxer briefs for warm in winter but briefs, tangas and thongs during summer months.
unclearthur68@reddit
I remember in England in the 80s there was a tv ad for Levis jeans, with a guy stripping down to his boxers then putting the jeans in the machine. First time I'd ever even seen boxers. After that nobody wore briefs.
Xenozip3371Alpha@reddit
I've just always preferred boxers.
neilm1000@reddit
I know a woman like married, she's married three of them.
cloud__19@reddit
This is way too long to be two sentences.
fickle_tartan@reddit
And not a single comma
Ecstatic_Food1982@reddit
There is one!
fickle_tartan@reddit
They've edited the post since my comment, added in that lone comma along with way more full stops. The original comment wasn't hyperbole, there was actually two sentences lol
Friendly_External345@reddit
Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
dope567fum@reddit
Not too many Vampire Weekend fans here it seems lol. Have my upvote
Friendly_External345@reddit
Philistines
Ecstatic_Food1982@reddit
It appears to be three now. But still wayyyyyy too long.
No-Ladder306@reddit
Anything but brief.
cloud__19@reddit
Well played!
northerncodemky@reddit
I ran out of breath reading it, and it wasn’t even aloud!
SeriesAgile3947@reddit (OP)
Yeah i should of used more punctuation my bad. Probably shouldn't of made a post this late 😅
BatChoice3106@reddit
Shouldn’t HAVE - not should have.
TSC-99@reddit
Not shouldn’t of you mean
cloud__19@reddit
You can just edit it.
Ecstatic_Food1982@reddit
I find them a bit uncomfortable, and harder for me (or a partner) to pull off. Boxers all the way.
ChrisRR@reddit
I just don't think guys look good wearing them
originallyale@reddit
They wouldn’t sell them if there wasn’t demand. Beyond what’s comfortable and makes you feel good, why does it matter what you wear? If someone is judging you by your underwear, then they probably shouldn’t have been privy to seeing it in the first place!
1CharlieMike@reddit
Those skimpy designer briefs on fit men are a thing of beauty. Much more attractive than boxers.
Critterfritter1@reddit
From around 1977 to 2010, beards (and stubble) were seen as absolutely repellent. Then suddenly they weren't. Soon they will be repellent again. It's the same with Jeans, nice and baggy, a bit baggier, full flares, then skin-tight, jeggins, painting your legs blue.... aaaand nice and baggy again. Briefs will have their day again, just a matter of time.
urmumsghey@reddit
I went to an international school, you'll be shocked so many Europeans (mainly Russians) still wear those goofy underwear instead of boxers
JackfruitPractical84@reddit
Straight 31M. I wear briefs and always have bar about a two week period when I was 12. Found boxers uncomfortable. Nobody ever gave me any stick and when I’ve shared rooms with friends when on trips away nobody has ever said anything and neither has any woman I’ve slept with. Don’t give it much thought and forgot about boxers!
Extreme-Kangaroo-842@reddit
About four years ago I had a testicle infection where one of the them was seriously swollen. The doctor told me to wear briefs for support rather than boxers.
Never went back. So much more comfortable.
DrH1983@reddit
I wear briefs. Ive tried different kinds of boxers and didn't find any as comfortable. Dislike the feeling of everything flopping around in lose boxers and find tight boxers uncomfortable around the thighs. With both I find my bollocks can stick to my thigh when I'm on a long walk.
So briefs it is. I'd never buy white y-fronts though. Couldn't really give a shit what they look as the chance of anyone seeing me in my underpants is slim to none.
zephyrmox@reddit
This is a kink post.
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1rpez3d/what_kink_do_you_hide_but_are_happy_to_talk_about/o9kzxyz/
ArrowPresby@reddit
I used to wear airtex briefs but, they stoped making them. Now I wear a front boxers.
YchYFi@reddit
Wall of text.
Some_Masterpiece6639@reddit
It all comes from the school changing rooms as a lad, if you wore briefs after year 7 you were bullied as they were seen as “little boys pants”, although ironically a lot of footballers wear them under their shorts (basic white ones) because they provide a lot of support.
I prefer trunk boxers because they provide support, I find briefs are too restricting personally.
PhysicsForeign1634@reddit
Who even discusses what underwear is acceptable? How would anyone know, do you have underwear inspections at work? There is no stigma, you are imagining it. Wear what's comfortable.
Ok-Middle8656@reddit
Really, is this a thing? It’s all I can wear as I find boxers to absolute torture to wear.
Runningwithducks@reddit
Maybe? I started wearing them after I got a hernia because I found they offered better support. But they are all round more comfortable.
Wise-Pay-8993@reddit
I where briefs only as I’m a bodybuilder and it shows of my legs a lot more then boxers. A lot of guys wear boxers as they have wimp like legs
Responsible-Cut-1024@reddit
They were called “ball-stranglers” when I was at school 😂
Lazy-Contribution789@reddit
I prefer them, Aussiebums in particular are really good.
Distinct-Lion4658@reddit
So this is what I've been missing at 3AM on reddit
Graveyard_massacre@reddit
It’s 4am actually
Distinct-Lion4658@reddit
1: This was posted ar 03:45. 2:
Graveyard_massacre@reddit
Perhaps your internet has failed you, for me it says 4 minutes ago lol
DenM0ther@reddit
I used to be of the opinion that briefs were for kids. Then I got older and I realised , whatever you’re most comfortable in is best.
If someone willing to laugh at you, then maybe they’re too shallow to be deserving of you.
That said, boxers prob look better if you not looking your fittest.
Deep_Ad_9889@reddit
Wear what is comfortable for you. That is for women too. Don’t care what others think.
Legitimate-Dream-111@reddit
You have to be really immature to look down at someone wearing briefs. It's fucking underwear. Does it affect you in anyway? Probably not. It's just people being childish.
I would imagine most people swap because boxers are more comfortable.
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