Boxers or Briefs?

It’s become a standard question for celebrity men:  Boxers or briefs?  Everyone from President Bill Clinton to Mel Gibson to Justin Bieber has answered this question.  (Yes, I know their answers, but I’m not sharing!)  Of course, the question has become more complicated since the advent of boxer briefs, first sold around 1990.

For women, the choices are more diverse — briefs, hi-cut, hipsters, bikinis, string bikinis, boy shorts, and the recently popular thong.

(Yes, there are thongs for men, but if you can find a straight man who willingly wears a string between his butt cheeks, look out because pigs are flying overhead!)

Believe it or not, there are entire websites devoted to the history and choices of underwear (e.g., Vintage Skivvies).  I even found a site that had underwear sightings, such as a particular celebrity spotted with a boxer waistband edging out of his jeans, thus indicating his preference for loose boxers.  Why I would care what undies a country singer or my senator are wearing, I don’t know.

But we do care what underwear our spouses wear.  In fact, I’ve found that people have very distinct preferences for what lower undergarments are appealing when donned by their wife or husband.  And it is not the same preference across the board. So I wonder how many of you have actually asked your honey what he or she prefers?

According to Men’s Health, boxers and boxer briefs are preferred by 68% of women polled, with only 8% preferring briefs.  70% of men said they wear boxers or boxer briefs (yeah for them!), but 29% of guys are still wearing the less preferred briefs.  (The other options were bikini briefs and trunk-style/short boxer briefs.)  Women also prefer solid colors or a subtle pattern (read not whitey-tighty!).  What almost no woman wants is her guy going commando.  If you announce you’re not wearing underwear, we wonder if you failed to do laundry, if that jean zipper is uncomfortably scraping your privates, or if you’ve properly contained things in there.

As for men, well, I tried to find a reputable source for what panties men prefer women to wear, but after searching for a while and finally getting down to the Google page that included a transvestite’s opinion of what panties he liked to wear, I decided to forgo the objective source.  From the search I did, the general consensus was that men like women in underwear and out of underwear.  (What a revelation, huh?)  If you tell your hubby you’re going commando, he won’t think once about whether you couldn’t find a clean pair; he will spend your dinner out alternating between polite conversation and flashes of getting you back home and out of that constricting dress.

Ideally, whether man or woman, you should ask your spouse what he/she likes to see you in.  Does it matter?  Oh yeah.  It’s part of how you present yourself to your honey.  I happen to think that white Granny panties convey a completely different image than colorful boy shorts which are completely different from a black lace thong.  And they are all perfectly fine choices, as long as you are comfortable and your spouse likes what you’re wearing.

My husband and I don’t cater exactly to what underwear the other most likes, but we have found compromises.  Neither one of us is walking with our hips askew from the discomfort of our undies, but we also branch out a little from what we might wear if we hadn’t found each other and instead spent lonely weekends watching Star Trek reruns (which we both might have done).

And when I see him in his ________________ (once again, not telling!), he looks fabulous to me.  And when he sees me in my _________________ (I will only confess that I do not do butt floss), he pauses and checks me out for a few seconds.  It’s a simple thing we do to please one another and that good vibe can lead to some other good vibrations on the bed later.  I’m just sayin’.

So here’s your homework!  Sometime tonight or this weekend, ask your spouse what underwear he/she would like to see you in.  Or take a shopping trip to a department or lingerie store together and pick out a few different kinds to try.  You might even go wild and choose one pair of silky boxers for him or lace bikinis for her, if that’s not your usual.  Make it a date to go underwear shopping!  Or part ways with the assignment to go to the opposite sex undies section and pick out a pair for your spouse and then exchange them as gifts at the end of the night.  Model for each other!

We wear underwear to hold things in place, keep rough fabrics from irritating our delicate parts, maintain some modesty, and keep ourselves sanitary.  But you can meet all those functions and still have fun with your undies!  Try to find something to wear that delights your marriage partner.  After all, he or she is probably the only one person who gets to see those underwear on your fine body!