It appears to me that a preponderance of US males just go out walking and driving around in public with no shirt on.
Listen, it get’s hot here in Canada too in the summer, but no one actually goes out in public without a shirt on. Sure, at beaches, or pool parties or maybe working on the lawn some day, but not in public!
How common is this? I’ve never seen someone just driving around or walking around in public without a shirt.
Agreed; some men. Have you ever heard the term “Beijing bikini”? I’m in Beijing and it’s a rather prevalent phenomenon that sends people looking for spoons, or any other implement really, to gouge out their eyes.
You have to remember that this is a pretty tiny subset of the US population. They both got the police called on them AND had such loose concern about social codes that they agreed to allow that incident to be broadcast. The middle class domestic involving two educated professionals still in business attire… doesn’t make the air.
In my area, it’s very common for guys to walk around without a shirt on (sometimes tucked into a back pocket) in the…less savory parts of town. In the classier parts, it’s a virtually unknown phenomenon, with the exception as noted above, of being in a pool, or other expected situation.
So in my experience, it’s a class/socieoeconomic distinction.