# Question about teens wearing pajama pants **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875 "2021-07-07T03:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/1 "2021-07-07T03:43:00Z")
No, it doesn’t bug me at all. I never would have done it, and here’s why: I would have been terrified of getting a boner. With jeans I could hide it, but never with these. From about 5th grade on I never knew when it was going to happen. Do teen boys not get boners anymore? I won’t embarrass my own early twenties kids by asking them. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/2 "2021-07-07T03:49:06Z")
It’s not just kids. Sure anyone is free to do it. I just think it’s immaturity, laziness, and self-esteem issues. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/3 "2021-07-07T03:50:39Z")
People get boners due to self esteem issues? ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/4 "2021-07-07T03:53:04Z")
That looks like an answer, just not one to the question I asked. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/5 "2021-07-07T04:02:19Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > People get boners due to self esteem issues? Teenage boys get boners due to everything. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/6 "2021-07-07T04:06:31Z")
That’s why I can’t imagine wearing something that makes hiding it more difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/7 "2021-07-07T04:07:15Z")
To be honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen teenage boys wearing pyjama pants in public. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/8 "2021-07-07T04:09:43Z")
Guys have been wearing basketball shorts and knit shorts as normal bottoms forever. When I was a teen it was that and soccer shorts. Don’t those have the same possibility for “showing” as pajama pants? ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/9 "2021-07-07T04:31:48Z")
Yeah, pretty much. Maybe I was more concerned about being caught sporting wood than most guys. In my day that kind of shorts didn’t have pockets, either. Once I started carrying a wallet and later keys that would have been a problem. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/10 "2021-07-07T04:36:27Z")
People wearing jammie pants in public do irritate me somewhat. There is a subset of jammie-wearers who wear the big fuzzy slippers at the same time. However, I saw a van-load of teen girls descending upon the grocery store completely decked out for bed in jammies, slippers, and bathrobes. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Enjoy\_Slurm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enjoy_slurm/32/3937_2.png) [@Enjoy\_Slurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enjoy_Slurm)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/11 "2021-07-07T04:55:51Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Do teen boys not get boners anymore? No. I blame it on climate change. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/12 "2021-07-07T07:33:26Z")
While pajama pants are less tight, your underwear doesn’t have to be. Briefs or boxer briefs give better support, making it less of an issue. If things don’t move around, then baggier clothing actually helps hide it. Plus there’s always the waistband or leg hole method. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/13 "2021-07-07T09:30:16Z")
I agree with everything you said except I never got the waistband method - “here let me stick my erection straight up in front of me” - for me I think that would be more obvious than just pushing it down my leg or wherever. maybe it depends on anatomy and angles (which vary greatly for men) and such. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/14 "2021-07-07T10:13:38Z")
When I was a teen, boners only happened bc I was wearing jeans AND I was sitting at my desk at school. Easy to hide and I knew I had til the bell rang to make it go away. Wearing shorts in co-ed gym class, I was a LOT more self aware and managed to keep them at bay. Teens can control them, it just takes more effort. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/15 "2021-07-07T13:55:12Z")
I wonder what the distribution of boner angles is in the population? Mine have always pointed straight up when I’m standing, and I thought for years that the “tent in your pants” boner was “poetic license” or required some unfortunate combination of position in the clothing pre-boner and the cut of the pants. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/16 "2021-07-07T14:11:57Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Wearing shorts in co-ed gym class, I was a LOT more self aware and managed to keep them at bay. > > Teens can control them, it just takes more effort. I was a teen-aged gay boy in naked swimming class. That wasn’t control, that was terror. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/17 "2021-07-07T14:46:18Z")
When I was getting radiation aimed at my butt 3 years ago, I had to change into special shorts at the office, so I wore jammie pants because they were easy to get in and out of and very comfortable. When one is losing around a quarter pound to a half pound a day between outpouring at both ends, and doing medical appointments every day [4 hours for infusion plus 45 minutes for getting nuked plus waiting room times] comfort is pretty much the only thin on your mind [plus where can I vomit without hitting someone if I cant get the barf bag up in time] I have 3 more weeks of radiation, but this time it is the upper half of my body so I am wearing sweats, but I am going bra-less because I just don’t feel like struggling in and out of the damned thing, so I wear a 3 sizes too big shirt, and if anybody gets upset at getting a hint of nipple under fabric they can shut up about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/18 "2021-07-07T15:08:48Z")
Until a few years ago, there was a sitcom on ABC called _[The Middle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Middle_(TV_series))_ in which the older teenage son was portrayed as hanging around the house clad only in boxer shorts, which don’t have any kind of zipper or button closure. I kind of wondered the same thing about him; didn’t he have spontaneous erections and wouldn’t they pop out? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/19 "2021-07-07T22:43:38Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I agree with everything you said except I never got the waistband method - “here let me stick my erection straight up in front of me” - for me I think that would be more obvious than just pushing it down my leg or wherever. maybe it depends on anatomy and angles (which vary greatly for men) and such. I can’t really say I have experience with it. I think the main point is to not “tentpole”, and that it relies on having a longer shirt or baggier pants. (You do it in your underwear, not your main pants, of course.) In fact, I probably should have just mentioned wearing longer shirts. That was probably as much a contributor as the underwear to not having any “boner fear” problems when I was younger. I didn’t do either one on purpose. I just remember checking in the mirror a few times to see you couldn’t tell. Now, it’s not so much on a hair trigger. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875/20 "2021-07-07T23:20:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Until a few years ago, there was a sitcom on ABC called _[The Middle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Middle_(TV_series))_ in which the older teenage son was portrayed as hanging around the house clad only in boxer shorts, which don’t have any kind of zipper or button closure. I kind of wondered the same thing about him; didn’t he have spontaneous erections and wouldn’t they pop out? And didn’t they just love showing off his body at least once in every episode! Some people watched the show just for that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-teens-wearing-pajama-pants/945875.md?page=2)