I get that the main point of a jockstrap is to keep one’s boys high and tight so they don’t get injured during physical activity. It’s a noble goal, and I … um… support it.
Here’s my question: Why, exactly, is it preferable for the jockstrap wearer to have nothing covering his behind – just a couple of straps lifting and separating? I mean, it’s not like you can wear underwear along WITH your jockstrap. I don’t see the benefit.
I was under the impression that it was an issue of mobility and that the only point of a jock strap was to hold a cup. Do athletes wear jocks without cups?
Some do… Sprinters, for instance, don’t need the protection of a cup, but do benefit from having support of the testes.
ETA: ever watch a nude guy sprint? It looks terrifically painful! It doesn’t take an engineer to spot the obvious “most likely mode of failure.”
I wouldn’t call all of us athletes, but yeah, when I took gym class in junior and senior high school, all of us guys were required to wear a jock.
I don’t have trouble sprinting without underwear. I just lower my weight a little bit, and run so that there’s little “up-and-down” motion. I had to learn this way of running when I switched from briefs to boxers. It was either change, or suffer a painful nut collision with every stride. ROFL
Think about it, men in primitive tribes that go mostly naked, even today, sometimes have to sprint, when they are hunting, etc… You really think they don’t know how to do that without hurting their nuts? 
This
Football players, although they might need it occasionally don’t wear cups. They don’t want any restriction of mobility. A baseball catcher and a hockey goalie will always wear a cup because the groin area is an easy target for a 90-100 mile hard object that can cause enormous pain.
The jockstrap is just a minimal piece of underwear that will hold the family jewels in place so they don’t wander.
No need to cover the buttocks, the pants do that.
the two elastic straps coming at angles tensioned by the path over the buttocks holds the bottom of the jock mesh tighter than other structures. minimal material for maximum function.
Help me out, here. Why, exactly, can’t you wear underwear along WITH your jockstrap?
Well…don’t such people, today, generally wear loincloths or diapers or skivvies, or something that gives some support (and protection against scissoring?) I thought that pretty much every culture had male genital veiling of some sort, even to the most minimal degree of penis-sheaths.
(I recently read an account of De Anza’s expedition through the desert near modern El Centro, California, and he said the men went absolutely naked. This surprised me, as I had thought all native Americans had at very least a loincloth for costume.)
Valid point, though, as for the earliest of all humans, those who were too primitive even to build a crotch-strap or nut-sling.
I was kind of wondering this myself. I train martial arts (MMA and Muay Thai), so I wear a jock strap almost every night of the week. Naturally I wear it on top of my underwear, and I don’t really see why I wouldn’t.
I wear underwear to keep some of the sweat and grime out of my shorts, and I expect that the reason a jock strap only has straps in the back is for the same reason. Otherwise I’d have to have a week’s supply of jock straps at home, getting only a single use before they smelt rotten. Being made of a minimum amount of fabric I get by with only a couple.
Because it makes my ass look that good.
The most minimal penis-sheaths, such as those used by many South American tribes, do a crappy job of supporting the scrotum / testicles, anyway. Australian Aborigines are another large group of peoples who utilized little in the way of male genital veiling.
Woah. Wait a sec. They’re two different pieces? :eek: I thought a jock strap *was *that cup thingie with the elastics!
Where’s that “Stuff that took you too long to realize” thread?..
The jock strap is the fabric contraption that usually includes a pocket which can hold the plastic cup, but it can be worn without the cup as well. The terminology is often imprecise.
God, I love this board. I learn so much here. Thank you.
Carry on.
I’m totally serious. No sarcasm intended, in case someone thinks that. *
to hold the nut mesh tight without the two straps across the back could be done with really sturdy tighty-whities and the guys give each other wedgies every few minutes.
Wait, we’re not supposed to wear underwear with the strap? I really wish those things came with instructions.
Anyhow, the only reason I’ve ever worn a jockstrap was to hold a cup. SCA fighting rules, for obvious reasons, require the wear of “Gentlemen’s Protection” for all male rapier fighters. Stories abound of fighting marshals performing “Cup Checks” by asking guys if they were wearing a cup before kneeing them in the groin (the knee was only in response to “yes” answers, of course).
for the mesh thing to be effective it has to be against the skin, like a hand gently cradling the world’s most valuable thing. if over underwear it doesn’t have the support and tight envelopment.
there are cup holders shaped similar to a jockstrap and designed to hold the cup in place without holding tight like a jockstrap; i.e. your nuts could leak out without a jockstrap.
there are also other style devices to hold a cup.
With the proliferation of spandex in athletic wear, isn’t the jockstrap kind of outmoded? Any reason you can’t slip a cup inside your stretchy pants?