So far in the 21st C. no adult male may expose his thighs. Short-shorts are worn as a clown costume on “Reno 9-11,” or by that grown man who portrays a snotty little boy on “Mad TV;” and as “what were they thinking?” flashbacks to the 70’s and 80’s (worn by Tom Sellek in the former and in neon colors in the latter)
Today short-shorts (that is, above the knee) are considered a display of effeminacy or childishness by men. Why is this? Some theories;
Black basketball stars started wearing longer and looser shorts, out of cultural solidarity with other AA males swept up by the War on Drugs and forced into baggy prison issue (although another claim may be that Black guy’s butts are shaped in a particular way that is better-played-up by hiding the thighs)
Male-bashing has demonized male sexuality, so the hidden loin is required.
Revenge for the Opium War. “If we could persuade every Chinaman to lengthen his garment by one inch, every textile mill in England would have enough orders for thirty years.” So they were sent opium to make them indebted to the West and subject to it’s desires. And now the made-in-China clothing is making us Westerners eat those words.
I see men with their shirts off in public with nothing to brag about other than an income that allows for abundant cupcakes and beer. But they show total modesty when it comes to revealing what’s between loin and thigh
Men: are you ashamed of you thighs?
Women: do you find the upper leg of the average male to be ugly?
I dislike both short-shorts on men and those below-the-knee hideous mega-shorts the basketball dudes, boxing dudes, and others wear. Actually, I hate shorts of all kinds on men, but some are more tolerable than others.
I’m not a leg-woman. There is a very small percentage of either gender who looks good in shorts, as far as I’m concerned.
“Booty shorts” my kids call them, and not in a good way. As in “I’m not running track, they wear booty shorts”. That’s one of the reasons we see kids pulling down their shorts so low on their butts; they don’t want to be seen wearing the booty shorts so they have to get them as low as possible down their legs. I see my teenaged boys playing soccer or lacrosse and tugging at their shorts, trying to find that balance point where their shorts cover as much leg as possible yet won’t fall down when they run. How sad.
There was a thread elsewhere about how to embarrass your kids - this is one of mine. In the 70’s I played Rugby which sports the shortest shorts of any sport (say that 3 times fast). These days I run and bike and I still have the manly thighs I think. So, while I try to keep the shorts about mid-thigh I refuse to wear exercise shorts that cover my knees.
Perhaps your #1 and #3 reasons combine - the black basketball players have teamed up with the Chinese to trick our male youth into wearing skirt-like shorts, thus unmanning them? Or, more likely, our children must do the exact opposite of whatever their parents do. Our revenge will come when their male children all want to wear hot-pants.
I’m a short, fat, balding old man. I wear shorts because it’s freaking hot and humid this time of year. I wear knee-length shorts to show consideration for the feelings of those who might encounter me.
I find longer shorts to be more comfortable and generally buy my shorts in the men’s department. My inner thighs touch together and if it’s warm out, as it generally tends to be when I’m wearing shorts, they get sweaty and it isn’t comfortable to have them rub together when I walk. I always figured longer shorts were a bonus to men. I also like the added modesty of them. Call me crazy, but people don’t need to see my thighs.
Right around the knee is the way to go. If I’m doing something active or playing a sport however I like something abit bigger so I can move better. Most athletic shorts come with a draw string anyway so they can be fit around the waist.
Plenty of cultures aren’t into the man-thigh thing. Indeed, I can’t think of any culture outside of America that really accepts the idea of men wearing shorts as an everyday fashion (as opposed to for sports.)
Ah the annual “shorts are too long” thread! A fine and honorable tradition, started IIRC by me a few years back. I hate “shorts” that fall below the knee. They look ridiculous. They aren’t “shorts.” They are “floods.” They are what nerds wear.
I used to wear cutoffs about as short as the girls wear them. I got great legs
I can’t see someone in those long shorts (oxymoron alert) without thinking “that is so 1910… that guy needs one of those pinstriped tank top undershirts to go with it to complete the picture”
Reasons for it all… I don’t know which came first, but the tendency of guys to wear those boxer shorts instead of bikini or jockey cut shorts sure would make the “dangly parts” problem more of an issue.
Actually that seems like an extension of the same phenom: guys even in their undies dress way more modestly than we did 30 years ago. Boxer shorts kind of drape over you, they don’t cling, and they cover up a lot more territory. Maybe it is a discomfort with the male bod.
(But, contravening that, aren’t there more male strippers and that sort of thing than there used to be? And more visual objectification of guys as sexy to look at by folks whose appetite runs towards guys?)
Isn’t it a simple case of shifting erogenous zones in fashion? For women, that has been going on for centuries. If we show our necks and boobs, we hide our ankles. Show legs, keep your arms covered up. Have the focus on your bare midriff, and you can’t wear a miniskirt in good fashion.
Currently, the fashion is for men to bare their upper torso (not just their chests, like in the 60’) and cover up their thighs and buttocks. Actually, I don’t know when it was the other way around for the last time. In the Elizabethan era, perhaps?
Men’s fashion just changes slower then woman’s, I guess.
I just turned 40 and I have nicer legs than when I was 20. But you can’t buy shorts much shorter than knee length anymore. It’s not our choice, its just fashion.
It’s not discomfort with my male body, it’s plain old discomfort! Jockeys suck because it pushes the ol’ twig and berries right up against the rest of me. Everything’s all crammed in there with no room to breath!
Maybe it’s just cause of my massive man-cock, I dunno. I suppose all those men out there with less than 15" penises have no problem with jockeys, but those of us who’s wangs double as depth measurement tools for the Pacific Ocean need a little more room.
I like shorts that run somewhere between knee and midthigh. I used to buy womens sizes (in a neutral design) because they would be midthigh. If I wanted something longer I’d just wear regular pants.
