I think shorts look awful on most men, and tank tops as well. (Southern New York seems to be well stocked with men wearing hand-mangled t-shirts that reveal what is best left unrevealed – as in: dude, you look like a bar of Ivory soap in a fraternity house shower.)
I won’t wear a tank top, but I will wear shorts when it’s hot and I happen to be where I’m not expected to look like anything but a doofy guy, like the Home Depot. Two weeks ago I had a date and I put on a pair of khakis despite the fact that it was 95 degrees out. Almost every other man in the restaurant under 70 was wearing shorts. It’s a little weird, really. I’m thinking that there may be a period when I won’t wear them – the period after I begin to think they look terrible on me before before the period when I think I’m too old for it to make any difference. There’s an argument that I’m already in the second phase and skipped the modest interperiod completely.
False. The long basketball short phenomenon was started by the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan (legend has it, he wore his UNC college shorts under his Bulls game shorts). The trend was further popularized by the University of Michigan’s 1992 team, aka the "Fab Five."Cite (plenty more avaiable). Obviously, some players have taken it a little far.
This trend has given us the dreaded “man-pris” … guys in capri pants.
The boy I dated in high school had large, muscular thighs that haunt my dreams still. Mmm, thighs. But I will admit, I do not care to see the thighs of the general male population. So, thank God for manpris.
I never really thought about it, but there is something faintly ridiculous about a certain kind of man* wearing those ultra short-shorts…but then I generally think women needn’t wear hot pants, either. A svelte, attractive woman can get away with hot pants, and a muscular, handsome man can get away with shorter shorts And a muscular thigh is very handsome, actually.
*When I think of the ridiculousness of it, a very thin man comes to mind, with no muscle tone in his leg, and very pale. When I think of handsome, I think of corded muscle.
I have more of a problem with all of the slovenly fat men who insist on going shirtless. Please. Just as you do not want to see a fat woman wearing skin-tight clothing, neither do I want to see your big fat gut while you are walking down the street.
Daniel Craig (I think that was his name) wore these weird sort of boxer-brief-cum-Bermuda/board-shorts thingies in Casino Royale, and I thought, shit, I should get a pair of those.
Then I considered what effect subtracting his disturbingly chiseled physique from said shorts and replacing it with my not-quite-as-impressive mathlete’s body might do, and discarded the idea.
Oh goody, there’s a name for these? Boy, the prefix “man-” pretty much guarantees that whatever is in question is not notably masculine. (See also -purse, -boobs.)
Short shorts on a man, no matter how toned, just scream Jack Tripper from Three’s Company to me. But then, I don’t like short shorts on women either, no matter how beautiful the woman’s body may be.
It’s just fashion. Personally I find long shorts and boxers to be more aesthetically pleasing on men as a general look. But in 15-20 years I suppose they’ll be short again and guys will be wearing Speedos, and maybe I’ll even be laughing at myself for ever thinking that long shorts looked OK–just like we now laugh at ourselves for having worn 80’s fashions.
Modesty has its attractions–it’s a lot of fun to imagine what’s underneath. Letting it all hang out isn’t always the sexiest option.
I admit to seeing Richard Simmons on some occasions, but when I think of an ideal I think of Gerard Butler from 300, or some other guy in Roman skirted armor. That corded muscle, the strong thigh, bronze skin…
What guys don’t expose their thighs? Most guys I know do. I live in shorts. Anywhere from 3/4 down the thigh to maybe a bit below the knee. Depends on the cut & fit.
The Tom Selleck grape-huggers are a bit too short, but not because they were showing off his thighs.
That seemed to be a 70’s thing. Women can show off their boobs so men should show off their “boobs” i.e. their kiwis.
I think people were much leaner back in the 70’s and early/mid 80’s and it made it easier to sport short-shorts.
I like the ‘freedom’ of loose-fitting shorts. They need not be ridiculous in length, but anything approaching the old short-shorts feels strange. I have seen, however, at least a half dozen men wearing short shorts on the beach. Most of these men were in their 50’s or 60’s and were clearly way way out of touch. The needed a Frisbee brand flying disk and a big VCR-sized Sony Walkman to finish the wardrobe.
Or perhaps sending them to their bunks.
