I like to stare at men in their underwear

By Naomi Izen

I like to stare at men in their underwear.

Yes, that’s right, I don’t mind taking a few extra seconds to glance at a male underwear ad.

That being the case, I attended a recent lecture by Shaun Cole, Director of the Masters Programs for Curatorial Studies and Cultural Studies at The London College of Fashion. Cole spoke at The URBN Center at Drexel University about, “Jocks in Jocks”.

Cole started his talk off with a clip of David Beckham’s Bodywear line for H&M.  A few seconds of Beckham’s skin being shown and I was hooked…

Yet, next to me my male friend sat, eyes half open, trying not to look too closely.

The history of advertising men’s underwear fascinated me since indeed, it was always the sportsman that wore the jocks and the idolized ‘Greek statue’ body of the athlete has become the focal point. These ads are not just about the underwear but showing off of an ostensibly perfect man that all other males could  look up to. It seems the only option for male underwear ads is to show them on a muscular heterosexual athlete so that other men can feel safe looking at another male’s package or at least justified in wanting to buy the same undies.

Cole’s talk included many half-naked men, the definition of Sporno (if you don’t know what that means, enjoy looking it up), and Babe Ruth’s underwear line (this is not a joke).

Every seat in the auditorium was filled, since apparently I’m not the only one who likes to stare at men in their underwear. Cole could have gone on and on about the history and all the different topics associated with men and their underwear, and we sure would have stared, I mean, err, listened.

If this intrigued you a bit, you can check out Cole’s book, The Story of Men's Underwear at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/The-Story-Of-Mens-Underwear/dp/185995622X