Some preferred the boxer for its roomy comfort; others, the brief for its sleek profile and ability to gather and contain the important parts. Then came the dark times. What had once been a good-faith debate devolved into name-calling, mockery, and shoddy science.
Both sides entrenched themselves, blinded by their own sense of righteousness. Then, a savior arrived: the boxer brief. Offering the best of both worlds, it combined the coverage and comfort of a boxer with the containment and discretion of a brief, without any of the tightie-whitie stigma.
At last, there was peace. Nowadays, though, decades into the boxer-brief strife, men have begun to rediscover the pleasures of the old order. As ever, there’s a strong case for boxers, briefs, and boxer briefs, but in this age of unprecedented menswear latitude, they might not be what you think.
Here’s why we think you should keep all three main underwear variants in your drawer, and when to reach for each. The science, in brief According to data from a 2016 fertility study of American men, 39% wore boxer briefs during the day, 35% wore boxers, and 26% wore briefs. Boxers gained ground at night, however, with 43% of men wearing them to sleep, compared with 24% in boxer briefs and 13% in briefs.
Another 20% wore nothing at all. The study’s real purpose, though, was to better understand whether underwear choice affected male fertility, and when researchers looked at semen quality and how long couples took to conceive, they found no real link between underwear type and fertility. Michael Eisenberg, a urology professor at Stanford University, co-authored the 2016 study.
He says the question of boxers versus briefs comes up when he counsels men about fertility, largely because the testicles need to remain cooler than the rest of the body to function properly. Like Calvin pulling on his lucky rocketship-print briefs before a big day of sledding with Hobbes, it’s less about what is right or wrong and more about what fits the occasion and outfit. That’s why the person with access to all three types of underpants in their top drawer will likely be the most comfortable and outfit-appropriate.
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