We all love men’s underwear. Each of us has our favorite styles, colors and fabrics. Underwear really is a personal experience for each guy. I think this is why we have such a passion for great underwear. We get to wear what fits us the best and makes us feel sexy as hell!

I got thinking of Masculinity in underwear after a talk with Andy (an interview coming out soon). He’s Leather Title holder and wears lace. I won’t go into all we talked about, but it is going to be a great talk! Our talk lasted about an hour. To coin a term used today “He gives no fucks” in what he wears.

Masculinity goes beyond lace. It centers around fabric, styles and colors. Society has told us what a man should wear. It shouldn’t be this and it shouldn’t be that. It should only be in this narrow defined category. Outside of that, some people will wonder if you’re light in the loafers.

Luckily, we are in a time that is changing. In the late 2000’s the color pink came into the world of men’s underwear. It took the industry by storm. Guys couldn’t get enough pink. Before this time, pink was not a color that mainstream companies would use for underwear. It was considered a color that was only used in women’s underwear. Now, very few give it a second thought about wearing or using pink. Other colors have started to come into men’s underwear as a result. Pastels, purple, and others considered on the feminine side are being produced every year.

Next is fabric. Not just lace but other fabrics are considered not manly. Silk was only to be used in boxers. While satin was not to be used at all. It had to be 100% cotton. Anything outside of that was a no no. We are shattering those rules. Satin underwear can be super sexy.  Brands like BodyAware are showing just how sexy. I think I have seen underwear in just about every fabric combination. Brands like Gregg Homme and Pistol Pete are always playing with new fabrics to give guys more options. And let’s not forget Mesh. I could go on for hours about mesh! But I won’t!

Lastly is styles. This is a debate we still have going on today in mainstream society. Guys should just wear tights whities, boxer briefs or boxers. Anything that shows off the bulge, is a different cut or sexualizes a guy is not tolerated. Thongs are showing a up swing in popularity. This is across the board and not just for the gay market. Yet, for many of our straight underwear brothers, they are in the underwear closet. They get labeled “gay” or “fruity” for liking the fit and comfort.  The same is said of bikinis or anything that is smaller than the “norm.”

I’m making a bold statement and saying that all men’s underwear is masculine. That is underwear that is designed for men and accommodates their assets (for a lack of better word). Yes, certain styles may not fit society or our own ideals of Masculinity. Just think, maybe for that guy who does wear them thinks its masculine.

Each of us has our own definition of masculinity. Mine is “a guy doing what he wants that empowers him and makes him feel great.” We need to all band together and fight the male underwear double standard. Wear what you feel great in, and pardon my language but “Fuck anyone who doesn’t agree.”  We will explore this topic a lot more!

In our reader survey we asked you guys who influences your buying decisions. It’s not like you can walk in any department store and buy what you want, when you want it. Many brands are only available through the net. Then there is the whole double standard (which I have tried to write about 3 times today and just gave up. It’s a complicated issue). After 5 paragraphs in I asked, Is this topic important to say or am I preaching to the choir. I chose the later.

Emails from brands

This one was a shock for me. Not that it’s an influencer but it’s number one. There is a combination of why this makes sense. The first is they announce when new pairs are released. You will be given a link and be able to buy right then. Sometimes we get advance notice and publish it before it’s available to buy. Next, brands and retailers send out emails about sales. If it’s a good sale, you guys will definitely shop!

Reviews

This one made us at UNB very happy. We love sharing our opinions on the brands we review. Sometimes they are good and other times they are bad. Reviews allow you to hear how someone liked the pair. What are the great points and the parts we fell need some work. This is one area where if you have further questions we didn’t cover, contact us and we will answer them for you. It may help us refine our review process.

Social Media influencers

I figured this would be the top influencer of you guys. Social media influencers are more than just guys posting pictures in underwear. You guys mentioned other underwear blogs like The Bottom Drawer and Men’s Underwear Blog. Real guys on social media like Underweardude, Bikinisnthongs and BiThongdude. Celebrities such as Seth Fornea and Colby Melvin. And lastly brands such as Nasty Pig, International Jock and  Dead Good Undies. Twitter wasn’t the only social media sites you guys use. Other sites were Instagram and Tumblr.

News Write Ups

News write ups are posts on our blog and others informing you on what new pairs are released. Not everyone wants to sign up brand’s email list. We try to keep you informed as much as we can. Even introduce you to new and up and coming brands. We have included new posts to profile pairs. Post such as Jockstrap Wednesday, Thong Thursday, Swimwear Sunday and Undie Monday. We do this because we think deserve more attention. It’s not easy to keep up with all the pairs released. But we do our best to cover things we think are fun and awesome.

Partner/significant other

As much as we say we pick our own undies. Our partners/significant others play a big part in what we buy. That is if you have one! You will buy things that they will like to see you wearing. Some guys get their partners involved in the purchase. Our very own Salvatore usually gets his wife to pick out a lot of his review pairs he receives from us. I’m sure more husbands and wives do this for their partner. They may have veto power or not. When I last dated my partner at the time hated one pair that I loved. I bought it anyway.

Friends

Lastly, friends influence you. This could be real life friends or social media friends. Some of us have friends we can talk underwear with at times. We can talk about new brands and what we love. Others don’t have that in their lives. Enter the world of Twitter where you can create a pseudonym and talk to like-minded guys. In a judgement free zone. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay/bi/straight. We are all brothers in underwear.

My personal influencers are: Social Media, Brands and friends. I have made a lot of friends through the blog and many will email me when they find a new brand. Also, I’ll see new lines and brands online. We don’t always get notified when there are new lines out. Some brand produces new pairs every two weeks. Lastly, are brands. Much like you guys I do subscribe to email lists and get to see when things are released.

These are just a few of the top influencers you guys pointed out to us. It gives us some great insight into what motivates you guys! I hope you enjoy these posts. You guys are the most amazing guys!

We know we have a lot of fans out there. On our social media accounts we get some great feed back from you guys. It’s not always how great we are, but things we are doing wrong too. That’s one thing I love about you guys. Many of you aren’t afraid to call us out when we aren’t doing something right. To do a blog you have to listen tot he good and bad. Sometimes the bad is not easy to hear but it makes you better in the long run.

Recently, we conducted our Annual Reader Survey. This past month we did a similar post to brands. It gave us just as much insight as our readers have done. We discovered that the two overlap a lot more than we would have thought. We will continue to do this to keep improving the site and work on meeting your, the readers,  expectations and also brand expectations.

The brand survey reinforced that the Patreon was the right choice. It takes money to put on a blog the size of UNB. Plus we have plans for the future and need your help to accomplish them! The costs to run the site aren’t sexy. Such as hosting, email, postage and such. Then there are shoots we want to do for you guys. You mentioned in the survey you want to see real guys in pictures and shoots. Also you want to see up and coming models. These will be shoots we will have to pay for ourselves.

What can you do to help? We have a sizable reader base and if just 1/4 of you donated just $1 a month it would be an amazing help. If you wanted to donate more we wouldn’t turn it down! It could help us improve the content of the blog and expand to more areas you guys are interested in us covering.

What would your monthly donation do and what are our needs:

• Help cover the costs of running the blog, specifically hosting the site monthly
• Improve writing – I know, sometimes we don’t write so good (sorry had too). While we have improved I would like to get a Grammerly to double check our writing. Being dyslexic sometimes I miss things.
• Do more shoots through out the year showing up and coming models. Also finally do that real guy shoot
• Buy underwear/gear we can’t get to do reviews. We have great relationships with brands but there are some we don’t. We want to do reviews on these pairs.

There are many more areas. If you donate you will become part of the UNB Team. Its simple to do. Just go to the UNB Patreon site and set up a monthly donation. We love our Patreons and readers. Let’s get UNB to that next level.