Ask A Genius 1342: Boxer Briefs, Fertility, and the Battle Between Jeans and Sweatpants
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/04/07
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Boxers or briefs?
Rick Rosner: Boxer briefs. Old-school boxers were baggy—your balls could go anywhere, stick to your leg. If you’re older and your balls hang lower, you could accidentally sit on them and hurt yourself—or worse. Briefs keep everything tucked up, protecting you from injury. They also create a fabric layer between your balls and legs to prevent sticking.
On the other hand, if you’re trying to conceive, boxers are better. Your testicles need to stay cooler for sperm health, and tight underwear can overheat them, reducing fertility.
But in today’s culture, tighty-whities are seen as creepy. Even colored bikini briefs are considered off-putting—like Speedos on Mediterranean men. Sure, in Italy, that might be fine, but in American pop culture, you’d only put a character in briefs or a Speedo in a comedy to highlight awkwardness.
These days, most men wear boxer briefs. They’re longer in the leg than briefs but still snug in the crotch—offering both support and protection.
Almost all my underwear is boxer briefs now. I still have a few tighty-whities from—who knows—maybe 20 years ago. They’re in the back of the drawer. I never liked them much. They were tight and white—visually unappealing.
I had some leftover blue dye and figured I’d at least make them a better color. Boiled water, threw in the dye, dropped the underwear in. But the fabric didn’t take it well. Now I have half a dozen pairs of lavender tighty-whities. They’re fine—I mean, ideally only Carol sees them—but they’re buried deep in the drawer.
Jacobsen: Jeans or sweatpants?
Rosner: Sweatpants. Jeans give me ingrown hairs and rub the hair off my legs. I go to the gym and maybe the library once a week. That’s it. So—sweatpants.
I do like a loose pair of khakis I can wear to the gym, but one place I go complains about them. So, forget it—I’ve been living in sweatpants for months.
Also, Wranglers over Levi’s. If you do leg workouts—no contest. Wranglers are way better. They’re the gold standard. Levi’s are too tight in the leg. If you buy a pair that fits your thighs, they’ll gape at the waist.
If you want to look good in jeans, you need a proper fit. When I was a kid, my stepdad owned a women’s ready-to-wear store—with a full-time seamstress. So I know a bit about tailoring.
Once we hit the disco era and I wanted my clothes tight and right, I started getting everything tailored. I had my shirts severely tapered to show off at the club. The right way to wear Levi’s was to buy them to fit your legs comfortably and have the waist taken in by someone who really knows their way around a needle.
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