Burnley Grammar School

I agree with Chris G about wearing them under shorts, and even trousers, in the summer. They are a lot cooler to wear than briefs. I still go to a gym a couple of times a week even though I gave up playing actual sports long ago, and I still wear a jockstrap under my shorts there. I am possibly the only one who does - but who cares? I also agree with Chris that it is sad that shops such as Debenhams and sports shops no longer seem to stock them. I bought a couple recently via the internet. There are a few UK suppliers to buy them from without having to import them from the USA - even Amazon seems to have them.

Philip - For everyday underwear, Dad was very much a vest and briefs man, as were many men half a century ago, but with Singapore having a hot, humid climate, and taking the advice of both Mum and colleagues who had been there before him, he decided that he wouldn't need to take any vests but that he would need something less enveloping than his briefs but sufficiently supportive of his lower anatomy. Once back in the UK climate, he instinctively reverted to vast and briefs, leaving half a dozen nearly-new Litesome jockstraps up for grabs. Mum was all for throwing them away (there weren't any clothing/textile recycling oppportunities back then) but my brother and I had other ideas, and rapidly added them to our respective wardrobes. Alhtough we occasionally wore them in more formal situations, we generally wore them under shorts, both for sports and for general use in the summer, until they died of failed elatic, as most jockstraps do in the end. Even now, I prefer a jock to briefs in hot weather, although they are increasingly hard to find in the high-street shops. Until about five years ago, Debenham's had them in their Active Sport underwear range but, sadly, not any more.

Arby and Chris G

Yes unfortunately the lifespan of a Litesome Jockstrap was rather short lived due to wear and tear, often found lying around damp on changing room floors etc. We could have of course just go down to the school outfitters and purchase a new one, but often, being boys, we couldn't be fagged. So often knots were tied in the straps to keep some kind of tension when the elastic went. Wasn't ideal but it worked to some extent. Yes, like you I have never stopped wearing a jock for sport. Like you l wear narrow bands. Youngsters are so spoilt for choice these days.

To ChrisG.
Why did your dad just want jock straps to wear in Singapore and didn't want them any more when he returned?

As with Chris G I too used to wear mine often. I found them to be comfortable. I still wear one under shorts in the summer. Very cool to wear. Although a bit difficult to buy in shops now they are not difficult to find on the internet. As you say Chris, the narrower waist bands are preferable.

Gavin, James - just the question I was going to ask. I think that I wore mine (and Dad's) for most of the first summer that I had them, and fairly regularly from then, until they wore out, which was generally when the leg elastic perished from too much washing. I still wear jocks in the summer when I can get them, although I prefer a narrow waist-band now.

James
Why wouldn't you tell your parents about your wearing a jockstrap? Who washed your sports stuff?

James,
I assume that it was the fact that you wore your jockstrap under your ordinary clothes that you didn't tell your parents? Presumably your mum knew you had one in the first place by the fact that it appeared in the washing basket?

Also, were either of your parents with you when you purchased it?

In answer to ChrIS G, yes once our PE teacher had suggested that some of us would be ‘more comfortable’ if we wore jockstraps i got one. It was so comfortable and different that i would wear it for pe and games but also whenever i could, but i never told my parents.

Danny,
In classrooms slippering was done over skirts, but in PE it was over gym knickers.
As it was an all girls school, we didn't have many male teachers. I can't recall any of them administering corporal punishment, but don't know whether that was because they weren't allowed to.

Likewise - Congratulations on reaching 2000 posts - and half a million views.
I'm not sure when I made my first post ... some years back, I know. This is always an interesting read ...

1999 Posts!
So who is going to be the 2,000th poster?
Unless someone is waiting for his post to be approved I might be the one. :)

Andrea, how were you slippered or otherwise at secondary school, over skirt or some other way?
Were male teachers allowed to physically punish girls in your secondary school?

Danny,
Yes we girls became adept at putting on our PE shorts before removing our skirts!
Mixed changing did start to become an issue for a few girls who started to wear bras rather than vests in our final year at primary. They were allowed to change separately in the toilets. Was this the same in your primary school, or did all your classmates remain in vests until the end of primary?
By the time my son was at primary, boys and girls changed in separate classrooms for the final two years.

Yes we had corporal punishment at secondary school too. Fortunately I was quite well behaved, so it only happened to me on a couple of occasions.

Andrea, it was the same at our primary school, we all changed in class, both boys and girls, into PE shorts and T shirt under the supervision of our class teacher.
It was no big deal for any of us since this was the routine throughout primary school.
It was actually easier on the girls since they put their shorts on under their skirt before taking it off while we boys had to take our pants off to wear our PE shorts.

Slipperings and sometimes the ruler were also more or less common in class, depending on which teacher you had that year. But during PE the teachers would usually just smack your legs or thighs or shorts bottom with their hand for misbehaviour.
The older teachers usually used corporal punishment the most while the younger new ones rarely used it. I think they were already being taught in their teaching course to avoid physical punishment.
Except for the first year or two in Secondary it was subsequently banned. Were you also physically punished in secondary school?

Danny,

When I was at secondary school in the early to mid 1970s, corporal punishment, was still reasonably commonplace. In PE it consisted of a plimsoll while wearing our PE kit (gym knickers and polo shirt).

At primary school we changed into pe kit (shorts or skirt and a T shirt) in class, but this meant stripping down to vest and pants before putting on our kit. Girls and boys did this in the same classroom; was this the case in your primary school?

Gavin A & Chis G,

I think there must have been a similar spike in sales at the sports shop near the school my Ex attended when their PE teacher advised them to buy a supporter at the start of their 3rd year.

I had to buy my son a supporter and 'box' when he started to play junior cricket for a local club. I suppose the sports shop was used to it as they had boys size boxes close by the till.

I guess the equivalent 'right of passage' for girls - getting our first bras- was more spread out throughout the year, although underwear buying generally formed part of our back to school shopping trip towards the end of the summer holidays.

What about punishments during PE?
Were you slippered on your PE shorts or having to take them down?
Or was some other physical punishment given?
When I was in Primary school physical punishments were given by teachers in class, but by the time I got to Secondary school it was outlawed.
I assume that most posters here are talking about their school in the 60s and 70s at most which was a different time when physical punishment was normal in most schools.
I also read that some primary schools did PE in just underpants for both boys and girls. Was this the case at your school?
At our school we all changed into PE shorts and shirts in class.
Also I was not aware before reading about it on the internet that some schools required boys to be nude during swim classes. How common was this practice?

Andrea
We had a school clothes shop or rather outfitters that largely catered for all our clothing needs. I think the shop were rather amused when year after year 'first year senior' boys would troop in asking to buy their first jockstrap! Of course some boys' fathers looked after them. As I did with my own boys, in due course.

Andrea - forgot to mention that when I changed schools for 6th form, I was a boarder. There were no facilities for buying uniform items or sports equipmenet in-house, ad we were rather too far away from the nerest town for shopping to be practical, so everything had to be bought at home. I remember my Mum got me my first one at home and posted it to me.

Gavin A,
As it was a boarding school did they sell supporters at the school, or did you have to wait until the next holidays to purchase one?

Gavin/Andrea yes I think peer pressure and coming of age had a great influence on boys second year onwards particularly amongst the Rugby team.

Andrea
Most started to wear a jockstrap at the age of around 13 to 14 in my school. I would add that I was a boarder. I guess it was either older brother or possibly fathers that were the main influence for some, but for the rest like me it was peer pressure and wanting to follow the older boys in order to be seen as one and not left behind. Might even be put down to a 'coming of age' ritual!

Did any of you wear your jockstrap as underwear outside of PE? Towards the end of my time at school, my Dad had to work in Singapore for a couple of months, and he stocked up with several Litesome jocks for daily wear. When he got back, he didn't want them any more, so I started wearing them as regular underwear. Mum thought it a bit strange, but they were really quite comfortable.

Adrian, Stuart - like you I never heard anything about supporters at school - I didn't play cricket but I do remember hearing about "boxes" from those that did. I see that some people who wore jockstraps were very keen on them but I don't think any-one at my school ever suffered as a result of wearing nothing under their shorts, or nothing apart from their shorts for that matter.

At a boys' grammar school in the '60s boxes were available for cricket but I never saw or heard of athletic supports. Up until the fifth form we wore shorts but no pants for gym, athletics, cross-country, rugby and hockey. We thought nothing of it because we knew no different.

Frank and others

We were encouraged to wear a jockstrap supporter by PE staff from the age of about 16. Certainly by the time we got into the 6th Form most of us wore them for PE and sport. It made us feel very "manly". They were good to wear. It is a pity that they are no longer popular with young lads although sports briefs seem to have replaced them.

Gavin A,
If wearing a supporter wasn't mentioned by your PE teacher, then presumably the first boys in the class to wear them were influenced by older brothers or fathers?

Your comment about wanting one once your best friend had one reminds me of a few of my classmates wanting a bra when their friends had one!
How old were most of the boys when they started to wear supporters?

Frank/Adrian/Stuart, At our Sec.school in the 60s athletic supporters were never mentioned and don't know of anyone who wore them.
But we kept our underpants under our PE shorts so it would be different if they had to be taken off for PE as some mention here in their school.
We did not have cricket at our school either, only the occasional football game in the large school yard.

Paul, I assume that you were taken to the pool and supervised there by teachers. Were there ever female teachers or staff supervising the nude boys at the pool?

I recently read in a local paper of men complaining that they could not use the council pool changing and shower room during school lessons because there were female teachers supervising the boys in the male changing/shower room.
The school boys swam in suits but they were supervised by female teachers in the changing/shower room.
The teachers replied that they had strict instructions that they must not leave the boys out of their sight, including in the showers, for safety reasons.

Frank
My experience too! Public school, late 60s early 70s. Boys in senior school not so much advised to wear a genital support but increasingly did so as they got older. I have to say that once my friend had one I wanted one as well. An almost 'becoming of age' ritual! Obviously we all wore a box for cricket but who wouldn't when batting!