No one needs to, it’s just that extra layer between you and the outside world. And trust me, I’ve gotten skin caught in a zipper before and there are certain parts of my skin I’d NEVER want to get caught in a zipper (I think of that scene in There’s Something About Mary…“BEANS AND FRANKS!!!”). Yes, it’s cleaner, yes it keeps you in place, yes it prevents “leakage” of multiple varieties, and personally, after a lifetime of wearing them, I just feel “wrong” if I don’t wear them. But there’s no “law” I say do what feels right to you.

Yeah, the last time I went commando was ages ago. I want that barrier between me and my clothes.

I would think it’d just feel nasty without them.

Nobody needs to, there isn’t a law. I think people just do because it is the “right thing to do” It is a freeing experience, especially in the summer, however now that it is cold out that extra layer is nice to have.

An extra layer for strip poker.

@ delpetrie..
OH YEAH . i agree with u totally on the zip thing. that is the thing that makes me start to wear underwear regularly esp when i am wearing long pants with zip. I usually go on commando with my shorts on.

The time of the month isn’t the only time girls have “leakage” lol. And a lot of girls don’t even wear pads anyway, they’re bulky and uncomfortable. I’m not sure why guys “have” to wear underwear, but as for girls, thanks to our cycles (and I’ll try to make this as less gross sounding as possible, haha) we’re always “secreting” some type of fluid—not very much, but enough to make panties preferable, at least when wearing tight fitting pants, haha.
Sorry if that was a bit icky, but hey, I answered the question!

Alright, this may be a bit too much information for y’all, but here is is anyway.

I regularly go without underwear. I also regularly go out in my PJs, and combine the two. And I also do this in the cold of Canadian winters.

As long as I’m not going over to anyone’s house or out for dinner with people I know, I don’t care if I’m not wearing panties when I’m in the grocery store/driving my partner in to school/etc. It means it’s one pair of panties I don’t need to wash, and since I wash my pants often, they don’t develop a funky smell.

@mea05key – I love your thoughts put in to why women wear underwear. I can provide a lot of insight here!

We first need to separate boobs from bum, because underwear provides different purpose for each.

A bra is pretty much necessary for any women who has breasts larger than size A. Bras provide stability and take the weight of the boobs off of the chest and distribute it elsewhere. And you’d be amazed at how necessary this is – boobs sag a good deal and if they get as big as mine are (double D hey, that’s my name, dynamicduo is double d too! weird!), it’s outright painful trying to jog or run without support. Heck, even when there IS support, I find myself holding them tightly if I’m doing a quick sprint, just cause they’ll STILL bounce around. Also, bras absorb sweat, and yes, boobs can become a bit funky just like a scrotum (in fact it’s the exact same smell, so likely the exact same bacteria) if sweat accumulates between the boob and torso.

Underwear is another thing completely. It doesn’t provide any retention or jiggle-proofing. It is there pretty much for absorption. A healthy vagina produces small amounts of fluid throughout the day, and a small amount of that is bound to escape past the vagina lips. Without underwear, this fluid has nowhere to go except onto the pants. So panties catch this fluid, and at the end of the day you can wash the panties and not wash the pants and they will be clean (generally speaking).

There are also other types of underwear, such as a girdle, which is meant to squeeze your fat around and show off a more slender figure, etc.

And this is the functional aspect of underwear only. Women have long since extended past the functionality of underwear and into the decoration aspects of it. I’m sure someone else can come and elaborate on this aspect.

And one final point about pads. Most women I know don’t use them. Tampons are much nicer, less cumbersome, and don’t require wearing a pair of granny panties to hold it in place!

I was always told that panties help girls from developing yeast infections.

if we’re being serious here

@dynamicduo, hey, us small-breasted chicks need bras too! We still have nipples that you can see if there’s no bra between them and a shirt, lol. Plus a bra makes them look more shapely, like bras do for any other size.
Also, running up and down stairs with no bra = lots of pain no matter what size they are!

oops, I meant dynamicduo, sorry!

@dynamicduo
double D!!! u did one lengthy discussion on ur boobs…:) i feel that you must be really proud of them :) good thing.

Cant expect any clearer answer from anyone on this. GA ! I believe i come into conclusion that underwear is for hygene purpose.

@Ashpea9288

We guys have nipples too :P but we are not shy to SHOW them !
Obviously i never had any boobs before but no offense some man boobs looks equally the same as A size boobs… i don’t see them wearing any bras. LOL

@dynamicduo
Another thought about what u said. I think woman look sexier with underwear and bra than naked.

@mea05key, yes, but girls nipples tend to be a bit fuller and sometimes larger! As for the size thing, it really depends on what size A. I’m on the higher end of the A-cup, so if a guy had my size chest he’d have to be pretty chubby. Plus I’m shorter than average and slender, so people are usually surprised I’m an A-cup because they fit my body so well it makes them look bigger than they actually are. A lower end A-cup, however, probably would look the same as a guy’s chest, lol.

No offense meant to the smaller breasted, @Ashpea9288! You are very right. Bras do act as nipple guards and help to form, shape, and support them. What I wanted to really express with my comment is that in my experience, I have seen more smaller breasted women forgo bras with certain dresses than larger breasted women. Having them small is an advantage at times, and I sure wish mine weren’t as big as they are, they’re a bit of a pain sometimes!

@mea05key, you’re very right. A woman, dressed up in a wonderful lacy black ensemble, garters and stockings included, is a very erotic sight to some. I get the feeling it’s like Christmas, and you see a present that you want to unwrap! Many women enjoy dressing up sexily, and underwear is a great way to do that. Some men also like to dress up in fancy underwear to entice their partner, but in my experience it is a much smaller proportion compared to women.

And you’d be surprised to know that there ARE some male bras out there. But they’re not marketed as man bras, nor “moob containers”, but more like “chest supporters”. And I agree fully that I would love to see some of these moobs a bit more contained. However, everyone’s free to do as they want, so at times I choose to forgo a bra (but I’ll wear a jacket over top, I don’t intend to advertise to the world about my nipples!).

@ Ashpea9288

Oh yeah i have to agree that girls nipples are fuller. I read and had some discussions with frens on girls breast sizes. I find girls with smaller breast size are attractive. It also needs to depend on the person’s body type.

@dynamicduo, you do have a point, I do go braless with several summer dresses, and it’s awfully comfortable! Haha. Sometimes I wish I had bigger breasts, but they would just look silly on my body, and I’ve heard a lot about women with large breats having back problems and such, so I guess there’s benefits and drawbacks for every size.

GREAT ANSWER Ashpea9288 and Dynamicduo. Glad to hear some good responses on this question.

It’s simply impossible for me to not wear a bra when I’m dressing up for a serious outing. It goes way beyond “completely obvious” and enters “painfully aware” territory. Not to mention, one twist to the side and they’re flailing about!

But it sucks having to wear a bra all the time when you want to go out. And I will admit I have been a bit jealous of people like you who can pull it off without looking totally ridiculous! Under wire bras (for anyone’s info, they contain a metal wire under the cups that help with support) are the only true bra I can wear and get any value from, and they get painful after awhile. Sports bras are nice sometimes, but they don’t provide any shaping (in fact, they can squish the boobs together in the middle to form some kid of megaboob). That’s why sometimes I choose not to not wear a bra. And it does feel nice, but it certainly limits what I can or can’t do in terms of rapid movements.

Like you say, there’s good and bad in every size. Furthermore, everyone wants what they don’t have (I with straight hair would LOVE a bouncy head of curls, but most curly haired people I talk to would give them up in a second for my flat straight hair).

Glad you enjoyed the answers, mea05key! :)

I’m not sure why but if we all stopped it would not be good.

As to the top portion of me, being a C cup, I definately wear a bra every day in every situation. It comes off when I put my pj’s on & that’s it.

As for the bottom portion of me, I can’t imagine not wearing underwear. I live in jeans & the thought of having that seam up against my delicates is just too much. The only time I’ve ever gone sans underwear is when I’ve had tight fitting dress pants on & I wore pantyhose for a smooth line.

You gals talking about the ‘fluid’ thing is a factor, too, of course. That’s where panty shields come in at. I shudder to think of walking around in ickies. I like to be fresh & dry all the time. (I can’t believe I’ve just said this! Ha!)

I prefer hamstercagesmellofrawdenim. Underwears is a waste of time.

I wear underwear if I’m wearing tight pants, jeans, or a skirt. I usually don’t under sweatpants or pajama pants.
I always wear a bra. I’m a little jealous of small breasted girls being able to go braless.

we don’t, and in fact it’s healthier not to. and, jonsblond, it’s actually wearing panties that often leads to yeast infections for females. this is why all females should at least sleep w/out tight underwear. a healthy vagina needs to “breath” at least occassionally. as for men, healthier sperm protection is found in men who wear boxers or no underwear at all b/c this lets the scrotum do what it’s designed to do—keep the testes away from the body and at the optimum tempertaure for producing sperm (different than normal body temp). this is also why when cold, a males scrotum will shrink and bring the testes closer to the body for additional warmth.

@ tb1570

I agre with .It is healthier not to wear underwear at night thats for guys. I heard that it could affect our sperm count or something like that.

as for the zipper problem, i have two words: button flys.

lol, my grandmother always told me to never go out without a clean pair of underwear on and a quarter to call home.

Chafing bro. You ever got frank to rub up on your zipper wrong all day? Its not pleasant.

When it is cold, bra-less is uncomfortable. Lots of women don’t like to advertise when they are cold. I remember saying to a male friend at work, I am cold, and he said, I know!

Going commando at night is good for women. Just gotta wear a top that is long enough to cover you up – if you have kids still living at home…

Cotton is the only way to go and no thongs!

@krysta – how much is a pay phone these days??!!

@Dandy – Hahaha! I have no clue! This was a long time ago when I first started driving. She’s a funny lady, I <3 her :)

I wear pairs of pants for weeks at a time. Underwear becomes very important when you wear pants for so long. They would get stinky if I didn’t change out the underwear every day.

no, kiev749, i’ve never had a problem w/ chafing—- guess mine hangs a little lower…
just joshing ya, man. don’t get ur panties in a bunch! (sorry, couldn’t resist the underwear pun in this thread!! :))

No matter how low it hangs, it starts in the right place to chafe.

Hahaha! nice pun. No it doesnt matter if your chain hang low… stuff could still get caught.

adds like 1–2 minutes to a porn movie.

Of course if you take Alli for weight loss, one pair of underwear may not even be enough!

another reason not mentioned here is that for girls (me) wearing jeans with the seam rubbing would not be too comfortable. underwear puts a layer between skin and the rough denim which makes you not feel the roughness at all. on the rare occasions when i haven’t had underwear on under jeans i was very aware of the jeans.

i don’t wear underwear at night or around the house, under PJ’s or sweats. it’s one of the first things that comes off when i arrive home, along with street clothes and contact lenses.

@jca yep, I mentioned that:

”“I live in jeans & the thought of having that seam up against my delicates is just too much.””

I’m a small A and my boobs do not look like a mans! A fat man still has wider boobs than me and not the same shape. I gotta stick up for myself here!!! I am skinny so the smaller boobs look okay on me though being a normal A would be nice!

jbfletcherfan: you’re right. i didn’t read all too carefully. i second what you said then!

@jca no problem. We’re on the same page, I see. :-)

@emilyrose All boobs are beautiful!

@jonsblond that’s right. My hubby has always said anything over a mouthful is wasted, LOL.

There’s only one way to settle this….post some pictures…

You first, dalepetrie!

@dalepetrie you bad boy…..LOL

@dynamicduo – OK

Here you go

-actually not me, but you get the idea—

OK, in that case, here you go as well. That’s also not actually me, but you get the idea :)

@dalepetrie OMG…..I could have done without that image! And it’s almost lunch!

@jbfletcherfan – well then be thankful I didn’t send an ACTUAL pic of me.

@dalepetrie awww, I don’t beliebe that!

You’re right, I don’t have as much facial hair, it’s not as gray, and this guy has probably 20 or 30 pounds on me, and my glasses aren’t quite as dorky. But I make up for it in personality!

@dalepetrie LOL, I know that. We go back further than here, don’t we? I have always enjoyed your personality. :-)

Thanks!

@dalepetrie :-)

Well, we don’t. I haven’t worn any for months, and before that only in the day, at work. If we wear them, surely it is mainly for comfort, though there is a sexiness angle, as well as a protective feeling. I wore them at work because dress pants are non-absorbent, and get damp and uncomfortable in the humid conditions we have here (Bahamas) without underwear. By and large, though, I find no underwear is more comfortable, and definitely makes me feel sexier. Both women and men vary a great deal, of course. I have known women who produced a lot of discharge, so that if they left the underwear off, they left a stain on their pants, and others who produced no such stain. I certainly find women without underwear sexier – well, provided I find them sexy at all – and that includes both bras and panties. Most men will find bralessness more sexy, but for me it’s pantilessness. I don’t know why many of us think it is unacceptable to show off the shape of our genital area or breasts. Aren’t they just naturally part of us? So what is the problem if a girl’s nipples show through her shirt, or a the shape of a man’s penis shows through his pants? I enjoy both myself!