After having reviewed seven different briefs recently (4/5 of my own most recent reviews and 3/5 recent reblog reviews) I realized there was something I wanted to point out about how the cut of a pair of briefs – particularly around the back – affects how the pair looks and feels.

If we’re gonna be quite honest, most people ignore what goes on in the latter half of a pair of briefs. All of the attention goes to the front, whether it’s pouch design or fly usability or general comfort or what else not. The backside is almost always a single layer of uninterrupted fabric. It’s so simple that most guys won’t notice it in everyday wear, nor is a pair of briefs ever judged good enough to remain in someone’s drawer unless something is really messed up.

Obviously, how a pair of briefs fits around back depends on how much backside a guy has back there to cover. However, I still think you can categorize the approaches into four broad categories:
1. briefs that aim to cover the whole ass, even for bigger asses, i.e. ending low with room for curve
2. briefs that cover the whole ass (i.e. ending low) but are flatter-backed, maybe letting bigger asses slip out beneath a bit
3. briefs that cover smaller/flatter asses wholly and still provide fairly good coverage for bigger/rounder guys
4. briefs that intend to have a slimmer, straighter design, and usually come across your cheeks no matter your shape, i.e. ending somewhat higher

I think a lot of the hate given to traditional whitey-tighties is that they almost always fall into one of the first two categories, which are two categories that are very difficult to make look attractive. In case 1, you either get a stretched expanse of bland white, or something that’s somewhat loose; in case 2, no shape never gives you anything to show off, and if you have a bigger ass you might get some ‘underflow sag’ as I call it. Depending on how low the backside goes, these cases might also have the situation where the front view “gives away” how big the backside is by already showing a bit of a turn-down in the front side of the leg openings.

There are several ways to mitigate these effects, especially for case 1. Instead of having the big expanse of white, different colors and patterns can give something more pleasing to look at. Also, controlling how tall the “hip band” of the brief is can also both give the backside a slimmer look and prevent the front-side downward curve of the legs. There’s not much to do for case 2 unless you already have a flatter ass so that those kinds of briefs fit well on you with the proper coverage.

The line between case 3 and case 4 is a little blurry, but I would posit that the Aussiebum Wobbl and AC Fly Tagless brief are definitely case 3, while AC’s Basix and OTFYM briefs are probably case 4. I say these because, in the latter two, enough cheek is hanging out that the curve between the cheeks and thighs is very clear, while that’s not the case for the former two. Another good example of case 4 is AC’s anchor brief, where even on the flatter model you can tell that the lower part of his cheeks are intentionally not covered by the briefs’ backside. I believe most “modern, fashionable” white briefs usually fall into one of these categories, too.

So – even if a brief’s (or anything’s, aside from maybe a jockstrap’s) front is where all the attention is meant to go, you should still be conscious of how the backside is shaped! A guy’s butt is a beautiful thing, and since there’s almost never any huge difference in comfort in back, you should try to nab pairs that flatter you back there!