[sebbie]

Part CVII
Guys have always had something of a love-hate relationship with their cups. The whole idea of wearing a hard cup as part of a guy’s protective gear for participating in certain sports—football, baseball, Karate—d oes not come easy for most guys. Another basic problem is that more often then not guys are often first confronted with the idea of wearing a cup at about the same time they are confronted with all sorts of other things happening down there—things that they have had little experience with trying to control effectively. Everything that happens down there seems new and strange, with the whole idea of the situation somehow being exciting and, at some level wonderful being only an afterthought.

Any “normal” guy is quite sensitive to any situation where he thinks there is a possibility that his penis will be touched in some new or unexpected way. Loose-fitting shorts present less of a problem in this regard than snug-fitting shorts. In swimming, jammers somehow are usually less of a problem than a swim brief might be. But anything that fits snug in the groin and around the penis is a potential “cause” for concern.

Too, every guy at some point believes that he is the only one among his male friends that has this problem, and that he somehow has an issue because he gets hard (or at least semi-hard) when confronted with whatever clothing situation he is facing. The other guys like to act as if they have no issue with all of this—and true, there is an “I’ve gotten used to wearing this so Ha Ha you may have an issue but I surely do not.” The thought that there are other guys who can “tolerate” wearing nearly anything down there no matter the fit is not reassuring.

Hard cups designed for use with athletic supporters, as well as the traditional rubberized athletic supporters have been around for a long time. But over the years manufacturers have made a number of changes designed to make the cups more “comfortable” to wear. The question here is what specifically are we now referring to when a discussion of a hard cup designed to secure and protect a guy’s penis is the issue at hand.

Part of this relates more generally to a guy’s anatomy and the fact that males have male organs that are largely separate from the rest of the male body and for various reasons these are constructed in such a way to be at least somewhat out in the open air. But then if a guy wants to participate in an athletic sport it is probably best to tie everything down somewhat and for the male organs to not go flopping around every which way when the guy is merely actively engaged in the sport. One of the functions of a swim brief is to secure a guy’s male body parts so they aren’t flopping around back and forth with every swim stroke. In short, a snug fit makes a whole lot of sense when swimming on for a variety of reasons. There are other styles—jammers, square cuts—that could also secure the male body for swimming as well, but to do so the fit would need to be as snug as the brief. No loose-fitting shorts would work at all without at minimum having a lining mimicking a swim brief, and then there are other issues if the goal is to be able to move quickly through the water.

Up until about 25 years ago, the vast majority of athletic supporters and cups designed for sports like football and baseball were all made in a similar way. The traditional supporter was made of rubberized elastic material with a waist band typically 2 ½-or 3-inches wide, leg straps but zero coverage in the rear, The cups all fit the same way and looked pretty much the same. The design was made to just barely have enough room to contain a flaccid penis (there were sizes as SM, MED and LRG). Getting your first cup and strap was a male “rite of passage” so to speak. The cup size varied with the waist size. This was a bit odd in part because there is no particular reason why a guy’s waist size and his penis size should be linked. Some guys with big penises have slim waists and some guys with big waists have small penises. But the manufacturers somehow assumed that the guys with the bigger waists must be older and this have bigger penises as well!

The cups were really interesting too. Assuming you were not wearing a strap with an waist too large for you, the cup would press firmly against your groin. And the cup was flat and had just enough room to contain your flaccid penis. The very logical question any guy would have is what would happen if he started to get erect while in the strap and cup. Turns out, this could be stressful, annoying, perhaps a trifle painful or maybe just a bit of fun as well. The cups were designed to keep the guy’s penis “firmly” in one place. With a bit of a hard-on, the guy would see if he could surreptitiously “adjust” the cup in an effort to find a more comfortable spot for his penis to be, but adjusting the cup from the outside usually tended to make the situation worse not better. The guy’s penis would say “I like that” and respond by getting harder not softer only making matters that much worse not better.

So then the “Banana” cup (a trade name) appeared. This was and is a bigger cup with lots more room for a guy’s penis to flop around some inside the cup even if semi-erect. My problem with that is generally I am not sure it is a great idea for a guy’s penis to be flopping around inside a hard cup with every move in a sport. The idea that in sport, a guy’s penis is firmly pinned down in one place still makes a lot of sense to me.

Traditional jock straps and cups are seldom worn for team sports any more. There are on-line companies that sell them though the most important manufacturer, Bike, has ceased operations, and old Bike straps in great condition now fetch a premium price on Ebay. Sport now is largely done employing compression shorts instead of a traditional strap—shorts with a pocket to hold a banana-style cup. The traditional straps and cups that are being sold nowadays primarily go to the guys who like to use them for “recreational” purposes that do not include engagement in a team sport of some sort. On occasion I have worn a strap and cup when doing yard work.

To be continued…