Celebrating Queer Culture's Favorite Fashion Accessory

"The jockstrap represents a passage from boyhood to manhood," reads the copy from 1940s Johnson & Johnson ad promoting their Trump (!) jockstrap brand. And for many American men that moment came in middle school when they were handed their first jockstrap as a required accessory for PE class. Who can forget seeing it for the first time with its form-fitting pouch and elastic bands that fit across the butt to hold it together? And how often did someone joke by putting it on their head? And no doubt many a gay boy's jock fetish was born in those locker rooms when seeing their hot classmates wearing them.

To celebrate the jockstrap's recent 150th anniversary, the French website Têtu posted a photoshoot and article on the history of the jockstrap, or, as they say in French, the "suspensoir," (Note: Story behind a firewall.)

The article points out that long before the jockstrap became the fashion accessory of choice for sexy photoshoots, it was invented for practical reasons: To ease the chafing in the crotch for bicycle messengers in late 19th century Boston. That came in 1874 when designer Charles F. Bennett designed a new style of underwear that featured a white fabric purse attached to an elastic band with two additional bands holding it together, which he called the "Bike Jockey Strap." In 1897, Bennett started his own company, the Bike Web Company, and mass produced his accessory under the name of "Bike #10 Jockstrap."

Not long after doctors began telling patients to wear it as a tool in recovering from certain injuries and surgeries, such as hernias. By the 1920s, the jockstrap became integral to athletic wear, and other companies joined the Bike Web Company in improving the product by using more breathable fabrics and better elastics. By the 1950s, the jock became a fashion accessory worn by models in "beefcake" magazines, but their use was limited due to censorship laws. With the relaxation of those laws and the advent of gay porn magazines such as Drummer and Blueboy, the jockstrap became more used in photo spreads of models. Têtu points out that in the 1980s the jockstrap grew in popularity amongst queer men, in short because it creates the well-molded bulge.

Its success continues well into the 21st century. Têtu notes that Bike Athletic – the current name of the Bike Web Company – has sold more than 350 million jockstraps around the world, or more than 2.7 million per year. And it isn't surprising to find jockstraps on the runways for fashion shows by the likes of Gucci, Versace, Calvin Klein, and Tom Ford (to name a few). Amongst the more popular fashion brands that include jock straps are Andrew Christian (for bold, colorful designs), 2(X)IST, Pump! Underwear, the Spanish brand ES Collection, Addicted!, the French brand HOM, and Rihanna's brand, Savage X Fenty. Madonna brought the sexy undergarment to the concert stage in the 1980s when her male backup dancers just wore jocks. More recently, Lil Nas X wore one in his 2021 "Industry Baby," and while Troye Sivan did not wear one in his sexy video for "Rush," some of his back-up dancers did.

The fashion accessory, or "fadget" (as Têtu calls it), continues to thrive on social media, as pics from the Instagram account Jockstraps of Instagram attest.

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