Many Americans Happy to Go Without Underwear, Survey Says
This message goes out to approximately one-third of the American population: y’all nasty. Popular survey and analytics site YouGov recently conducted a poll that asked over 34,000 Americans how frequently they are going “commando” – i.e. without underwear – in their day-to-day life. And astonishingly, the number was much, MUCH higher than I think it should’ve been.
Fortunately, only 7 percent of those surveyed say that they always go commando. But, that’s over 2,300 Americans (and that’s just from the study!) who are going about their life sans Underoos (think about that next time you’re at the gym using a machine you didn’t wipe down first).
Another 10 percent polled said that they “often” go commando when they’re awake, which honestly isn’t that much better than those who always go au naturale beneath the britches. The combined percentage of those who say they “sometimes” or “rarely” ditch the undergarments is also higher than decency and hygiene should dictate, though I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt due to circumstances like having no clean laundry and the like.
A subsequent poll was posted on the same day asking Americans how often they believe it’s acceptable to not wear underwear, and a frightening 40 percent answered that it’s either “always” or “usually” acceptable. I could throw up.
Now in the interest of fairness, it seems that there are (admittedly pretty tenuous) potential health benefits to going commando. According to Healthline, going commando could reduce the risk of infections and allergic reactions for men and women alike. However, the article also warns not to wear tight or unwashed clothing if you’re really dead set on losing the drawers.
For what it’s worth, in case I haven’t made it abundantly clear by now I’m on team Never Commando. But if you wish to live free and unburdened by society’s expectations then I can respect that…from very, VERY far away.