New Staff Member JP Introduction

Hello everyone. My name is JP and I am the newest contributor to UNB. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.  I’m 31, a bit of a geek and I live in our fine nation’s capital with my husband. I’ve been a reader of UNB for about two years after stumbling onto the site looking for a review of 2(x)ist. Recently, while weathering hurricane Sandy, I decided to take a chance and click the “join UNB” link. The rest is history as they say and here I sit penning my introduction and preparing to share my love of men’s underwear with the denizens of the Internets.

Unlike John and Brandon’s introduction, I’m not really sure I have a genesis story to share about how I got interested in underwear. Maybe it is because, as Brandon referred to it, “…. the very organic attraction of gay men to designer underwear.” but I remember being interested in underwear even before I could identify as gay (however, maybe there was another reason I was always so interested in the Jockey section of the J.C. Penny big book).

Even as a preteen, I remember being at what passed for a supercenter in the late 80’s and going to the men’s underwear section trying to figure out how I could buy a pair of Spalding Briefs (they had mesh panels if I remember correctly) without raising questions from my mother. Once I was in high school and had my own car, I started to build my collection. There was something extremely exciting about wearing a pair of Hilfiger or Calvin Klein boxer briefs under my school uniform and knowing that unbeknownst to the rest of my classmates, I was wearing an expression of my individuality.

During my college years, I continued to grow my collection however I was relegated to the more traditional department store staples that were readily available in North Eastern Ohio (and one or two online purchases from International Jock).  It was not really until I moved to DC that the style and brands of my collection started to diversify. The city offers both a much wider selection of high-end department stores and smaller boutique-like stores with a great selection. Also, living in an urban environment lends itself well to mail-order shopping. My collection now includes almost all styles, except maybe bikinis/thongs.

With such a vast collection, I’ve developed many opinions and look forward to sharing my feedback on my favorite styles and any new pairs I add to my underwear drawer. I hope you find it fun and informative and maybe it’ll help you become a wiser underwear fan.