By Zach M., June 2006
My fascination with short shorts started at a young age, even before school started. During early elementary school, I enjoyed P.E. class as an opportunity to wear my favorite shorts. I was very giddy in those shorts. I could hardly stop feeling them with my hands, tugging on them, adjusting them, etc.
I also enjoyed seeing the other kids in shorts. Back in those days, several kids would wear shorts to P.E. and the shorts were always very short. It was no big deal, back then. Longer shorts were only seen on elderly people. As I was so nervous and self-conscious in my shorts, I wondered if I was the only one to be so quirky. The following school years would prove that this condition is probably more frequent than we think. Since shorts were not mandatory in P.E., you knew that those who wore them specifically chose to.
Once in elementary school, a boy showed up one morning in the school yard in his p.e. shorts. He was the only one in shorts, and he started justifying his clothing by saying that it was "so hot that day" (which it was not) and by running around as if he could not pass up such an opportunity to do some jogging. This showed me that other boys can feel self-conscious when they are wearing shorts.
High school was very interesting. The first clear case I saw there of frivolous behavior due to shorts was the guy who had just changed for P.E. class and who obviously liked to pull down his shorts two or three inches to make the hem looser. Every week in that class, as soon as he put on his short but ample shorts, he started horsing around and bothering other boys, etc. (A better trick in my opinion is to wear nylon shorts and gently stretch the hem outwards just before going out in public... This way, you get very loose shorts that you still wear as high as you like. But I guess some guys liked to have their thighs tickled by the shorts...)
All the guys seemed a bit nervous at the start of a P.E. class, but they would all play it cool. If someone were to touch or adjust their shorts, they would try to be discrete. Some guys would wait around with their arms crossed to avoid having their hands touch their shorts or their thighs, which would only worsen their arousal. Some would channel their nervousness into bothering other kids and teasing those who wore particularly "cute" shorts. It's intriguing because this arousal for shorts was apparently shared by almost all boys, but none of them dared to acknowledge it. Boys are supposed to be aroused by naked girls, after all. Not by something as ordinary as a pair of short pants. It's just not serious to be impressed by the fact that one's thighs are completely exposed. The nervousness may also be due to not knowing why one feels so distracted by the shorts.
Then there were the guys who would usually wear sweat pants to P.E. class, but would suddenly switch to shorts one week. I suspect that they were too shy to wear shorts normally, but after seeing other guys get so excited in shorts, they stopped resisting and chose to wear shorts. They would invariably choose the shortest and loosest shorts they could get away with, and because they were probably not used to them, they would exhibit the same obsession with playing with their shorts as I had.
One guy would openly tug on the crotch of his shorts, which had very ample leg openings. He looked quite nervous in them. Another guy seemed to have a hard time dealing with the shortness of his shorts and would wear them much too low, and at one time this got him some comments from other guys. Yet another would walk around and absentmindedly hold the hem of his shorts in his hands.
The worst case was a guy that I found hiding behind some curtains in the gymnasium. He was adjusting his shorts very nervously. I had already seen him a few minutes before and he was showing all signs of being obsessed by his shorts. It was the first time I saw this guy wear shorts in P.E., and it was interesting because he was normally a tough guy. I found it very curious that he of all guys would not only start wearing shorts that short, but that he would develop a fascination with them that he would never admit to anyone, ever. The fact that he hid somewhere to adjust his shorts reflected some of my own behavior, and I learned that I am not alone, even in that.
So it is clear to me that many guys feel aroused when they wear shorts that are shorter than they are used to, or that are unexpectedly short. Those guys are certainly not all gay, but the thing is that straight men never discuss their running shorts quirk openly. That would explain why most sites about running shorts are created by gay men. Still, we should not forget that the attraction of running shorts is due to the feeling of the shorts themselves, so there is no reason to assume that only a few straight men enjoy them.
I wonder what those guys did when fashion changed and imposed longer shorts. Did they just abandon short shorts and miss the unique euphoric experience of doing activities with a nearly constant erection? I'll bet that many of them find ways to put on their secret short shorts once in a while. I think I see some of those guys on the running trail when I'm out on a jog, judging from the skimpy nylon shorts I see. One thing is certain: I for one will not let the fact that I'm straight keep me from going out in my favorite one-inch inseam shorts.