What’s the deal with young guys walking around with hands down their pants?

[Notcontent]

I seem to see this a lot. Young teens or guys in their 20s - walking along in the street or talking to their friends - with their hands down the front of their pants. When did this become socially acceptable?

Been about for years. They move them quickly enough when you point it out to them.

I find it gross, imagine if 30 year old women did it!

It's revolting. I work with young people and tell them to get their hands out. One lad said to me "that's really rude telling me where to put my hands". Like feeling yourself up in public isn't rude!

I find if quite disrespectful - almost as though they are making a statement about how they can wank in public and don’t care what anyone thinks.

My thread was prompted by my 12 year old DD being completely bewildered by this!

Dirty bastards.

DD was with some friends walking in front of me (late teens at the time) , they passed a group of lads one tried the chat up, hand down the front of his joggers trousers...DD looked at him and turned to his mates...'aw, you're such good boys, looking after your friend, it's sooo nice to see, and must give his mum such a welcome break' Then turned to the lad and said slowly 'aw, are you having a nice day out with your friends, do they take you out often?' Utterly patronising...he then exploded 'What, you think I'm a f r? She then replied 'you have your hands down your pants like a 3 year old, what do you think? ' His mates pissed themselves laughing..He soon removed them...

@feckitall i LOVE your DD.

Welcome to Mumsnet!!
Where being called 'a fucking retard' (or hinting that someone is one) is obviously hilarious & not at all offensive.
I'll remember to reassure my dd with SN,that it's 'funny'

In the US the ute walk around with their hands in their pants to denote they're carrying a firearm. Maybe over here they do it to denote their weapon is loaded. :o

To be fair, the only person who used the phrase f r*** was the man who was being a twat.

Boys have been doing it for years, I've always called it out. Either said 'are you trying to find it?' Or 'if you let go will it disappear?'

It’s to check their junk hasn’t fallen off.

At least it's something that no-one could possibly blame on mothers

I work in prisons. See this a lot. It’s vile from an infection control POV!

Makes metal note not to shake hands , accept money or take an ice-cream cone from a teen/young bloke

We don't all do it!

I find it weird. It's not going to drop off.

Ewwww, Dd's bf is 18 and he does not do this.

I was calling lads out on this when i was a youth worker 14 years ago.
It's not new. I'm still calling them out on it now!

They grow out of it generally by the time they are 26!

this has been happening since i was at school, not all boys mind you, but a certain type of boy lets say. And around where i live i see it all the time, i don't understand?! i'm imagine the reactions if i walked around the same way...

My brothers were teens/early 20s in the 90s and had their hands down their trousers most of the time they were sat down. DP does it sometimes, he says it's comforting

I think the best way of dealing with this phenomenon is to say calmly and clearly " please disinfect your hands once you have removed them from your unwashed gonads".

Bleurghh

I must live in a different world. Have never noticed this. My kids brought up with clear understanding that fiddling with your bits in public is completely unacceptable. No wonder some people have boundary problems. Blimey.

Are they actually fiddling with it ?

Gun or prison. Then it became fashionable. Most blokes who've been in prison do it because they don't have pockets. It also suggests you have a weapon to the general population. After that it caught on and just became 'fashionable' I guess. It does look bloody stupid though.

I blame it on those horrible elasticated tracky bottoms that some teenage boys seem to live in. Too easy to slip their hands down.Time they were made illegal.