Sometimes, what we think are clever posts should sit in the draft stage for a while before we press that “Publish” button. My last post, Bloggrrl’s Essential Guide To Men’s Underwear would be an example of one of those posts. Here are the reasons why I think it should have stayed in WordPress purgatory:
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1. It was not gender neutral. One of the things I did not consider when starting this blog was demographics. I figured it would be the same as in my personal life–whoever likes it, likes it. Whoever doesn’t, doesn’t. Whatever. Of course, in my personal life I tend not to snicker over pictures of hilarious men’s underwear with my male friends. They just don’t seem to be that into it, for some reason.
- 2. It was not safe for work. I didn’t think about someone opening this up at work and cruising around while sitting at a desk that a boss might walk by. That is an important thing to consider, because many people are reading blogs at work, at least during their lunch hour. And as Joe at FourBux nicely pointed out, people often surf in public places. While the casual observer cannot tell if you are reading about risque men’s underwear, they can certainly tell if you are looking at it. Yikes. I should have named the post, NSFW: Straight Men Beware if I was going to write it at all.
Those are the two reasons I had been pondering as I began to write this post, when another commenter said something disturbing. I usually don’t approve anonymous comments, but this one happened to be true.
- 3. I have overdone the metaphor. This comment had a high “ouch” factor because I actually considered this and posted it anyway. There is something to be said for listening to that little voice that is screaming, “Hey Bloggrrl, you are saying the same darn thing over and over again in different ways and people are going to catch on!” But no, I was too caught up in having fun writing the post.
So, the point of this post is not to beat myself up over it, or even apologize, although anyone who opened it at work probably deserves an apology or at least a Kiss. The point is to let you know why it was a bad idea, just in case you are considering doing something similarly idiotic, which you probably aren’t.
There is a secondary point that is also important to mention here. That is that the best-selling women’s panties on Amazon are the crotchless variety. And the best-selling men’s underwear are tighty whities. What is up with that? There is no justice in this world. I would do a compare and contrast if it weren’t for the the first two reasons mentioned above. Although, violating number one would make some of you men happy at this point, I’ll bet.
However, as I mentioned before, you, dear reader, are the reason I was looking at underwear on Amazon. I’m not going to mention the reason why or the word “underwear” again for 10 days. It is really messing up the Adsense, and I might lose out on fifty cents if I’m not careful.
Yeah, glad I didn’t find that past at work myself! That would probably have been the end of me at my job. *nod*
Oh, MAN, there you go being all mature wand well-reasoned and smart and stuff. I don’t find the comparison stuff overdone at all. and I opened the underwear post at work –but I work from home.
I once wrote a column and got flamed by my readers. I didn’t know what to do and then a good friend told me about hearing a soloist in church who was so terrible that at the end of it, he said simply, “I’m sorry.” That takes an enormous amount of grace. I think you just did the same thing–not that I think it was warranted. But it is still an enormously classy thing to do.
Gosh I’m glad I wasn’t the only one finding that post odd. In fact I did not even bother reading it. However I clicked on the one post about trimming blog weight or something like that and almost unplugged my pc at work as soon as I saw the young man’s photo. Easy with the suggestive or tacky photos
I think the most hilarious part of this is the add for Sheer Men’s Underwear in your google bar to the right. That is freekin’ hilarious.
I do have to agree with you about the “doneness” of the metaphor. I stopped reading about halfway through.
Reading that post late at night last night kept me amused. I especially loved the last sexy number.
Though I can’t imagine being a man…and opening the post up at work would be like.
i love the post and the posts! as for me, is nothing or a pair of well-designed and sexy underwear. many are unaware there are some really great stuff tucked inside this drawer : http://www.undiesdrawer.com/. Pull it out and let it all hang out.
I think that your posts are very insightful. I want to hear what you want to say, not what you think other people want to hear. Be yourself, it sets you apart and makes your blog worth reading.
Luckily as a UK time I opened it up at home, though if I did open it up at work, we work on more risque sites than that.
I’m not offended, and I’m british
hmmm… do i detect a people-pleaser gene?
Listen up, I, for one, loved your post, grrrlll! - metaphors and all. At the end of the day, it’s YOUR blog. I was so not put off by the images or the comparisons - I found them quite interesting, amusing, sexy and funny - but that’s me.
Erm, if you don’t want that particular entry, pass it my way, I’ll put it up on my blog and pretend I wrote it.
Be You. Stay You.
ebele/black.pixie
I did read it at work, but if the boss had walked by, he would have just rolled his eyes and kept going… and probably left me alone for the rest of the day. That’s a good thing.
I’m a little behind on reading the Essential Guide to Men’s Underwear but after reading this post I went and took a look at it…now, here was my problem–I didn’t READ it!! I only kept looking at the pictures. I think that’s another drawback…visual people (especially those who love hot men, in whatever ridiculous thing they might be wearing) will be distracted and skip the content, which is what you really wanted to get across.
I think it’s great you had the guts to post it and then deal with the response– it’s that type of thoughtfulness that keeps me coming back to this blog for more!
I think it was great. Being the type of girl that is much more familiar with girl’s underwear it was quite informative:)
But one time I did tackle men’s shorts, which was basically a few aesthetic suggestions for the good of all of us. I think it was actually pretty well received!
~Becky
I read through it at work too. I just had to keep my hands couched on the alt + tab.
I do what I want at work, including look at men’s underwear. Also, if I did get fired for looking at men’s underwear at work, it would make for interesting conversation at any following job interviews.
It might not be gender natural or appropriate but it will definitely get you some interesting search traffic because of the non-blogging keywords peppered throughout the article.
Who knows, you might turn some girl looking for men’s underwear into a full-time blogger. ^_^
BTW, I’m typing this comment in my feed reader. How cool is that
Ha ha, it wasn’t really a rotten idea, maybe just not the best idea. After all, the title did state that it was a guide to men’s underwear, so it was half my fault for opening it in the middle of a coffeeshop.
As I scanned the original post, I just tried to scroll the page faster as people walked by or stood near me, but the pictures kept coming. By the time I got to the elephant all I could do was spin down to the comments block, just to clear the screen.
I think it made the people around me uncomfortable
I think the main reason was NSFW, but it just depends on when you were reading.
At least you taught everyone a lesson! 
Testing something…
I guess I have a GREAT boss.. he liked the post! (and so did I)
Sarcasm is the hardest thing to communicate in writing. What seems to be hillariously sly as you’re writing it, seems rude, tacky or mean spirited to the reader. I just had a post about a near-disastrous posting myself. Fortunately for me, I caught mine. While yours blew the tacky-meter off the wall mine almost buried the needle on the dork-ometer. I think your real fans will forgive you if they think you need it. Rock On!
I think there may be a cultural element here. In Germany this post would be considered extremely tame. In a country where saunas are mixed and people think nothing of changing into their swimwear poolside, a few models in underwear would be just part of the landscape.
In countries with an Anglo-Saxon heritage, nudity and anything hinting of sexuality is automatically frowned upon. In my opinion, the Germans have it the right way around.