Surprising reason you keep seeing men with their hands down their pants despite being in public

Men having their hands down their trousers isn’t a new thing, but we’re finally finding out why they’re doing it.

Whether on the train, standing on the road, in a club, or lounging on the sofa at home, men seem to pop their hands down their pants just about anywhere.

While doing so in the comfort of your own home is all well and good, you'd think being out and about in public would be where the line would be drawn - but apparently not.

So, what’s behind this behaviour? From keeping their hands warm to sorting out their ‘goods’, men will come up with a number of excuses as to why they’ve got their hands down their trousers in public.

However, everyone wants to know the truth of the matter.

There's a reason men put their hands down their pants in public (Getty Stock)

So much so, Redditors have been demanding answers on r/AskUK and r/CasualUK, with one asking on r/Liverpool: “Why do lads around here put their hands down their pants?”

And people were on hand to give instances of such occurrences, as one person wrote: “Once was waiting for a bus with a Granny nearby me, she proceeds to stick her walking stick in the direction of the lads holding their members inside their grey tracksuit bottoms and shouts at them ‘if you keep touching it in public baby Jesus will make it fall off ‘.

"They all shouted at her, but hands came out into the daylight to feel only the air again.”

Meanwhile, someone else said they saw 'a guy cup his penis throughout the duration of a bus ride', only to their 'horror', removed his hand to ding for his stop.

So, what’s the deal?

According to Martin Brooks, a performance coach and author of Body Language Decoder, there are three reasons why men might have their hands down their pants in public.

He told The Times that it could be a case of 'nervous energy', stating: “Additionally, oxytocin is the love hormone released through physical contact. Sometimes people will do things like stroke their beard to self-comfort. This curious public activity could be a strange combination of displacement and self-comforting behaviour.”

Apparently, there are three reasons (Getty Stock)

Or it could be a change in ‘societal norms’ where the men are ‘drawing attention to their masculinity in new ways. It’s a status thing suggesting, “This is what’s on my mind.”’

The third reason is apparently a rebellious tactic, as Brooks commented on the science behind it: “Previously people smoked and it was not necessarily because they liked it - I didn’t - but it is a way of telling older people, ‘I’ll do what I like.’”

To this, a former police officer and behavioral expert, Darren Stanton, agreed.

He elaborated further: “Lots of things people did indoors have become more acceptable, it’s like going to the supermarket in pyjamas or being on speaker phone [in public]. Covid desensitised it.”

Continuing his observation, Stanton noted he’s seen it in public too, describing it as a ‘cult thing’ as they 'need self-soothing gestures for reassurance but from a body language point of view it can also be a deceptive gesture, suggesting they are hiding something'.

It appears that the question is not as straightforward as initially proposed.