Thong

The origin of the word thong in the English language is from Old English þwong, a flexible leather cord.[3]

A man wearing a thong

Many languages borrow the English word string to refer to this type of underwear, usually without the G. Another common name is tanga (or sometimes string tanga), especially in the German Tanga. A frequent metaphor, especially in Brazil, is dental floss; in Brazil a thong is called fio dental (Portuguese for dental floss); in English, the term "Butt floss" is sometimes used. In Lithuanian it is "siaurikės" ("narrows"), in Italian "perizoma" or "tanga", in Turkish "ipli külot" ("stringed underpants"), and in Bulgarian as "prashka" (прашка), which means a slingshot. In Israel the thong, mostly the G-string, is called Khutini (חוטיני), from the word Khut, which means String. Similarly, in Iran, it is called "Shortbandi" (شورت بندی) in which "short" (from English: Shorts) means "briefs" and "bandi" means "with a string". A Puerto Rican Spanish slang term, used by Reggaeton artists, is gistro. Australians often colloquially refer to the G-string as a g-banger or simply banger.

Some names for the thong make reference to the bareness of the buttocks, such as the Spanish word colaless. (The word's origin is probably connected to the English term "topless" but in reference to cola, a colloquial word meaning "butt" in South American Spanish.) In some other languages the "T"-like shape of the back is emphasised. In Chinese, the thong is commonly called dingziku (丁字褲/丁字裤) which literally means 丁 character pants (or roughly, T-letter pants). In Korean, it is called 티팬티 (T panty). The term "T-back" is sometimes used in English, as in the novel T-Backs, T-Shirts, COAT, and Suit by E. L. Konigsburg.

The thong, like its probable predecessor the loincloth, is believed to be one of the earliest forms of human clothing and is also thought to have been worn mostly or exclusively by men. It is thought the thong was probably originally developed to protect, support, or hide the male genitals. The loincloth is probably the earliest form of clothing used by mankind, having originated in the warmer climates of sub-Saharan Africa where clothing was first worn nearly 75,000 years ago. Many tribal peoples, such as some of the Khoisan people of southern Africa, wore thongs for many centuries. Much like the Japanese fundoshi, these early garments were made with the male genitalia in mind.

According to some fashion historians, the first public appearance of the thong in the United States was at the 1939 New York World's Fair. This resulted from Fiorello LaGuardia, the Mayor of New York City, ordering the city's nude dancers to cover themselves.[9] Jacques Heim's and Louis Réard's original bikini from 1946 (that introduced the term bikini) had a culotte with a thong back. Fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, who in the mid-1960s created the first topless swimsuit, which he called the monokini, is credited with introducing the modern thong in 1974[10][11][12][13] when he designed a thong bikini in response to a ban on nude sunbathing by the Los Angeles City Council.

Attitudes toward the wearing of g-strings vary geographically and across societies, as is usual with highly revealing clothing. Prior to its entrance into mainstream fashion, g-strings were primarily worn by exotic dancers. In the modern Western world, g-strings are more commonly marketed towards females but are worn by both sexes. During the 1980s, thongs were worn on stage by pop stars such as Cher and Madonna.[14] By the late-1980s, the style (for females) had made its way into most of the Western world; thong underwear became more popular through the 1990s due to TV shows such as: Baywatch, where numerous females were recorded wearing thong swimsuits.

In the 1990s, the thong began to gain wider acceptance and popularity in the United States as underwear (and, to a lesser extent, as swimwear), especially with women, but also men. In the US and Europe, the wearing of thongs by men was once mainly limited to the dance belt, the posing pouch for bodybuilders and the realm of male strippers. Men's thongs are now more widely available and commonly worn as day-to-day underwear or swimwear, with major retailers such as Kmart[15] and popular fashion brands such as Calvin Klein selling men's thongs.[16] Thongs are not marketed as strongly to men as they are to women; however, in Europe, thongs have been commonplace for many more years both as underwear and swimwear.

In the 2000s, some people wore thongs with low-cut hipsters and deliberately exposed them over the top of their trousers, producing an effect popularly known as a whale tail. This led to many thong designs intended to be worn in this manner, which were adorned with jewels and motifs on the back. In the early-2000s, thongs made up 31% of the women's underwear market.[14] However, in the late-2000s, the exposure of a thong above one's trousers became less popular and the trend turned to the wearing of lower-riding thongs that hardly show above trousers, except when bending or twisting.

Market research in 2011 placed the number of French women who wear thongs as their preferred underwear style at 25%, down by 5% from 2008.[17][18] By 2016, sales of thongs in the UK were on the decline with Marks & Spencer, a major UK lingerie retailer, reporting that they made up fewer than 10% of knickers sold.[14] Many reasons exist as to why people may choose to wear thong underwear or swimwear, such as prevention of visible panty lines,[19] prevention of underwear "riding up" so one need not pull at one's underwear in public, comfort, fashion consciousness including the feeling of being more adult,[14] and minimization of tan lines.[20]

Backs	Sides
	Strap	Tie-side	Strapless
Low coverage	V-string, T-front	T-back	Maebari
Medium coverage	G-string		C-string
High coverage	Cheeky

Types of thongs include the traditional thong, the G-string, and the C-string. There are a number of intermediate kinds of thongs between full rear coverage and a string rear. As designs become more risqué there are also types intended to expose genitals as much as they conceal them. Other styles include the Cheeky, V-string, T-front and T-back. The naming of the intermediate styles of thong is debatable, different vendors use the words somewhat interchangeably. Thongs are available in a wide variety of materials, including silk, latex, cotton, microfiber, satin, nylon, lycra/spandex, and lace. There are also novelty designs for both sexes, featuring shapes to conform to the genitals or provide humorous visual effects.

The most significant difference between thongs designed for men and women is the shape of the front part of the garment. Often, but not always, thongs for men will feature a vertical seam to create shape and space for the male genitalia, and the pouch may be made of stretchy material (usually cotton-Lycra or microfiber) for an ergonomic fit. The equivalent section in women's thongs is normally flat and seamless. However, the fabric is usually thicker in the area where it covers the vulva (by incorporating a cotton gusset).

G-string

Main article: G-string

Back-view

Front-view

The V or G-string style consists of an elastic string (also a narrow piece of cloth, leather, or plastic) that connects the front/pouch and the waistband at back, worn as swimwear or underwear mostly by women, but also by men. Since the mid-1920s, strippers and exotic dancers in the West have been referring to the style of thongs they wore for their performances as G-strings.

Other variants of women's thongs

Variant	Image	Description
C-string	noborder	As narrow as a G-string, but without the supporting "string" around the wearer's hips/panty line, leaving just a sideways C shaped piece between the legs. This is held in place firmly by a flexible internal frame. Since there is no material around the waist, the C-string completely eliminates the panty lines which thongs and other underwear create. C-strings are also designed for use as beachwear, which reduces the tan lines that would have been left by the side straps of even a G or V-String.[25]
Cheeky		A more conservative style called a cheeky covers a little more area, but exposes the bottom part of the buttocks. Some cheekies are used as undergarments while others function as bikini bottoms.
T-front		A type of G-string in which the string reaches also the front part. It provides no coverage while still maintaining the basic hygienic underwear functions. Usually it is built by strings only, sometimes with more fabric or lace around the waist. Certain designs cover the string with pearls for decoration and stimulation reasons.[26]
T-back
V-string		A type of G-string, introduced by Victoria's Secret,[27] in which the string is connected to the waistband by a triangle that is just above the buttocks. The string connects with the waistband directly to form a "V" shape at back.
Maebari		Strapless Japanese loincloth garments in the form of an adhesive strip covering the genitalia. Maebari are attached like pasties and because they do not have a clamping frame extension past the perineum (unlike the c-string design) anus area is usually left exposed. Although conventional use for maebari in Japan is as underwear, in foreign swimwear designs named strapless bikini[28] or no string bikini[29] by various manufacturers, maebari-style bottoms are used with matching pasties (tops). As of 2014, designer Jenny Buettner and her brand Shibue Couture introduced an extension design of maebari (thus covering the anus) to the Western consumers under the moniker No-Line Strapless Panty.[30]

Men's thongs

See also: Swim briefs

Variant	Image	Description
Kaupinam	noborder	A traditional thong worn in India,[31][32] by some men as a loincloth or underclothing. It is made up of rectangular strip of cotton cloth which is used to cover the genitals with the help of the strings connected to the four ends of the cloth for binding it around the waist of the wearer. It is used by wrestlers in the game of Kushti or traditional Indian wrestling in the Akhara (wrestling ring) and also during practice sessions and training.
Fundoshi		A traditional Japanese undergarment for adult males, made from a length of cotton. Before World War II, the fundoshi was the main form of underwear for Japanese adult males. However, it fell out of use quickly after the war with the introduction of new underwear to the Japanese market, such as briefs and trunks. Nowadays, the fundoshi is mainly used not as underwear but as festival (matsuri) clothing at Hadaka Matsuri or, sometimes, as swimwear. There are many other varieties of fundoshi as the variations on the principle of a loincloth are almost infinite. For example, the mokko-fundoshi (literally "earth-basket loincloth" because it looks like the traditional baskets used in construction) is made like the etchyuu-fundoshi but without a front apron; the cloth is secured to the belt to make a bikini effect. The kuro-neko fundoshi (literally "black cat fundoshi") is like the mokko-fundoshi except that the portion that passes from front to back is tailored to create a thong effect.
Jockstrap		An undergarment designed for supporting the male genitalia during sports or other vigorous physical activity. It was created by Chicago sporting goods company Sharp & Smith in 1874.[33] Technically it is not a thong, as there is no narrow strap that passes up between the buttocks. A jockstrap consists of a waistband (usually elastic) with a support pouch for the genitalia and two elastic straps affixed to the base of the pouch and to the left and right sides of the waistband at the hip.[34] The pouch, in some varieties, may be fitted with a pocket to hold an impact resistant cup to protect the testicles and/or the penis from injury. Also known as a jock, jock strap, strap, supporter, or athletic supporter.
Dance belt		A type of thong designed to be used in the same manner as an athletic supporter, but for male dancers (especially in ballet).[35] Its purpose is to protect and support the dancer during dance activities without being seen through outer garments, such as tights, leotards, gym leggings or shorts. Thongs tend to offer better support for the male anatomy than do other underwear styles (as well as eliminating contact between the genitals and inner thighs) and is one of the reasons why men and boys may choose to wear them.[36]

As thongs pass between the buttocks and, in women, may be in close contact with the anus and labia, concerns have been raised that they may become damp and act as a conduit for germ transfer, increasing the probability that the wearer may develop urinary tract infections, such as cystitis.[37][38][39] However, research suggests that wearing thong underwear does not have a statistically significant effect on the occurrence of bacterial vaginosis[40] or yeast infection.[41]

In 2002, a female high school vice principal in San Diego, California, physically checked up to 100 female students' underwear as they entered the school for a dance, with or without student permission, causing an uproar among students and some parents and eliciting an investigation by the school into the vice principal's conduct. In her defense, the vice principal said the checks were for student safety and not specifically because of the wearing of thongs.[42][43][44][45][46]

The sale of thongs for girls aged 10–16 by US retailer Abercrombie & Fitch led to an email and telephone campaign against the company.[47] British retailer Argos was criticized for selling G-strings for girls aged nine, and a primary school head teacher in Britain voiced concerns that pupils aged 10–11 were wearing thong underwear to school.[48]

Thong swimsuits are banned or strongly discouraged in some places, including most Muslim countries such as Iran.[49][50] Areas in the United States include such locations as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina[51] and Kure Beach, North Carolina.[52]

• Sportswear
• Thong Song

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