Shortly after Suzanne initiated discussion of girdles on the Usenet group alt.clothing.lingerie, a long tall Texan with a similar name and a comparable gift for expression joined into the discourse.
If Suzanne was our little community's Shakespeare, setting the standard for all who follow, Susan B. was our Twain: witty, earthy, and possessed of a voice uniquely American. A discussion on the usefulness of panty girdles as chastity protectors elicited this gem.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I started out in the mid '60s wearing the standard-issue medium- and heavy-duty panty girdles with gartered stockings -- like just about everyone else at the time. But as skirts got shorter, I switched to pantyhose and shorter and lighter girdles. All of my friends and what seemed to be most of the other girls at my high school also wore some kind of girdle on top of their pantyhose most of the time, even though very few actually "needed" one for "figure control"... it was just considered part of proper dressing for a female at that time.
The first two years I was at college, I lived in a school dorm. Most of us on the hall were freshmen and a relatively large number were pledging sororities that first semester. And while almost all of them did wear panty girdles out on dates (and most everywhere else -- as did most of the rest of us), I don't remember ever hearing that it was for the "protection of chastity." In fact, I don't remember hearing that wearing a panty girdle was a sorority requirement for any other reason, either. I suspect that it was required for reasons of decorum as Suzanne says, but if so, it may have been part of the overall dress code and I never heard anything in particular about it, it not being out of the ordinary and me not being in a sorority.
On the other hand, one of the ROTC Women's Auxiliary groups had really quite spiffy uniforms consisting of a white blouse with necktie, medium blue short straight skirt with matching short jacket, suntan/nude/etc. pantyhose, and 2 1/2" inch navy pumps. There were two of these on my hall and I overheard them one day near the end of my second year discussing proposed changes to their mandatory dress code to allow flatter shoes and make the wearing of a panty girdle optional. One thought that such changes would be a bad idea and vowed on the spot to continue wearing her panty girdles, no matter what. The other said that she would have to see how she looked in her uniform without the girdle before making any decisions on that, but that she would continue to wear her heels.
Well, there was at least one instance in which wearing a girdle was a requirement for sorority girls. One Friday afternoon I was in the big has-everything supermarket in town with my boyfriend to lay in a supply of munchies to last us over what was shaping up to be a cold and bleak weekend of studying for mid-terms. Suddenly there was this loud commotion and a squad of four girls came flying around the corner and zoomed down the aisle to the cookie area. They then set about furiously examining each different package looking for a particular Keebler elf.
Elf found, they tore off to another part of the store where they searched for something else. Just about then, a second group of four screeched to a halt in front of the cookies and went through the same drill. I recognized one of them as being from the floor above me in the dorm. Then off they went. I could hear them and the first group in various other parts of the store while we finished our selections and made our way to the checkout.
I don't guess that it would have been all that much out of the ordinary to see young sorority pledges out on a scavenger hunt except that while they were probably all very properly attired, for sorority girls, when they set out for classes that morning, they were now uh... missing their skirts. All eight were now wearing nice tops, probably a bra, pantyhose, heels, and... a panty girdle.
While we were standing in line at the checkout, the first group pulled up into the express line next to us. Each had a dom the store and a small number stuck to the seat of her panty girdle. After a few moments a young man came around with a clipboard and examined the item each girl was holding, then the number stuck to her butt (and probably her butt, too), and then made a notation on the clipboard. As they finished paying, a heated discussion began on the fastest route to the mall, and continued as they disappeared out the door and into the parking lot.
Then the second group arrived and the young man with the clipboard came over and repeated his duties. As they were waiting for the line to move up, I asked the girl that I knew from the dorm, in my best slightly superior/slightly condescending voice, "More errands for the kind girls you hope to associate with for the rest of your life?"
"Yeah. But we got out real lucky by drawing the girdle scavenger hunt. I could have drawn topless cocktail waitress at the frat house party or (gulp) pep rally streaking. This isn't bad at all, considering," she said, missing my point entirely and seemingly oblivious to all the customers that were looking at her. I remember thinking at the time that considering the possible alternatives, girdle scavenger hunt really wasn't that bad. After all. Hell,I could do that... Ahem!
She and the other three did not seem to be concerned that they were standing in the express checkout line in a large supermarket in their underwear and were not particulaly worried about the people in the other lines that were looking at them. They were busy discussing among themselves the things they would have to find at the next stop and that seemed to occupy all of their attention. After a minute or two, they were all paid up and off to the mall. Later I found out that the supermarket had been the sixth stop, so I guess they were used to it by then.
The boyfriend was a little uncomfortable, probably not knowing exactly where he should be looking and worrying about what I might think about him looking where he really wanted to look while he was standing next to me (he was kinda new at that point). Then he began to fidget a little as the girl I was talking to noticed him and lf. I gave his hand a squeeze and flashed him a reassuring smile, and he finally relaxed.
I thought about the girdle scavenger hunt all the back to the dorm and boyfriend and I discussed it for a time afterwards. It should not have seemed all that strange to me that they did not seem to mind that they were standing in a supermarket in their underwear, or that people in the store were looking at them... or that there were people in the store that were not paying them all that much attention. None of them seemed to have any problem with it. But there was something about it that was still bothering me. They were all completely "covered" as boyfriend pointed out -- moreso that if they had been at the beach. Yes, this was true, but there seemed to be something else, I just could not put my finger on it.
It was several margaritas and a whole lot of nachos later when it finally came to me. I finally realized something that I had probably always suspected or known all along but had just not thought it through all the way and understood its significance. The reason that those girls did not mind standing in a busy supermarket in their panty girdles or mind that people were looking at them, and the reason that some of the people were not looking at them, was that most people thought of panty girdles as "just underwear" and not as lingerie as we have come to think of it now. And certainly not as something very feminine and somewhat erotic -- in fact, they probably thought just the opposite. And, that is even more true today.
I also realized that since I had first started wearing girdles, I had always considered them to be intensely feminine... and then a little erotic, too. I was lucky to have had several boyfriends and now a husband who were of like minds on this, something that has added significantly to our enjoyment of life together. And, there are others out there. I, Suzanne, Marcia, and others have posted extensively on this concept and I don't think that I could add anything more, so I'll leave it at that.
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If you enjoyed this article, make sure to read about
Or read her extensive contributions to the discussions,
The Power of the Girdle Glimpse
The Panty Girdle as Chastity Belt
Return to Womens' Voices
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