2-4. Social Implications Of Girdle Usage
Most women feel that girdle use is universal among smart, well-groomed women. While some women see girdle usage as a necessary evil, the majority see it as the conventional and appropriate thing to do. Indeed, the feelings about the rightness of girdle usage are so strong that women tend to denigrate those who don't wear girdles.
Many respondents showed contempt of women who went without girdles when they obviously needed them for some figure problem. Such women were often noticed in shopping centers and criticized severely, especially when wearing tight-fitting slacks or shorts. Going without a girdle, when the need for one exists, is considered to reflect generally negative personality characteristics. Specifically, these women are seen as lacking self-respect, common sense and good taste.
There was apparently some feeling that the girdle non-wearer might be trying to look sexy to men by rejecting the use of girdles. If this is the case, respondents are agreed that she did not accomplish her objective. In fact, many women quoted their husbands as saying they are repelled by women who don't wear a girdle when they need one.
Most women are agreed that only a select few can get away with not wearing a girdle. The women who can avoid girdle use are seen as women with very good figures who have no need for support. The following comments illustrate the attitudes women have about women who do not wear girdles:
- "Well, you see such a great roundness from the back that she just seems to be bulging . . . I think she is probably a sloppy person or I don't think she would walk out that way or she just doesn't care."
- "I think a woman who needs a girdle and doesn't wear one probably doesn't wear her clothes correctly either... she's not neat. She doesn't have enough sense to realize it so everything else goes along with it. All you have to do is look in the mirror to know if you need it ... common sense will tell you."
- "Some people look in the mirror and see what they want. That's the way their homes are too. Their whole life is like that; they only see what they want to see."
- "But if you are flabby, forget it. I don't even think it looks appealing to a man. I've even heard my husband one day in a store say, 'Boy, look at that sloppy thing.'"
- "Definitely, a woman isn't chic or smart no matter how thin she is if she doesn't wear a girdle."
Wearing a girdle represents "ladylikeness" with its connotations of good breeding, good training, self-respect and self-care. Those who were not as concerned with being a lady were neither so positive about girdles nor so condemnatory of women who went without them. But, they were not so strong in their opinions as the others and evinced some doubt and perhaps shame at being a little like the vulgar woman:
- "Most of the time I don't wear one, just slacks. I feel dressed up and more like a lady with a girdle, but most of the time I feel like a slob. I can't work with one on."
Generally, women think of girdles as a social necessity. Most women indicate they would not like to be seen without wearing a girdle and further indicate that women who do go out without girdles are not really ladylike.
Continue to Specific Attitudes Toward The Appearance of Girdles
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Originally Posted April 20, 1997