From the comment I wrote on Saving Us - Part 2 of 14 Karin Bishop Page.
Love the story, but the part I read all the time in lots of stories is .....it’s normally not good to wear someone else’s underwear..
Why? I don't understand..
Growing up in a Irish neighborhood with large families (8 to yes one family had 21 kids) with lots of Girls who shared everything and was told it was ok as long as it was washed. then high school and again it was farm Girls that shared things and hand me downs. If it was not for used Panties/ Bras/Clothes/shoes, I would have never had them at all.
Again I was told as long as that are washed its ok by my girlfriends. When I became homeless I had no choice and all my clothes including v secret panties and my bras are good will used. So the point of all this is did I just grow up in an alien culture or what, am I missing something.... Were did the used is bad thing come from? What happen to wash it wear it go?
Also If I suddenly found myself in a girls room and had permission to wear what ever I would be up all night going thru everything... I have gone thru loosing people I Love and I don't see any problem using any thing that has good energy they left behind.....Thoughts Ideas feelings?
Love and Hugs Hanna
Comments
Used clothes.
Used clothes are never nice but they didn't harm me. During those desperate 3 months from August 1960 until Oct 1960 when I lived like a wild animal without a roof or anywhere to wash. I survived as a transvestite prostitute aged fourteen by stealing clothes, (mainly underwear, from washing lines and yes, laundry baskets,) and finding food as and where I could, (usually in bins outside restaurants late at night.)
The unwashed, used clothes and the waste food din't hurt me; providing sexual services did. I contracted syphillis, gonnorhea and various other socially transmitted diseases and infestations.
Dirt can't harm you, abuse can; physically and mentally.
Bev.
People who didn't grow up
People who didn't grow up with hand-me-downs probably just don't know what it's like, or how necessary it is, to have them. I think people get particularly grossed out by underthings because they touch your genitals. Despite the fact that you can clean materials so that they won't be germy or dirty, people still hate it because it touches such a sensitive and personal area. Somethings just hit particular people's gross limit.
Lots of hand-me-downs growing
Lots of hand-me-downs growing up, just not underwear. My favorite pair of jeans ever were my sisters, I kept them until they were thrown out for falling apart.
Three of brothers, within about a year in age, had their underwear color coded to keep them separate.
Not good?
I agree one should not normally wear the underwear of someone else, especially when the other person is the opposite sex. That didn't stop most of us though, did it, especially when we were youngsters?
Here is something I heard, and was able to 'kinda verify' it thru Wikipedia. The biggest aid to believing it is the reference to Ripley's Believe It or Not And of course, almost all of us see nothing wrong with wearing women's clothing!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bronson#cite_note-12
Don't let someone else talk you out of your dreams. How can we have dreams come true, if we have no dreams?
Katrina Gayle "Stormy" Storm
Only if you are worried about getting cooties
Your post made me smile, thanks!
I stopped believing in cooties about the same time as I found out about Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny.
If they're clean, I don't see a problem.
Mr. Ram
I think ...
... a lot of people are very squeamish about things that were perfectly normal when I was young in the 1940s and 1950s when I was growing up. It may simply be because most of the writers here are from the USA but it seems to be common to wear clean clothes every day according to what's said in the stories. Believe it or not, it isn't absolutely essential to change every day to avoid smelling a bit off, quite apart from the water and energy needed to wash clothes. I've done quite a lot of lightweight cycle-camping and certainly didn't carry enough to change every day.
I have some cycling clothing that was given to me by the widow of a friend and my only regret is that none of his strength seems to have rubbed off on the shorts and transferred itself to me ... and remember, cycling shorts are worn next to the skin. I buy a lot of clothes from charity shops like Oxfam, particularly shirts and pullovers - it's a crime to waste anything, particularly perfectly serviceable clothes and food, of course.
It was a (shallow) bath once/week for most people in my childhood. Certainly daily bathing/showers were not the norm except for (say) pit men or others involved in dirty manual work.
Robi
Backpacking
I've done a fair amount of backpacking for up to a week at a time. Rule of thumb for backpacking is lighter is better. That means one change of outer clothes and, for me because I prefer it, one change of underwear for every other day and a change of socks for every day spent hiking and an extra pair. Each day before going to sleep, you put on the other set of outer clothes and in the morning, you hang the other set to air out for that night. Once in camp, washing out all worn socks is a good idea.
I remember the Saturday night bath. The water used was not even enough to completely cover the legs. Four to six inches was considered enough.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
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I think the overall feeling of sharing underthings is much like a lot of other personal items.
....Like sharing Toothbrushes. It's not paticularly a bad thing, it's just that territorial ick factor. Like someone drinking out of your bottle, i paticularly hate that. Most people, at least in the USA, don't like to share their personal items with anyone who they are not "swapping spit" with.
as to the above post, by Robyn... i think here in the U.S. most guys have that complicated imaginary stench chart reguarding their clothes. Pick the shirt up off the floor give it a sniff or two and decide how to proceed. a shirt worn only once before is useually ideal for going out shopping or something in. On the third day, it's ok to wear around the house or working in. After that it's a matter of... does it stink yet? answer: Yes- toss into the laundry No: toss on the floor for tomorrow.
Jeans can often be worn at least a week without washing, but you keep 2-3 pairs in the floor on stand by because it's unfashionable to be seen wearing the same clothes twice in a row. (same with shirts only you keep about 6-7 in the floor as they soil quicker)
socks: worn twice at the most- most guys have funky feet..
Girls: wear it once and wash-- WOE to the girl caught wearing the same thing twice in the same week... The fashion police are on prowl! (note: this only apply's to city girls, a country girl will will use a different shirt each day, but will often cycle her jeans simular to guys, only on a tighter schedule. Like only wearing them 3 times before washing.)
Why it isn't good...
Sigh. Umm... folks? I hate to defy "popular wisdom"... but there is a *reason* why health regulations discourage this sort of thing...
A] Not all "nasty critters" (bacteria, fungi/yeasts, virii, prions, etc) can be killed by simple soap and water. In fact, not even boiling water will do it. Many species of such flora require *at least* 15 minutes of high temperatures to kill them off... which is why medical autoclaves use not just steam, but steam under high pressure (which raises the boiling point of water much higher then normal). And which is why many modern hospitals "wash" bedding, etc, in high pressure "thermal disinfection" steam cleaners that bear more than a passing resemblance to giant autoclaves...
B] Every woman's genitalia is a warm, moist, nutrient rich environment... which is kept in the "dark" (covered up) the vast majority of the time. Which is to say, it is an extremely good, almost ideal breeding ground for any harmful flora that may come along. Worse, there is a direct passageway leading into the core of her body connected to that breeding ground. Two of them actually, since a woman's urethra is much shorter than a males -- the reason women are so much more vulnerable to urinary tract infections than males. There are some defenses for women's bodies... but still, women are extremely vulnerable to infections from their genitalia.
C] Every woman has many different species of flora living on her skin, and in her vagina. Normally these flora are in balance, with the other species present keeping any one species from growing "out of control". The presence of all these "normal flora" is a healthy thing, as this constant warfare between the "relatively benign" flora tends to help combat any foreign invaders that come along, sometimes preventing them from successfully establishing a "beachhead" for their invasions... but that only helps -- it is not a foolproof defence. Worse, the particular species that are present, and the precise balance, varies from individual woman to woman... so what is "healthy" for one woman may be a problem for another...
And that is why sharing underwear is a bad idea. UTI's... yeast infections... STI's... there are many things that can be "wrong" with any individual women's genital health at any particular moment -- and often without her being aware of it. And even if she is "healthy"... what is healthy for *her*, may be a problem for another woman.
So... take a pair of panties. Wash them with normal detergents, at normal temperatures. They may look clean... but a medical swab will show that looks can be deceiving -- they are typically teaming with flora. Flora that are usually harmless, so long as they are "returned" to the same woman they came from... but not so harmless to another woman.
Shrug. Not all women have a UTI/STI/yeast infections. And certainly not all the time. And often, the species present in one vagina are quite similar to those in another woman's vagina. Which is to say... yes, you can "get away" with loaning a pair of panties *most* of the time. And "hand me downs" are *usually* safe, too. Usually... but not even close to "always".
Sigh. If you absolutely must "borrow" garments from a female friend... well, for *most* garments, *most* of the time, you can probably get away with it. But not panties, please. Buy your own. A woman is just too vulnerable to infections from her genitals to risk it. Which is why health regulations forbid this sort of thing, nowadays.
Not just because people are "squeamish"... but because people have realized that this particular "old fashioned idea" was never a particularly smart one.
What she said.
Also think very seriously about it... Before the social taboo came about stemming from the medical taboo... How much more frequent problems down south were for women especially. Men, being mostly very external, were, mostly, safe. As long as they kept their junk clean. Women... Everything's tucked up JUST inside there, and those small little vaginal lips do absolutely nothing to protect them.
Abigail Drew.
Thank You
Thank you for the comment I do read them..
Love and Hugs Hanna
Love And Hugs Hanna
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Blessed Be