What does underwear have to do with women? The relationship between underwear and women for several generations

The relationship between underwear and women for several generations (Part 1)

In the 1970s, a cutting-edge female writer published a collection of poems dedicated to her grandmother, with a deliberately unconventional title: "No Wearing" The Bra Poet". Is it avant-garde and unbridled enough? However, thirty years later, no one still dares to publish a poetry collection "Poet Without Underpants".

Jay Chou admitted on the Little S show that he would not wear underwear unless he was in a concert; Wei Hui once printed a photo of herself and a novel on white men's underwear; Sharon; the female killer played by Stone In "Basic Instinct", she naturally crossed her legs, and the prosecutor Quan Chun opposite her was so excited that she was not wearing underwear.

My lover has not yet understood all the softness of my body and cannot absorb all its fragrance, but my underwear does it silently. Therefore, perhaps underwear is more intimate and indispensable than a lover. It is the gentlest and cruelest last line of defense.

When the Russian Czar Peter the Great visited Paris in 1717, he was riding a horse through the streets where people were cheering. A woman accidentally fell in front of his horse, and she suddenly burst into tears. The beautiful woman was extremely embarrassed, but the Tsar wrote in his memoirs with amusement: The gates of heaven suddenly opened in front of me.

This fall is a clear proof that let us know that in the 18th century, in Paris, the most fashionable city in the world, women did not wear underwear. In fact, this was true throughout the Western world at that time. The underwear that we live with day and night and are inseparable from now on turns out to have such a short history.

Archaeologists have discovered fragments of animal skin loincloths from seven thousand years ago. Men in ancient Greece used linen loincloths. We have also seen African wild tribes in movies or TV, where men and women wore loincloths. The thick cloth on the waist is used as outer trousers, and it is the work clothes worn by working people to prevent injuries to the lower body, which is equivalent to jeans. Therefore, some historians suspect that in ancient Greece, only slaves wore loincloths, while free people, both men and women, had nothing under their gowns. Being naked is obviously a right.

This right continues. The "History of Underwear" written by Western sociology scholar Weller said: Until the late 18th century, (women's) underwear only had some blouses, tight underwear, and, very importantly, various petticoats. Obviously, there are no panties here. Occasionally, when you watch costume porn, you can also see a scene like this, where the heroine takes off her burdensome and overlapping long skirts, and suddenly they pile up into a mountain of skirts, and she is completely naked in an instant.

There was no concept of underwear throughout medieval Europe. Underwear was only used to keep warm and to isolate the outer garment from the body that never bathed, so that the outer garment did not need to be washed frequently. The lining worn by women is petticoats added layer by layer depending on the need for warmth.

An author analyzed in "History from the Bottom: Women's Underwear and the Rise of Women's Sports" that fungal infections and pubic lice may be part of the reasons for the empty spaces between women's legs. Before the 20th century, The reason why women cannot wear shorts is because vaginitis always threatens the warmth and moisture of their vagina itself. When it is covered with anything, it will cause the temperature to rise, which will facilitate the growth of fungi and cause infection. They also pointed out that because of the lack of bathing habits in Europe at that time, what we now regard as normal daily bathing and changing clothes was not something even ladies could do at that time. So, wearing a piece of unwashed cloth in your private parts is indeed more unhygienic than wearing nothing at all.

This explanation cannot explain everything, but it should make some sense. Because East Asian women in hotter areas bathe much more frequently, they wear long underpants under their skirts. Some people call these long underpants boudoir. The boudoir spread to Europe during the Renaissance and was slowly transformed into trousers, which were ankle-length and tied around the waist and legs with straps to form a lantern shape. This kind of trousers was mainly regarded as an oriental sentiment at the time.

Pants, like other fads, started with prostitutes, actors or other women in the porn industry. In 1727, a ballerina was performing on the stage. Her long skirt got caught on the stage background. She was helplessly exposed and caused laughter. Not to mention the cancan dancers who sell their thighs. They kick their thighs as high as they can on the stage and swing their skirts over their heads. Of course, their lower bodies are not uncovered.

As a result, Paris passed a security regulation: Actresses or dancers were not allowed to perform on stage without wearing trousers. Trousers became a fashionable garment and became popular among fashion-conscious women.

By the mid-19th century, women's liberation activists began to call on women to leave the boudoir and participate more in social activities and work. To work, lightness of hand is the first factor. Floor-length skirts that have been used for thousands of years are extremely difficult to move. So women's liberation activists suggested that women wear knee-length midi skirts and a pair of loose, ankle-length trousers. This kind of pants is called PANTS, which means pants, and has since become the general name for home pants, casual pants and autumn pants.

Ye Qingcheng, writer, member of Hubei Writers Association. A contracted writer of "Reader", his works have a high reprint rate in many newspapers and magazines, and he is the author of many collections of essays such as "The Third Road of Emotion", "Living in Underwear", "My Lily Years", etc. "The Original Wife", "Qigong Night" and many other novels.

The relationship between underwear and women for several generations (Part 2)

The evolution of human civilization often comes from very small things, just like the fluttering of a butterfly's wings can cause a snowstorm. In 1876, the British botanist Sir Henry Wickham persuaded the Brazilian government to allow him to return to the country with rubber seeds, pretending that he wanted to give them to the Royal Garden as rare plants, but in fact, he transported the seeds to Malaysia. British rubber plantations suddenly expanded by leaps and bounds, breaking Brazil's control of the rubber industry and accelerating the development of cheap rubber bands. By 1900, elastic bands had been sewn into trousers, eliminating the need for trousers that were cumbersome, prone to staining, tied up in knots, or dropped into the toilet. The word underwear also made its way into the dictionary historically.

What completely ended women’s aerial status is a trivial matter not worth mentioning, and that is the rise of bicycle craze. Readers who have read "Gone with the Wind" should know that in the old days, ladies rode horses with their legs together and sat sideways on the side saddle. However, it is impossible for anyone to ride a bicycle in this position, and it is very dangerous to ride a bicycle in a long skirt. , there is a possibility that the hem of the skirt will get caught in the wheels, so women have only one choice: wear pants.

The New York Daily News on November 15, 1896 wrote: When bicycles became fashionable, female college students in Paris also adopted the sport. At the same time, the "New York Sun" also noticed that the bloomers worn by Parisian women when riding bicycles have also become popular in other public places: they like this kind of clothing that is very casual and easy to wear. In the past and now, Paris has set the trend for a generation, and gradually, women all over the world have begun to follow suit. Women finally have the same rights as men: to wear trousers and underwear underneath them.

George Sand, a French female writer in the 19th century, drank strong alcohol, rode fast horses, and was dissolute, and she dressed in men's clothing throughout her life. Once she came to a church in the French countryside, and the old gatekeeper stopped her from entering. He couldn't help but said: Sir, women are not allowed to enter here. Her strange clothes confused the old man. Even though he knew that the person in front of him was a lady, he still subconsciously called her sir.

George Sand, who has fought for women’s right to wear trousers all her life, probably would never have imagined that her lifelong dream would be realized in this way.

To sum up, it is easy to draw the conclusion: first, science changes life; second, exercise affects life. But some fashion critics see the introduction of panties as women taking greater control over their lives, finally introducing another form of sexual defense. Underwear can be put on and taken off, just like a woman is in control of her own mind and body. The history of women is the history of constantly carving and decorating their bodies.

Is underwear a part of sex?

I once knew a story: a man and a woman were in a passionate love affair. At the critical moment, the man stopped because the woman was wearing A pair of yellowed panties with holes in them fully demonstrated her character as a hard-working and simple working woman, but it had nothing to do with sex or sex appeal.

And another perspective: We must enter puberty before we need bras; we must fully grow up before we can wear high heels and need stockings. All these supplies therefore have stronger sexual symbolic meanings and constitute our third sexual characteristics.

But underwear is different. From the moment we got rid of crotchless pants, we have always been related to them.

This probably determines that underwear is not like BRA or stockings. It stands at the forefront of fashion. It is a subtle temptation, which can be visible or hidden. It is the vanguard in the love field. Underwear is more like the taxi next to Shuai. He is silent and lowers his eyebrows, but it is the last line of defense. Putting on and taking off is not a temptation, but a consistent decision.

Everyone owns the simplest underwear: 100% cotton, triangular, four-corner, and boxer. It maintains the most original and simple function of underwear: keeping it clean and hygienic, and conveniently using sanitary napkins during menstruation. Most women will use this kind before puberty or after menopause. Three strips cost ten yuan in the supermarket. In fact, at any time, as long as you are discouraged or satisfied and give up the pursuit of male and female affairs, this kind of underwear will always be the most comfortable.

However, if the fire of lust has not completely subsided from me, your choice will be different.

For example, if you choose body-shaping underwear, an indispensable part of it is hip-lifting and tummy-tightening pants. It is said that its function is to tighten the fat on the buttocks and waist, and guide the fat on the waist, abdomen and thighs to transfer to the buttocks, thereby creating a beautiful waist and buttocks shape. In TV commercials, there are many long pants like this and the unrestrained smiles of models. Wearing it is indeed difficult to love, and it reminds people of the famous saying: Women should be cruel to themselves. If a woman is not cruel to herself, a man will be cruel to you. Where to go? Can underwear play a big role?

Also, there is the famous sexy underwear. I personally use the color to seduce a man. The last step is probably nothing more than taking off my breast pattern underwear with one hand, making a sound (how exactly this sound is made and what the auditory effect is, I still don’t know), raising my delicate hand, and the panties fly into the crystal At the moment of cupping, no one can help but burn themselves into flames, right? The gorgeousness of the lace, the coolness of the rose, the severity of the leather, and the temptation of the black metal. It is the underwear that is only worn to take off.

Things are definitely the most seductive thing that lets the body create its own temptation. It is March, Lolita in underwear, the purest devil and the most evil angel. Those who love it will never stop wanting it; those who hate it will definitely stay away.

At first, it was just to allow models to wear tight pants on stage without revealing the edges of their underwear. And such a completely unmodified but round as peach shape is indeed more exciting than a tightly guarded butt shape.

It went from the T stage to the general public because in April 2003, the famous underwear brand Triumph posted huge posters in more than 100 cities in the UK: on the background of blue sky and green land, four The hot-bodied women revealed their backs wearing only four-color thong panties. They stood on tiptoes and wore straw hats, high heels and light slogans: T-string summer is here. This ad earned it the complaint of being the most shameless ad in history. Of course, this is old history, and there are many ads that are tens of thousands of times more exaggerated than this one.

This advertisement probably clearly explains the meaning of underwear to women: inside is infinite spring, outside is a world of flowers, and underwear is a curtain that separates the two. It is a branch of red apricot, which cannot go out of the wall and is left to people's discretion.

Ye Qingcheng, writer, member of Hubei Writers Association. A contracted writer of "Reader", his works have a high reprint rate in many newspapers and magazines, and he is the author of many prose collections such as "The Third Road of Emotion", "Living in Underwear", "My Lily Years", etc. "The Original Wife", "Qigong Night" and many other novels.