Name (required):

  Expression ^{(Optional mood/title along with your name) Examples: (happy, sad, The Joyful, etc.) help)}

  E-mail address (optional):

* Type your message here:
>>Once again, so much depends on the period (year) we >>are talking about and the geographical location. Talk >>of panty girdles on young girls suggests, to me, that >>the reference is to the USA and not to Europe. In >>Europe and certainly here in the UK, young girls >>(teenagers) never wore panty girdles, even in the >>1970s when they were quite widely worn by older women >>over their newly-adopted tights. >>In Britain in the 1950s and 1960s it wasn't girdle >>wearing but nylon stocking wearing that marked a >>significant growing-up event for girls. It was rare >>for a girl under about 11 or 12 to start wearing >>nylons. This was because there were costs involved >>(socks withstood childish behaviour much better than >>stockings) but also because wearing nylons required a >>suspender belt to be worn and mothers didn't think it >>appropriate to buy their daughters a suspender belt >>until they were "old enough" to wear one with >>stockings - usually starting around 12. >>Of course, even quite small children (girls) wore >>thick tights for warmth in colder months and there was >>no "growing up" significance. Starting to wear sheer >>nylon tights was definitely a mark of more adult dress >>for girls in the late 60s and 70s but these didn't >>require any extra apparatus to hold them up. >>Before tights, the transition from suspender belt to >>girdle - probably via a simple elastic roll-on belt - >>depended on individual preference (including mothers' >>preference), some finding a roll-on easier to wear >>than a belt with long suspenders that often needed >>adjustment to avoid sagging stockings. In Britain and >>Europe the far more significant moment was when a >>girl, already used to wearing suspenders and >>stockings, also accepted the need for some degree of >>figure control. Manufacturers offered "teen" or >>"junior" girdles, often emphasising lightness and >>freedom but also suggesting such girdles were >>beneficial for young girls growing up. >>From what girls told me, by their mid-teens probably a >>majority were wearing a girdle (sometimes referred to >>as a "controller") at least for special occasions if >>not every day. I certainly came across girls who, >>because of their perceived need to deal with figure >>problems, wore quite firm, adult girdles from their >>mid-teen > > > >Thank you Robert and Observer, > >A very discerning analysis from both of you. I must >admit I never looked at it that way myself. There's >also a possibility that manufacturers were trying to >send mothers a message that wearing a girdle is always >beneficial at any age. >Thank you, >Kelly

Notice: Copies of your message may remain on this and other systems on internet. Please be respectful.