Upon first examination, it may seem like it should be the biggest non-issue in our society. It serves the practical purposes of protecting our lady parts from chafing jeans, adding a defensive layer whilst on our periods and allowing us to get a few extra wears out of our pants before having to wash them.
Yet in today’s society, underwear has become so much more than that. Wear underwear with days of the week, you’re childish. Wear granny panties, you’re a prude. Wear no underwear at all, you’re a slut.
Stereotypes like these are portrayed in pop culture all the time, making it even harder to escape them. In one episode of “That 70’s Show,” the gang tries to console Donna’s dad after Jackie’s mom has left him, and Kitty chimes in, “You know, I’ve never even seen a panty line on her. You know what that means.”
Sadly, we all do know what that means: Prefer to let your lady parts air out rather than conform to a social norm, and you automatically become a slut.
Among the many underwear faux pas to which a girl can easily fall victim, the most absurd is the panty line infraction. While many of the other underwear norms are enforced with social sanctions from both males and females, in my experience, it’s only females who concern themselves with panty lines.
For those unaware of what it is, a panty line is the underwear outline that can be seen through a girl’s pants, skirt or dress.
I can complain to my friend about the uncomfortable wedgie a thong gives me, and she will understand and confide in the fact she equally detests thongs. However, this friend will be the same one to tell me the next day that I need to wear a thong with my leggings because my panty line “is totally showing.”
The quote from “That 70’s Show” paired with my friend’s comment that my panty line “is totally showing,” perfectly encapsulates the Catch-22 that females face on a daily basis. If we let our panty lines show, we receive snide remarks from our very own friends and a mix between judging glares and pitying looks from strangers. However, if we’re too perfect and never show a panty line, well, “you know what that means.”
Females are already subject to intense scrutiny from their male counterparts. We shouldn’t make each other’s lives more difficult by putting each other down over petty things like what type of underwear we wear and the visibility of, or lack thereof, our underwear.
Males do not receive the same scrutiny concerning their underwear from either other males or females. While males may receive flack for wearing tighty whities after their elementary school years, they’re free to choose between boxers and boxer briefs without fear of judgment. Wear underwear with cartoons on them in college? Not a problem. Sag pants to reveal your underwear? No big deal.
This double standard between males and females in regard to underwear merely highlights the underlying double standard in society. We live in a society dominated by men—a society where they make the rules.
This may seem unrelated to the panty line issue because the panty line issue is a social norm largely enforced by females. However, the day-to-day criticisms females receive from males, which encourage females to gang up on each other to earn the approval of males, have led to an environment in which females feel it is necessary and normal to tear each other down, whether males are paying attention or not.
