# Buying/selling used panties **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438 "2017-08-12T13:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/1 "2017-08-12T13:29:25Z")
I’m fairly certain that most Dopers are aware of the vending machines in Japan that sell used panties. What a lot of people are not aware of is that such activity goes on in other countries, albeit not through vending machines. People with (legal) fetishes generally find a way to satisfy their desires. Like a lot of things, the internet has changed certain aspects of this. The following links may prove enlightening for some people. I offer them as examples of what I’m talking about. [https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/clo/d/good-looking-panties-from/6251164548.html](https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/clo/d/good-looking-panties-from/6251164548.html) [https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/clo/d/worn-panties/6260222995.html](https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/clo/d/worn-panties/6260222995.html) [https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/clo/d/worn-panties/6260201777.html](https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/clo/d/worn-panties/6260201777.html) [https://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/clo/d/3-day-dirty-panties/6252734030.html](https://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/clo/d/3-day-dirty-panties/6252734030.html) I would be curious to know how many people find this to be either bizarre or disgusting. Also how many people have done something like this. 😃 Edit: The poll is multiple-choice. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/2 "2017-08-12T13:52:13Z")
While brothels are not accepted in the United States (though I suspect that prostitutes of some sort, even if not working out of organized brothels can be found in every city and state), strip clubs generally are. While most strip clubs offer a fairly tame experience that at most involves a bit of groping, it’s far more intimate than sniffing someone’s dirty underwear. So my thoughts are : a. Do they have strip clubs in Japan? b. My suspicion is that purchasers of such products feel desire, but are too timid, for a variety of reasons, to actually come into contact with actual women, even strippers. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/3 "2017-08-12T15:45:24Z")
The stories of Japanese vending machines with used panties is overblown. The common misconception is that it’s common, where in reality there many actually be any, or more than a few ones for novelty. > [@SamuelA](#): > > a. Do they have strip clubs in Japan? There are, although most are not particularly high class. Don’t underestimate the weirdness of some Japanese when it concerns sex. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/4 "2017-08-12T15:59:52Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > The stories of Japanese vending machines with used panties is overblown. The common misconception is that it’s common, where in reality there many actually be any, or more than a few ones for novelty. I did once find a video on YouTube of somebody buying what appeared to be used panties from a machine. I could probably find it again if you’re interested. Also, I hope I didn’t create the impression that the internet is the only way that such transactions happen in non-Japanese countries. I happen to know that some strippers will sell their panties to customers in the strip clubs. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/5 "2017-08-12T16:11:22Z")
I find the idea intriguing in _principle_ but with out knowing who the wearer is, the whole thing seems rather pointless. Also, I think there is a bundle to be made for porn producers if they would sell items used in their scenes to the highest bidder. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/6 "2017-08-12T16:23:15Z")
I’m a Doper, and I admit to not knowing about used underwear vending machines in Japan. Well, sort of. I had heard of underwear vending machines in Japan, and silly me, I thought they were dispensing clean fresh emergency underwear for accidental self soilings and unexpected periods and such. I thought, how nice! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/7 "2017-08-12T16:29:31Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > The stories of Japanese vending machines with used panties is overblown. The common misconception is that it’s common, where in reality there many actually be any, or more than a few ones for novelty. I realize that this is a “I know a guy” story, but I know a guy in Tokyo where we used to mail stuff back and forth to each other that were otherwise difficult to find (I once mailed him an uncleaned, desiccated possum skeleton that he intended to clean and mount–here’s hoping that customs never opened _that_ one.) He once mentioned that there was one of the pantry-vending machines fairly close to his apartment, if I was interested. (I wasn’t.) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/8 "2017-08-12T22:36:30Z")
I knew this was a thing; but don’t think it is disgusting or bizarre or even fascinating (I voted other). People are all wired in all kinds of different ways when it comes to sex, and many of the ways that people are wired does not nothing for me. This is one of them. I can’t imagine what is going through peoples minds when they purchase this stuff, but if they like it, then I guess this is all that matters. Big “meh” from me. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/9 "2017-08-12T23:04:14Z")
[Here](https://www.techinasia.com/japan-used-panty-vending-machines-fact-fiction) is a pretty extensive article on the topic. Seems like they have been outlawed, but you can still [buy love letters](http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/05/06/only-in-japan-handwritten-love-letters-from-high-school-girls-now-available-in-crank-machines/). ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/10 "2017-08-12T23:23:17Z")
ive seen this on adult video “stars” sites and more recently on amateur webcam sites where for a “donation” thell sell you the pair they wore in the appearance … and for even bigger donation you can send them a pair to wear on cam and thell send it back to you… ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/11 "2017-08-12T23:33:46Z")
I knew it was a thing. It’s not my thing but _shrugs_ meh, to each their own. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/12 "2017-08-13T00:21:49Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I realize that this is a “I know a guy” story, but I know a guy in Tokyo where we used to mail stuff back and forth to each other that were otherwise difficult to find How else do urban legends start except by a friend of a friend? Your friend is either uninformed (see the article **Darren** linked to) and has stumbled upon a machine that sells new panties, is a passing along his friend of a friend report as his own or has appropriated the urban legend himself. I lived in Japan in the early 80s for several years as well as from 1990 through 2013. What happens is that in the early 90s, Japanese media reported teenage girls were selling used panties. The first I heard about it would have been in 1991. It was joked about more than taken seriously by the people I heard it from. There were serious doubts about how much this actually happened. Various laws were passed to outlaw the practice in the mid 90s,; however, the urban legends are still being passed along. [rant] One thing which got tiring about living in Japan was correcting the misinformation spread by foreigners living in Japan. Many of them were in jobs such as teaching English, they didn’t speak Japanese and don’t really interact in a meaningful way with the natives, yet six months of residency qualified them as experts on Japanese society. [/rant] > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Here](https://www.techinasia.com/japan-used-panty-vending-machines-fact-fiction) is a pretty extensive article on the topic. Seems like they have been outlawed, but you can still [buy love letters](http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/05/06/only-in-japan-handwritten-love-letters-from-high-school-girls-now-available-in-crank-machines/). Not a particularly well researched piece, and it passes along bad information such as the claims that “they were around 10 years ago.” No, there’s no real evidence of any machines even in the early 90s when sales of used underwear hadn’t been outlawed. Can you order them on the internet now? Sure. Can you buy them from a vending machine? No, and you never could. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/13 "2017-08-13T01:04:29Z")
I wouldn’t call it bizarre but I do find it strange. Don’t think I would care to participate but I got nothing against someone who would. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/14 "2017-08-13T01:36:49Z")
Never seen the appeal myself. But I hereby announce if anyone wants to buy my used underwear, I’ll sell them. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/15 "2017-08-13T01:36:53Z")
It’s kind of amazing to me how many people on this board are on the internet a lot but are also highly sheltered from fairly common sexual stuff. Selling used panties has been around since at least the 90s when I first heard about it, and I had no idea that in 2017 it would be news to a lot of people that it’s a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/16 "2017-08-13T02:24:57Z")
I voted “bizarre,” though that may be a little strong. Different people are affected by and attracted to different things. I can sort of understand, in a purely intellectual way, why this would have an appeal to someone who’s strongly affected by smells and pheromones. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/17 "2017-08-13T11:39:14Z")
I need to note that the reason it was a big deal in Japan in the early 90s was that it was high school girls who were supposedly selling their panties, with girls who had sailor type school uniforms as the most popular. A glance at an Internet site for selling them now shows it’s women older than high school. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/18 "2017-08-13T11:45:10Z")
People are weird. I guess as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, it’s relatively harmless, but I find the idea creepy, bordering on disgusting. Each to his own, I suppose… ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/19 "2017-08-13T12:28:08Z")
I chose other. I don’t find it bizarre, but I do find it pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438/20 "2017-08-13T12:58:05Z")
I’d totally sell my drawers if I could find a buyer who’d be interested in an old lady’s plus size drawers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-selling-used-panties/793438.md?page=2)