# Gals, do you wear girdles? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069 "2001-12-05T18:21:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/1 "2001-12-05T18:21:42Z")
I don’t. I hate them. With a passion. I’m not of the mindset that girdles are another invention of men to repress women, either. I just find them _extremely_ uncomfortable. Conversely, I know people who wouldn’t _dream_ of leaving the house sans a girdle. Something about not jiggling. So, how 'bout you? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/2 "2001-12-05T18:28:44Z")
I have never worn a girdle. I can’t think of a single female of my acquaintance who has worn one since about 1972. I can’t even remember the last time I saw one in a store. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/3 "2001-12-05T18:29:31Z")
Since I hit maddle age and am becoming increasingly Bea Arthuresque, I have become more and more a believer in Foundation Undergarments (indeed, I wholeheartedly hope hats with veils come back into fashion!). I have been fervently looking for not a girdle, but an old-fashioned corset. Not one of those candy-ass “French maid” things, but a real, working canvas-and-whalebone CORSET. The kind you have to be laced into by Hattie McDaniel. Sadly, my search has come to naught. ---
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/4 "2001-12-05T18:41:57Z")
This is going to sound extremely naive, especially coming form a woman, but, what exactly is a girdle? ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/5 "2001-12-05T18:51:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cher3 \* > \*\*I can’t even remember the last time I saw one in a store. \*\* They’re not called girdles anymore. They’re called “shapers”. Same thing, though. The only time I wore anything like this was to a company Christmas party a couple years ago. I bought a very slinky velvet dress, and felt a little, um, fat in it, so I bought a “shaper” from Victoria’s Secret. I dunno if it made any difference, but it made ME feel better. It was mainly lycra, no whalebone or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![GeorgeBushTheSecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ccd318/32.png) [@GeorgeBushTheSecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeorgeBushTheSecond)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/6 "2001-12-05T18:52:03Z")
I want to tell Shera that a girdle is one of the prime motivating factors behind the women’s liberation movement, but Laura tells me I’ll get smacked. I took a girdle off once. Man, it was like trying to crack a brazil nut with a crescent wrench. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/7 "2001-12-05T18:55:30Z")
Well, not to take any steam out of **Eve’s** preferences, but a girdle is basically a milder form or corset–think of it as an ace bandage for your torso. It compacts everything in and keeps it squished in place so you have a thinner body and there’s not so much jiggling going on. Rumor has it that they are not particularly comfortable; another rumor is that they were driven out of popularity by Coco Chanel when she began designing clothes for women of A Certain Age who no longer had the bodies of 20-year olds; her clothes were soft, flexible (knit) and flattering for the mature woman. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/8 "2001-12-05T18:56:42Z")
gir·dle (gûrdl) n. A belt or sash worn around the waist. Something that encircles like a belt. \*\*An elasticized, flexible undergarment worn over the waist and hips, especially by women, to give the body a more slender appearance. \*\* A band made around the trunk of a tree by the removal of a strip of bark. The edge of a cut gem held by the setting. Anatomy. The pelvic or pectoral girdle. ---
**Author:** ![GKW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@GKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GKW)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/9 "2001-12-05T19:06:08Z")
I read in a history book that this torture device was banned in 1968. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/10 "2001-12-05T19:22:07Z")
I wore them eons ago, but I can’t remember the last time I forced my buns into one. I have become an advocate of truth in advertising - I am as I present myself, a fan of comfort over appearances. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/11 "2001-12-05T19:47:42Z")
Ethilrist—Don’t even get me started on that Nazi whore Coco Chanel! Not only should she have been hanged as a collaborationist, but SHE’S the one who took curvy, mature women and made them try to look like undernourished teenage boys in the 1920s! ---
**Author:** ![fish\_in\_the\_sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ba0ec/32.png) [@fish\_in\_the\_sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fish_in_the_sky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/12 "2001-12-05T20:02:50Z")
Color me naive, but I had no idea people even wore girdles anymore. Seriously. 22 years on this planet and I’ve never once heard anyone, anywhere talk about wearing a girdle. So of course, no, I’ve never worn one. I like my body to look like actual flesh - curves & jiggles & all - and not like a wooden mannequin. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/13 "2001-12-05T20:16:02Z")
Ugh. No. I don’t think they call them girdles anymore. Probably “shapers” or something like that, at least that’s what I remember my boobologist friend saying. Ok, she’s a fitter for Wacoal, but “boobologist” sounds much more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/14 "2001-12-05T20:17:26Z")
Ah yes, I distinctly remember Mumsy getting ready to go out cica 1962. First came the girdle, then the really pointy toed high heel shoes, and finally the hair piece which was held in place by a zillion bobby pins. Plaster on the lipstick, pull on the stockings, strap 'em in the torpedo bra. Thank you Gloria, thank you Betty for saving me from a similar fate. ---
**Author:** ![Pencepon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@Pencepon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pencepon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/15 "2001-12-05T20:39:47Z")
I feel compelled to relate a little object lesson here, even though I am a dedicated lounger and bon-bon eater myself. My great-aunt Jessie (and she _was_ a great aunt, too!) had worn what she called Foundation Garments for - oh, I’m not sure - probably about sixty years or so, until in the early 1970s when they became pretty scarce on the ground. So she called me up and asked me to drive her to a bigger city where she might be able to locate one, _because she was physically unable to go without it!_ The Foundation Garment completely took over the role of her abdominal muscles, so that she had no muscle tone at all and could barely stand or walk without the external support. Ohmigosh, this was very scary for me, young as I was at the time. Even if I do nothing else for my muscles, I will let them go free. (On the other hand, tight jeans have a certain chub-compressing quality that is sometimes welcome…) ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/16 "2001-12-05T20:54:09Z")
My mom used to wear them till the late '60’s. I think women used to wear them as commonly as they wore bras. Even women who had nothing to flatten wore them. They had garters on them to hold up stockings. I have worn a hip slip and a long line bra, but never a girdle. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/17 "2001-12-05T22:04:34Z")
I have a couple of the Nancy Ganz thigh slimmers: [http://www.sierrablue.com/nancyganz.html](http://www.sierrablue.com/nancyganz.html) I like to wear them under nice pants when I dress up - you wear them in place of underwear because they have cotton panties inside. Eliminates VPL and makes my fat butt look about as good as it’s ever going to look. And they’re not uncomfortable, either. I find pantyhose to be the single most uncomfortable piece of women’s clothing in existence today. Especially here in the South when it’s 99 degrees and 110% humidity. It’s much more comfortable to wear the thigh slimmer with pants and either knee-highs or no hose at all, depending on the shoe. I don’t think I could ever wear an old-fashioned girdle like my mom used to wear. I remember her trying to put the damn thing on - like stuffing 10 pounds of sh\*t into a 5 pound bag. And I think the thing was made out of whatever the predecessor to Kevlar was … I’m sure she was very glad when they went out of fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/18 "2001-12-05T22:05:59Z")
Yes! I have several lyrca undergarments in the drawer right now! I am not old. I am not fat. I am not obsessed (at least about my shape). I weigh about 115-120 when I’m not pregnant, and I’m 5’2" and 34 years old. After the birth of my first child, I found that the pleasant little “pooch” on my belly had changed for the bigger. In my more self-critical moments, I thought it looked like I had a fanny pack on front-wise, even when I was naked. Really, I don’t look like that, but I am a woman conditioned by my times, sometimes I can’t help it. So I got a couple of pairs of “girdle undies.” They compress and shape, and I love them. I don’t wear them all the time, but I do wear them. I also have a shaper teddy with boning that I wear post-partum. Partly because I look skinnier faster and partly because support for those poor, abused abdominals is very good for them while they are recovering. It ain’t false advertising, and it ain’t repression. I feel prettier in slinky outfits when I have a little extra support, and so it’s great! What matters is how I feel about how I look. I wear WonderBras too. Is that bad? I love cleavage and might not have a lot otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/19 "2001-12-05T22:19:40Z")
I’ve gotten the impression that about every woman in America wears a shaper (girdle) under her wedding gown. I’ve been in stores where they have 'em heaped in a basket for trying on gowns, and also been advised to bring my shaper to the store with me. Everyone’s just willing to go the extra mile when it comes to that special day. Not me though. I wore an ordinary party dress with ordinary undergarments. I have to admit I didn’t look very glamorous. ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069/20 "2001-12-05T22:56:26Z")
Today (not everyday) I’m wearing my “granny panties”. They are Victoria’s Secret underwear with a “pooch guard” in the tummy area. I also have on control top pantie hose, and the control top part of another set of panty hose who lost their legs. haha Surely that adds up to at least one girdle. I wear it all when I wear tightish clothing so that my pooch isn’t as big. I weigh about 125-130, and I’m 5’5". I’m not FAT, but I like a little support when I want to look extra thin… 🙂 :):)🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gals-do-you-wear-girdles/97069.md?page=2)