So, I went for my yearly gynocolgist appointment yesterday (and ya gotta love a post that starts like that!). I got escorted into the little examination room, and the nurse proudly pointed out that there is now a peg on the wall to hang my clothes after putting on the little paper napkin that they call a “gown”, rather than piling them on a chair, like I’ve been doing for the past umpteen years.
My first thought was not gratitude that I could go back to work with unwrinkled clothes. It was "Where the hell am I going to hide my underwear??" When I had the nice little chair, I could always shove my undies under my clothes. But now there was a peg! Nothing to make a pile on! So, when I got down to my unmentionables, I put them on the peg, then hung my clothes over them, which worked quite nicely.
Then, it struck me how silly it is for me to have underwear anxiety in a doctor's office. I mean, my doctor (who is female, and has presumably seen and even worn female-type undies) is going to be getting up close and personal with the old love canal in a few minutes, and here I am stressing over her seeing my bra and panties. And the next time I go see her, I'll be sure to wear something with pockets so I'll have someplace to stash them.
Please tell me I'm not the only weirdo who hides my underwear from my doctor!
I hide mine, too. I never really thought about it until I opened this thread. I always fold my clothes (very) neatly and stack them with my undies on the bottom.
Either one of the above-mentioned systems works quite well. I just feel lucky that I don’t have to take my bra off - just unhook it. (But it is kind of akward to re-do.)
I don’t wear a bra, but I have underwear anxiety even when I’m at home. I drop them to the bathroom floor to take a shower, and as I’m stepping into the tub I start thinking, “What happens if there’s a knock at the door while I’m in the shower, and I get out to answer it, and it’s a friend I haven’t seen in awhile, so I gladly welcome him/her inside, but before I can stop him/her, he/she cries, “Thank God you were home–I really gotta pee!” and dashes into my bathroom to see my dirty skivvies on the floor?”
So then I gotta put them into the bedroom laundry basket as a pre-emptive strike before I get my bathe on, just so that I can shower in peace.
I’ve posted this before, but it may be time to trot it out again. I used to suffer from underwear anxiety, among my many other gynecologist anxieties, until a friend told me a neat little trick.
When you go to the doc’s office, eschew that stupid paper gown completely. You will, of course, have brought with you a really floofy pegnoir (preferably one with maribou on it - maybe the one you opened from your SO last Valentine’s Day and greeted with “you gotta be kidding me.”) You don the floofy pegnoir, then reach into your purse to get your toe socks (preferably the stripey ones your teenage niece gave you last Christmas.) Hop up on to the table, and rest in the assurance that YOU will be making the doctor nervous for a change!
(PS: Hide your boring skitters in your jeans pocket when you hang them on the pegs.)
Yikes! :eek: I had a prostate exam during my first FAA flight physical. First of all, that area is “exit only”. But then I felt that lubricant all day. I felt violated.
My dad went for his flight physical (different doctor). The next day he returned with a one-inch notebook ring, which he presented to the doctor. “What’s this?” the doctor asked. “After what you did to me yesterday,” replied dad, “I figured we should be engaged!”
No problem with my undies though. There’s nothing embarassing on them. (If ya know what I mean. )
Some subconcious part of my brain is out to sabotage me, because, while I’m fretting about how unpleasant it’s going to be to get a pelvic exam today, I without fail fish around in my underwear drawer (or the laundry basket, or the dryer, depending on how on top of the laundry situation I am at the moment) and pull out the holeyest, stetched-out-est, most stained underpants I have, don them without noticing, and head off for the clinic.
I never thought about it before I opened this thread. I always hide my underware when I am at the doctors and I don’t know why. I have no embarassment from the exam itself, and I never worry about what he is going to think of my body. All the same, I always fold my underware and bra into the middle of my clothes somewhere, like that part even matters. I highly doubt that some doctor is going to care if I even fold my clothes, not to mention where my underware is in the mix.
Now I am going to be self-consious about this next time I am at the doctor.
There was actually a study done by sociologists a few years back on this very subject. (Is there anything they * don’t * study?)
The study found that the overwhelming majority of women attempt to hide their underpants, though hididng bras didn’t seem quite as important. (Some women would go to great pains to make sure their underwear was hidden, including stashing it in their purses.)
The sociologists theorized that underclothes in some way symbolize the body part which it covers. Breasts are more readily seen in public, so the bra has less of a “shame” factor.
The first time I was at my current GP for this, he sat down on his wheely-stool to begin the exam, and paused for a second, and said, “So, you said you’re an artist…”
Just thought I would share. I will not tell you why he said that.
Good god, I have these same sorts of thoughts. So I hide my underwear under my pile of dirty clothes there on the bathroom floor. I don’t know whether to be relieved or highly distrubed that I am not the only one.
I not only hide my underwear at the doctor’s office, but when I’m getting a massage, too. I’m going to let this complete stranger rub their hands on me for an hour, for money, but not let them see my unmentionables. Hmmmm.
I’m an underwear hider, too. Isn’t that just weird?
I’ve also discovered that you don’t have to take off your clothes from the waist up. I remove my bra but keep my sweater/blouse on rather than put on that nasty paper thing. The nurses have gotten shitty about it :rolleyes: but I have yet to have a doctor have a problem with it.
)