It all started with a discussion with my relatives and then a question popped up in my mind –“Why can’t I dry my bras in the open under the sun?”
Well, in our discussion I couldn’t get an answer for who started this idea of hiding women undergarments. Why hide a bra? Is it a private part? All this shook up my mind and I took a step to not hide my undergarments.
I started observing this in movies too. Whenever there is a sex scene, and the camera shows the woman’s undergarments, bras look like the material that attracted intercourse. How they humiliate our undergarments!
I Wondered Why We Had To Talk Of Our Undergarments In A Hushed Voice
I was in its standard 8 around age 15 when my breast started growing and needed some toning and support. I heard my classmates whispering and laughing aloud about something. I shouted “BRA” eagerly to know more about what they were talking about but immediately felt a bit embarrassed. Our teacher secretly instructed us about the bra and the need to wear it. This created a big confusion in my mind. Why was she telling this to us in so much secrecy?
For a while, I forgot all this, until my mum asked me to put my bra and panties in a corner where no one would see them. I just asked her why I needed to put my undergarments in the corner when all the other clothes were drying out in the open. She answered, “Do you think bras and panties are suitable to dry with other clothes?” That’s a weird answer, I thought. So, I decided to look at my neighbours and realized that even they did the same. This was not something that happened only at my home.
I refused to follow the cycle of shame women associate with their underwear. I started observing my neighbourhood, especially the ladies, noticing how they dry their undergarments. One day while I was at my friend’s home, I saw a lady who literally suffocated her undergarments by wrapping it with other clothes as she put them out in the sun. Before doing this, she gave a careful, ashamed look at all four sides as if no one was allowed to watch her doing this, or else she would die of shame. I gathered data from other ladies on this aspect. They all seemed ashamed at talking about their own undergarments. It was a hard time and I took a major step.
I Started A Revolution In My Neighbourhood By Breaking The ‘Shame’
It was time to take the decision time. On a sunny day, I let my bras dry under the sun, in the middle of ropes. For a few days, I was taunted by some ladies for this, but soon my mom realized, I didn’t care about what others thought.
I wonder who taught women to be ashamed of their undergarments. A woman feels no shame for drying undergarments on their balcony, out under the sun without feeling shame. But when it comes to their own house, women feel so embarrassed about it.
Since then, my undergarments have been drying in an open place. Let me make it very clear that it’s not a symbol of shame. It shows that I have freedom with dignity. I even encouraged teenagers in my neighbourhood to do the same without shame.
Even now, some of my neighbourhood girls feel shame and their mothers give an odd look at their girls becoming empowered because according to them we should be ashamed of this stuff. But I know my undergarments matter.