Everyday Underwear
When I was a kid, I heard that Barenaked Ladies song that says “I could hide out under there. I just made you say “underwear” and I remember thinking “That’s a good joke. I should use that sometime.” The fact that I have never been able to take advantage of that line haunts me probably quarterly. So now that I’ve got that off my chest I want to share how we got to the point where I’m sharing a blog that consists solely of a list of underwear.
As many of you know, I’m a born and raised Mormon. You may also know, possibly against your will, that many Mormon adults wear special underwear commonly referred to by members of the Church of Jesus Christ as garments and magic underwear by many people outside of the church.
Garments, while not magical, serve as a physical reminder of spiritual commitments they’ve made. The commitments made are meant to be sacred and private between the individual and their Heavenly Parents (God.) Unfortunately, in the Mormon culture garments ar become a way for members to judge one another’s faithful and worthiness. Not only is this very much disrespectful of the true meaning of garments, but it’s also weird.
Repeat after me: Adults commenting on other adults’ underwear is weird. Adults commenting on other adults’ underwear is weird. Adults commenting on other adults’ underwear is weird. Adults commenting on other adults’ underwear is weird.
The church encourages people to wear their garments throughout their lives. How, why, and why someone wears or doesn’t wear their garment is personal, and as much as it might drive some of the people in your parent’s ward (congregation) crazy, it is no one else’s business.
While this is a very bad habit, the good news is that many people are working to unlearn this habit. Unlearning something that has been modeled and culturally approved is really hard. Especially if you dump religious shame into the mix. So while many of us are trying to stop noticing when someone is wearing something that isn’t garment friendly, unfortunately, the thought is often involuntary. This involuntary thought, or the first thought, is a reflection of how we’ve been raised. The second thought, the one you pick that comes right after the first thought, that thought reflects who you are trying to become.
So while I can’t control when my brain notices that the shorts the girl I served an LDS mission with is wearing in her IG stories are too short to be worn with garments, I can control what I think next. The truth is my thoughts will have zero effect on her. That’s never a comment I would make out loud, but it will affect me. I want to be the kind of person who notices how brave, adventurous, or kind someone is being, not the millimeters of fabric that is or isn’t covering the cap of someone’s shoulder.
One of the funny problems LDS women face when they choose to not wear their garments (for any reason) is feeling completely unaware of where to get normal underwear these days. If most of your family and friends are garment wearers, it can be tricky to find someone to ask for recommendations. That’s where I come in. I polled the wonderful women who follow me to gather a list of their favorite underwear brands, both maternity and every day. You can check out the whole thread and conversation on IG here. The list was so long that it went all the way under there, but these were the absolute crowd favorites.
Just in case anyone is wondering, this is what I want to be buried in. It has its own highlight, too.
