I can distinctly remember my friend approaching me in 8th grade, slightly disgruntled and confused, but obviously uncomfortable. She told me that one of our teachers had just leaned over to her and whispered: “I can see your panty line”.
She had this coiled up and appalled look on her face… rightfully so, of course. However, what happened next was what really got me. She said, “I’m not even wearing panties.” Looking back on this, I realized my biggest concern was whether or not she was facing any disciplinary problems because leggings were banned in our school and she could have easily been dress-coded.The bigger problem, that the adult me now recognizes, is the hypersexualization of an 8th grader’s body.
What I’ve been wondering lately is: What’s so bad about the panty line?
Of course, it's every individual's right to decide what type of underwear they choose to wear, but why does society consider a panty line such a ghastly sight? What about the thin trace of fabric pushed up against other fabric is so horrifying to us? Is it a secret that we wear undergarments?
Mostly, panty line stigma is an underlying microaggression that is a part of a larger system of oppression. The concept that "beauty is pain" is perpetuated by our obsession by ensuring that every part of a woman is perfect. This stigma goes as far as to be perpetuated into our own middle school environments. Girls are taught that wearing leggings is wrong through school dress codes. In many ways, they’re taught that their bodies are wrong.
As a society, we look for every possible flaw in a woman. This includes that their pants may not be perfectly flush against their body. We steer children as young as 11 to wear thongs as opposed to the more comfortable “granny panties”. Nevermind that wearing tight underwear can actually lead to infections in women. We value appearance above health.
We live in a panty line culture where it is acceptable for a grown adult to address a 13-year-old student and make them feel uncomfortable for merely having a butt. It worries me that this the state of our current world.
Fashion mishaps and nip slips and panty line negativity has been ingrained into our culture to the point where we know it's an issue, but we just assume it will solve itself. At some point, we assume, women will become so liberated that “petty beauty” won’t even matter. The truth is, however, that we need to make that some point now. Young girls in our world are being treated as if all that matters is their panties.
Our school administration spent more time dress coding young girls for wearing leggings than it did trying to find out why students acted out in class. Our panty lines were deemed more a distraction that the students that spewed racial slurs.
Honestly, panty line culture may seem minute. Maybe that’s the point, though. It is minute. Whether or not I have a panty line shouldn’t matter, but it affects so much. In the professional world, it can risk you a job. Suddenly, it looks like you don’t care about your appearance, but maybe the truth is you just care about your own health and comfort a bit more.
It's become such a taboo that the boys I tried to talk to about panty lines became visibly uncomfortable. For a woman to address the issue to them was not only surprising, but nearly out of place.
Panty line culture: the world that obsesses over every flaw instead of addressing the overarching problems.
