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Is there a panty strategy when you go to the doctor?At first glance, this seems a quirky and frivolous question, not to say ridiculous.Why would it be necessary to seriously wonder what underwear we will carry if we have a medical appointment during the day?
"I do as usual.The choice of underwear is rather for me;I have fun, every day.If I go to a doctor, nothing changes, ”says Andrea, 52 years old.Especially since "the doctor or the doctor had to see others!" Exclaims Marie, 26 years old.
It is true that, rationally, there is no reason to prefer a panties or a bra rather than another or pay attention more than usual to these ends of fabric that hide the buttocks, sexand the breasts.
Clean and presentable
However, worrying about his underside before going to the doctor is not incredible.Thus from Ingrid, 40, who makes sure to opt for a "neutral but chic, not too sexy, black or gray, no more unexpected" set, no more unexpected color ".
It is not the only one to avoid both old -fashioned lingerie, mismatched, stained, holes, too tight or relaxed, but also that considered to have an erotic load.A classic strategy that underlines "the contradictory injunctions posed to women: being pretty, but not too much", supports director Nina Faure, among other authors of the short film pay (not) your gynecologist on gynecological violence.
Above all, "what matters is to be presentable", details the sociologist Philippe Liotard, specialist in the body, for whom this attention paid to underwear "refers to the presentation of oneself and to the internalized codes to appearproperly".
Some women cannot go to the doctor without having freshly shaved legs - well far from the hashtag #hairylegclub, for "hairy legs club" - and others take a shower before."As long as I am clean," reports Marie.
Everyone has their definition of cleanliness.If we consider as cracras pubic hair that repels and exceed, we can favor less indented panties or avoid those that are transparent and reveal to the doctor's eye that the metro ticket has become a navigo card.
To read also a brief history of underwear and their progress
Judgment protection
It is that "the underwear helps to compose an attitude. […] Les habits qui recouvrent la peau forment un “territoire du moi”, une “enveloppe”»», résume dans l’ouvrage collectif Les objets ont-ils un genre? la conservatrice Anne Zazzo, responsable des collections de sous-vêtements du XIXe siècle à nos jours au Musée de la mode de la Ville de Paris, citant Erving Goffman.
This is what Ingrid describes: "For me, lingerie has a statutory dimension.I find that she says a lot on your level and your lifestyle.For example, an average material or garish colors, it is not very elegant.Conversely, the small simple but well cut together, it makes Parisian bourgeois ".
A status that makes it possible not only presentable, but also protected, in particular judgment."An appointment with the doctor is generally a dual relationship.It is a question of being presentable in an intimacy, which depends on what is planned on the exhibition of your own body, "said Philippe Liotard.
Eroticism and vulnerability
This is where all the symbolic load of lingerie can be added, associated in mentalities with seduction and sexuality."A attention attentive to the trade in appearances indicates that the genre tends to become through its objects" a consumer product ", writes Anne Zazzo.The woman in bra behaves according to the advertising patterns, as an animated image.»»
We can then think of being watched, with a potentially lustful or at least interested air. «On est dans une configuration particulière, dans un endroit clos, en duo avec une personne que l’on ne connaît pas très bien et qui a un pouvoir, du moins symbolique, et vis-à-vis de laquelle on projette des fantasmes de séduction, qu’on le veuille ou non, ou des angoisses, des craintes»», pointe Philippe Liotard.
Especially since the transparency of the underwear, whether in lace or in a material close to the tulle, can for example let out a nipple and make it feel bare, vulnerable, adds the documentary maker Nina Faure-Especially if the examination that will follow the undressing is perceived as annoying.However "vulnerability is a form of eroticism very commonly requested from women"».
Also read the most realistic underwear pubs are those where the models are dressed
Preliminary social control
To avoid any mistake and recall the codes of a gallant meeting or a night of wild sex, Nathalie, 31, abstains from sexy underwear in the event of medical appointments, in the same waythat Sylvie, 30, selects "a granny panties and a bra of the same ilk"».
Un mécanisme de défense qui, si l’on y réfléchit à deux fois, ne tient pas vraiment: «Si ce professionnel de santé est pervers, c’est se faire des illusions que de penser qu’il va s’arrêter à une vieille culotte»», fait remarquer Philippe Liotard.
Reste qu’il correspond à l’idée, comme le signale Nina Faure, que «ce sont les femmes qui portent le poids de la responsabilité de leur érotisme»» (culture du viol, quand tu nous tiens), ce qui induit un «contrôle social préalable»» et donc que l’on se pose la question de ne pas apparaître, par le biais des sous-vêtements, trop sensuelle.
Not even need to have had an experience where the attitude of the nursing staff was moved, the code is integrated: we especially want to show that we have nothing of a slut.All this using panties and a bra, underwear, to say the least, revealing how the body of women remains perceived.
