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Do WoT women wear underwear?


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Odd question, but I was wondering what kind of underwear women in WoT's Earth wear. (Don't look at me like that! It's a perfectly innocent question... :P)

 

I know they all wear shifts under their dresses, but a shift is basically just an under-dress. What do they wear around their nether regions? The men wear "smallclothes" which I assume to be some kind of lace-up boxers or loincloth, but IIRC what women wear there is never mentioned. Do they not wear any underwear at all and just go commando? What happens if their skirt flies up or they get turned upside down like that time Myrelle did it to Momo in NS? :sugar:

 

And what about when they're on their period, how do they keep their menstrual cloths in place?

 

Also, bras? I know some women can do without, but many just need the support, especially athletic women like Maidens (although it's mentioned that most Maidens except Avi are small-breasted). Even going back to ancient Rome you can see wall murals depicting women exercising with some kind of cloth wrapped around their breasts, so it's not like the concept of a bra is very modern or high-tech.

 

And what about all those women with "generous bosoms", do they just leave themselves unbound all the time? Some WoT cultures have corsets, but the rest...

 

Maybe they do wear underwear and RJ simply never mentions it (or I can't remember him doing so), but I find it odd that with all the dressing and undressing women do in this series he'd have forgotten to mention underwear. :duck:

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Honestly? I think they just use shifts except for that time of the month. As often as they get naked, RJ would have mentioned any other underclothes by now. If anything, them being that much easier to get naked fits right in with his pervy mind!

 

As an aside, I too have pondered this topic.

 

Oh! I just finished reading New Spring the novella and Moiraine brings along fresh stockings and shift when she is dodging Cadsuane and that is all; if there is anyone who would mourn lack of clean panties it is her. I think in the novel it actual lists all the clothes she needs when she is in the one part of the test (very specific, I know) and it was shift and stockings and garters. So. No actual undies. WoT women feel the wind as they walk.

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I have to admit, I have thought about this a lot. (Yes, yes, I admit it.) At first I used to think that there must be some version of smallclothes that they wear, because otherwise it doesn't make any sense, especially when they're bleeding. But then, what Marie said might be true that they only wear them then. Also, I agree that if they did, I'm sure RJ would have made it a point to mention it... and many times.

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WTH.

 

Wait, I should be moddly. Vertex, that stuff's for talking about in other places... not the underwear thread! *beats you with a Red Ajah's slip since they wear no undies* >:OOO

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Eeepseeps! Nofair!

 

Why can't women issues be discussed in public? Is it so shameful that it needs to be hidden, if mentioned at all? Imagine how guilty and bad red ajah members would feel if they read this and saw how you all look down on their way of life.

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Nik, you can go into your own thread and discuss this matter further if you like. :o

 

For Olivia if she can still brave her own thread:

[Moiraine] found a full set of garments. The slippers were embroidered black velvet, the white shift and stockings of the finest silk, the dress of only slightly heavier material

 

At her second step, the dress vanished, leaving her in her shift. [snip] Two more steps, and her shift melted away. By the time silk stockings and lace garters went...they seemed a grievous loss.

 

No panties mentioned.

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"Ewww, girls bleed and no undies and Mwahahaha!! :rand: "

 

Hee! :mat: So, it is shameful enough to not be :elayne:-ed about? Imagine all :elayne:-ing people who have no other way to express themselves. Think of how upset your post must make them. If they band up with redwinging ajahs, and take over the world, then it is your fault.

 

Nik, you can go into your own thread and discuss this matter further if you like. :o

My own thread? I have one just for myself?

 

the white shift and stockings of the finest silk

The way me understands it is that panties didn't come about until the time of the printing press. And that then recycled linen panties were used for paper, or there'd be nothing to print on...so if there is printing in WoT, then it seems likely women wear panties.

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RJ has said WoT is like the 1700s without gunpowder, right?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undergarment#Enlightenment_and_Industrial_Age

 

So yeah, I'm still going with the feeling the wind theory.

 

Edit: Further on it says in NS:

Except for a change of shift and stockings, she left the remaining garments in the wardrobe. They would be washed and put away against a novice gaining the ring who could wear them.

 

If they don't share shifts they won't share any other undergarments, so I'm just going to say I'm right and Nik wrong. :o

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