Let’s talk about women’s underwears today. Chaddi, the part of your clothing that is supposed to be your buddy, but what the market offers you could be described as a frenemy at best.

The uncomfortable laces, the thong that keeps riding up your butt, and the cloth instead of which you might as well rub cacti on your butt – sums up the majority of our undergarment shopping experience. 

This is not to say that we don’t have comfortable chaddies available. But the variety in the market mostly provides undies that end up playing catalyst in giving us horrible UTIs. 

While the larger meaning around lingerie has evolved from oppressive to empowering as women embrace and take charge of their sexuality. But this does not take away from the fact that there is a strata of women who want more variety of comfortable undergarments.

If you enter any lingerie shop in India, your eyes will be bedazzled by dozens of vibrant and sultry stuff. And then you’ll have 4 beige coloured undergarments lying in the corner. 

Why is the majority of market sexualising women’s undergarments? It is almost like the market is choosing ‘looking sexy’ over comfort FOR women.

The comfortable hipsters or tidy whities are labelled ‘granny panties’. While a lot of women have started to subvert the narrative and reclaim the ‘granny panties’ as something they would rather wear than beat the desire to itch their butt all day long. However, there is still a certain sense of shaming and ‘undesirability’ attached with comfortable chaddies. 

The snug satin or lace cloth piece does not absorb the vaginal discharge, gives rashes to some people, and is really not a friend of the vagina. 

Due to the uneasy garment, some women end up getting vaginal infections as the fabric prohibits air circulation.

Satin undies. More like, ‘satan’ undies.

Some women even notice an increase in UTIs after wearing thongs. Dr. Jill M. Rabin told The Huffington Post-

If you have a little bacteria — E. coli is the most common bacteria in the colon — in the back part of the fabric and you’re physically active, that material may move. All it has to do is move an inch or two and that thong may be depositing colonic bacteria into your vagina or urethra.

For once I would like to wear something pretty to a date that doesn’t make me want to badly itch my butt. And does not give me CTD – chaddi transmitted diseases. 

Women at large are ditching this devil in pretty disguise and opting for a comfy buddy. However, the lack of variety, and the ideas of ‘undesirability’ and ‘unattractiveness’ remain attached to these.