used underwear
I actually wrote the following last week; I have a bad habit of writing something and then returning to it, if at all, many days later. Anyway, on to used underwear (which happen to be really comfortable, as I can now attest to).
i bought my first pair of used underwear this weekend. two pairs, actually.
i have some other used underwear that my brother gave me when he was working at a laundromat. so, i guess i’ve worn used underwear before but never actually bought any.
it was a little embarrassing to look through the numerous pairs on hangers at the thrift store. i realized that i wasn’t able to recall ever having seen anyone looking through all those underwear; people seemed to avoid them, even though it is an aisle full of color and design variation….lots of selection.
well, i flipped through some of them quickly and grabbed two pairs in my size, both grey. i didn’t have anything else to get so i took them up to the cashier all by their lonesome. the checkout turned out to be fine; i had expected something embarrassing, some comment maybe that would bring attention to the used underwear lying in front of me on the counter. but it all went okay and i left the store with two fine pairs of underwear.
i have been running really low on underwear lately. some that i have had for years are getting to be more holes that fabric. but i haven’t wanted to buy new ones, especially from some sweatshop. the pairs my brother gave me helped out a lot but the time had finally come to challenge my fear of buying underwear used. and here i am today, with plenty of good underwear in which to face the world.
posted by matt iv at 2:20 PM
5 Comments:
Hilarious. Friends had given me a bad time about used shoes. Used underwear tops it. Your logic is noble though.
you are probably the only person i know that has bought and actually worn used underwear. i guess i know what to get you for christmas this year!
as long as you wash them. in hot water!
Matt, you should take a second to think this through. What happens to the people that are working in the sweatshops if they don't have that job? Sure the conditions are horrible but the alternatives in those countries are often worse (prostitution, crime, etc). They work there because they need to. Actually, the US had many sweatshops when it started. It may be a necessary piece in the chain to elevate a country's standard of living. Just a thought....
Erik,
I have taken a lot more than a second to think this through.
I have a question for you--what did people in places that now have sweatshops do before predatory global capitalism (pushed on them by countries like the U.S.) created environments of poverty and social conditions ripe for exploitation?
I think your question reflects our culture, a culture that includes many assumptions based on a white, capitalist worldview. It seems to suggest that somehow "we" (being the consumers that maintain these sweatshops) are actually doing some kind of favor for people who work in these conditions.
Just as clarification, consider corn farmers in Mexico. Before "free trade" was forced upon farmers in Mexico, farming families could provide for themselves and make a living growing local varieties of corn that were, not surprisingly, much better for the soil and long term farming than the subsidized, chemical intensive corn from the global north that has now flooded the Mexican market and forced these family farmers out of their way of living. As a result of this economic and cultural destruction, sweatshops are the new form of employment in those areas.
If that is a necessary piece of elevating something, I'm not exactly sure what is being elevated. Except certain bank accounts and stock options.
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