Women's Underwear

I read a book yesterday titled “you make it happen”. It’s a Chinese book. In this book, there was some interesting revelation about women’s underwear.

It’s a book written by a father to his teenage daughter. The author is a University Professor, a writer, an artist and an ambassador in cultural exchanges between America and China. His daughter was once granted an award from President Bush and his son held a Doctor’s degree from Harvard University. We are talking about a very successful Chinese family living in New York.

In one of his ‘teachings’ to his daughter on how to overcome her various bad habits, he commented on her habit of leaving her underwear on the bathroom floor.

He pointed out that a woman’s underwear is a very private thing. As such she should never leave her underwear on the floor or any ‘public’ places. Instead, she should hand wash her underwear in the shower. He further clarified that this was about a woman’s self-respect and self-grace.

I was amused, to say the least! You see, I am Chinese. However, I have never picked up on this piece of Chinese tradition. I always wash my underwear in the washing machine together with other clothes (which means it could be mixed with my husband’s). Now since he pointed out, I remembered that my mother always gave her underwear ‘special treatment’. She always seemed to hand wash her underwear separately, usually in the shower. And the same with my sister! Although I did notice the special thing about underwear, somehow I just didn’t follow. How come I was left out of this ‘teaching’? I don’t know. Was it because it was too subtle a subject that I was supposed to pick it up naturally? Or, was it because I dismissed this ‘teaching’ rebelliously as it didn’t make any sense to me? Well, I might check that one out when I talk to my mother on the phone next time!

It seems that this underwear thing is not just a Chinese tradition. At least two kiwi people have told me that they felt very strange when they happened to discover that their Japanese homestay (girl) students wash their underwear separately and dry them in the wardrobe! At the time I just thought those Japanese girls were strange indeed.

Well, I am glad that I’ve learnt something ‘new’ about my culture. I am also glad that I have never adopted that part of my culture, as it still doesn’t make sense to me.