I never understood all the paranoia over "panty lines". So people know you're wearing underwear. Can someone please tell me why I need to give a fuck?

Aye! A British friend had posted about this shortly after this investigative news piece! Useless piece of tat. I can't imagine them selling much, so I expect LoveHoney to stop making/stocking them soon.

I'm a little confused...I thought thong underwear pretty much took care of the whole "panty line" issue? What on earth are people wearing that even a thong is visible underneath, and how do they breathe in such garments?

Ok I know I'm larger than the average woman but AHHHH! I mean AHHHHHHHH!

I'm not so attached to my underwear that I need it but christ, if you're going to wear underwear then WEAR UNDERWEAR.

And how much does that thing cost? Because I'm guessing it costs the company -$0.01 to produce.

I agree with june. Why are we scared to show panty lines anyway? Why do we have to give the illusion that we're not wearing underwear?

And if you're going to wear a C-string, why wear underwear at all? It seems kind of pointless.

One question: how would you wash that thing?

Gross.

All I can say is, "ouch!"

I think if it came down to that, I'd just go commando.

Ow.

Oh, and another question: is it just me or does that thing look like a self-supporting maxi pad from the front? It actually makes the model look a lot uglier than she would naked, or in some nice figure-flattering underpants.

Hmmm. So how much is the "C-String"? And how much does it cost to get it surgically removed from your vagina (since, y'all know there's no way that thing's gonna stay put)? Who knew we needed wired pantyliners??

The "C" is because of it's shape? ...Right.

Um, yeah. Seriously. I only have one dress that has a pantyline issue that can't be overcome by a thong, and it's a long dress, and if I care enough about it when I'm wearing it, I just go commando. I don't see that shoving a wire up my asscrack is going to be a more appealing option anytime soon, but thanks.

(Thus endeth my TMI for the day.)

You beat me to it, florafloraflora. The model looks like she's wearing a red maxipad. And I can't stop thinking that since this thing is held on by pressure, the part on your rear ahs just got to chafe. Ouch.

Another though also popped into my head. I may be wrong, but I think that the original intent of underear was as a lining and protection to clothing, and not for chastity. Thnk about it - we change our underwear everyday, but will wear the same pair of jeans a couple of times before we wash them. As time goes on, modern underwear evolves. And from that, we begin to develope 'sexy' panties (although for some reason, men's underwear never really gets beyond boxers and briefs). We developed 'good girl' and 'bad girl' panties. Instead of being a practical thing, underwear has gotten cultural significance as a kind of virgin/whore good girl/bad girl sign. It is taboo to go without now. Thongs have gotten mainstream acceptance and no longer shock. The C-string shrows practicality out the window completely and gives minimal coverage while allowing one to still wear underwear (I'm a good girl because I wear underwear, but I'm a bad girl because my underwear does not cover much.). Again, I'm theorizing here, so this feel free to correct me.

HAHAHA!!!!

Can you imagine wearing that under a skirt and it falling off while you are giving an important presentation at work?
How would you explain that?

Give me a pant line any day over that kind of embarrassment.

I must say, my initial reaction was not so much "that's hot" as "what the hell is wrong with her pubic hair?".

I was thinking the exact same thing, florafloraflora -- it looks like a maxi pad attached with spirit gum.

So... it's ugly, it's uncomfortable, it's difficult to wash, and it makes you look like you're going commando. I predict that this thing will go the way of the Epilady, only faster.

Why even wear underwear at that point? I can't imagine this would sell, although if you showed me high heeled shoes with pointy toes or underwear intentionally made to ride up your ass crack before they became popular I probably would have said the same thing about them, too.

I am so sick of this shit.

G strings were invented so strippers could get past nudity laws. What made this "better than a G string" necessary?

I am so sure in two years I will be here arguing with a group of women sexier and younger than me about how empowering their C string is. Sheeesh.

Even as a het male I find that unattractive.

what. the. fuck.

I swear to god that would not stay in place over my genitals. And taking that to a beach? Dear lord, you're asking for sand where sand don't need to ever be...

Uck. A maxipad that gets clamped to your ass by a piece of wire... whyyyyyy??!??!!!

I only have one word to say about wearing this to the beach: waves. Or maybe you're just supposed to lay there and look naked...i mean pretty.

Not that I have a problem with nudity, but if you're gonna be naked, be naked. I don't think this thing could get around any public decency laws in my state....I don't even know if you can wear thong bikinis in public.

That damn thing looks like a form of punishment.

Sheesh. Most panty line issues can be solved by wearing longer underwear (like Grandma used to wear), or no underwear. That thing looks like it's distinctly inferior to duct tape both in terms of practicality and comfort.

That has to be a practical joke. I would much rather go commando, if I am that worried. I do have to say, I would agree to have sex with people just to see their reaction when they found that... bandaid on a stick thing.

Reminds me of the crazy lengths my high school friends would go to hide tampons. My feeling was always, "I am a teenage girl, most of us bleed, who cares?" College was the same thing, only with condoms. I don't get this fear of what everyone else does- it isn't even the unusal things people fear!People wear underwear, or they don't, and why should anyone else care?

Whoever invented the C string must really not like women! It looks really uncomfortable, and probably gets really nasty and rank smelling after a couple of hours of use.

As far as "sexiness" - as a straight man, it doesn't do a thing for me (then again, I've never been a thong or G string fan - since this is the next step in thong evolution, it's not suprising that I don't like it).

On the real, women look their best in comfortable clothes - no matter what the fashion designers say!

Oh yeah, I never got the whole "visible panty line" thing, and why it's so horrible if somebody else knows you're wearing underwear.

Honestly, if somebody even notices your panty line, that means they've been staring at your butt for quite some time.

Considering the fact that it's kinda rude for somebody to be doing that (not to mention sexist - if it's a straight man doing the staring), why does their opinion about the visibility (or lack therof) of your panties matter in the first place?

For practicality and comfort I find a cotton thong can't be beat. That thing, though? If it is the "evolution of the thong," it is clearly one of evolution's ill-fated accidents.

"?" seems like the best possible reaction.
It doesn't look comfortable, sanitary, attractive or practical. So what is the point?

Interesting thoughts, VT. I think that you're onto something.

"it probably gets really nasty and rank smelling after a couple of hours of use"
are vaginas really that bad?

anyway, i think this thing is hilarious in the maxi-pad look, and horribly unfortunate in the choice of name, but i have to admit it's creative. but i'll never wear one. please. i'll wear crap like that when men start wearing lingerie for us. and i can't think of any way to design men's underwear that i would find sexy, so how about we both stick to comfort?

Unbreathable-looking fabric tightly clamped to the most ... uh ... moist areas? Not to mention I've never understood how thong strings don't stink to high heavens (maybe it's my own scarred asshole that's the problem, but every time I think I'm clean as a whistle, it turns out I'm not). Yeah, I can see how that might get stinky.

And uncomfortable.

Plus, I was thinking about going to the bathroom. You'd pretty much have to remove it and hold it in one hand while you do your business. I've never thought of thongs as practical, but at least they hold themselves on. I avoid the panty-line problem by just not buying clothes made of stuff that'll show my underwear. generally if it's that sheer, it's not that flattering anyway.

You know, I'm reminded of one of the little cartoons that Spanx puts into its packaging. The first panel is captioned, "Men's Solution to Panty Lines" and shows three male scientists designing the G-String. The second panel is captioned, "Women's Solution to Panty Lines" and shows three female scientists designing the Power Panty (which is kind of like the control-top part of a pair of control-top pantyhose).

I don't suppose if anybody's asked why women get pants that show underwear lines, whereas men don't?

The c-thing is odd enough, but it certainly distracts attention from the pants issue.

(I can't believe I wrote that with a straight face.)

Thanks, Merletto!

My solution to VPL is just not to wear polyester pants. (Polyester is the Fabric of the Beast, anyway.)

I showed this to my pervy, thong-hating, VPL-fan boyfriend, and he remarked, "It's like her pussy has decided to try out the 'try sticking out your tongue and touching your nose with it' trick and is faring little better than most people." I'm surely going to hell for screaming with laughter at that. I think red was a highly unfortunate colour for the demonstration model...

I vaguely wonder if someone picked it out in that colour on purpose specifically to bring all those unpleasant associations to mind. IBTP in any case.

So, visible panty line is bad. The solution is to wear invisible underwear, which causes sexual harassment and social shunning.

I'll never be able to understand patriarchy logic.

(And having said that, I'm waiting for the inevitable cat macro about invisible underwear.)

and how do you pee while wearing that thing?

Ugh. I don't care if people know I have underwear on. They can stick their eyes back in their sockets and look elsewhere if they're offended. I'm not going commando or wearing any sort of butt floss to appeal to someone else's sensibilities.

Just a tip... they make [real] underwear now that won't show through (in most situations). It is usually marketed as "panty-line free" or "no show", etc. I absolutely love my Victoria's Secret Body by Victoria Ultrasmooth hip huggers. They are sooo soft and comfortable, and they don't ride up.

And to clarify, I'm not trying to market for them or anything. I just hate to see another woman suffer. I couldn't stand those asscrack scraping thongs any more and found these after a bit of research. Worth their weight in gold, I tell you.

And I think the VPL panic was a corporate manufactured mass hysteria designed so that women would have to buy a whole bunch of new, overpriced underwear. They do that sort of thing to us all the time (or try to--it is quite amusing though way underpublicized when they fail).

I don't think I could take any person wearing one of these seriously... and there is NOTHING sexy about that.

I can see wearing it in some contexts. I had sworn never to wear a thong for most of my life. Then I graduated high school and gained a lot of weight. Now I can't go out in public during the summer without one, because I sweat like mad in anything else.

That said, ouch. Thongs are not comfortable. I don't for a minute think that I'd ever feel comfortable in a thing like this.

Ok, I started reading the article and wondered what all the hulaboo was about. Then I looked at the picture. I honestly burst out laughing. Honestly.. who came up with this train wreck? I can't believe anyone would actually wear this sort of thing!