So fashionable

[Julie Denier]

At the airport today in the security line, saw a woman in a nice skirt suit and slingbacks (probably 4-inch heels), and "fashionably" bare-legged. Taking off her shoes before walking through the metal detector, she slips her bare feet into an oh-so-fashionable pair of plastic grocery bags. What is it about the hosiery that's so terrible? ;)

[AllieSF]

Maybe it is just to damn hot and sweaty for her to be fashionably correct to wear nylons at this time. Who says wearing nylons is fashionably correct? Maybe she likes nylons during the winter. How does this scenario show that hosiery is "so terrible"? I wear nylons during the winter after my tan fades. I wear it once in a while during the warmer months if my total outfit calls out for a different legs treatment. Otherwise, the Summer season is perfect for my tanned bare legs with shorts, slacks and skirts. Wearing nylons does not make one a woman nor more feminine.

[Julie Denier]

My point was that if she wore hosiery, she would not only look nicer (IMO), but she wouldn't have to wear ridiculous grocery bags on her feet to march through airport security :) Not a warm day at all where this was, BTW ...

[Persephone]

I think the grocery bag idea is a damn good one! I'm certainly going to do it!

Are you suggesting that wearing hosiery or even men's socks somehow protects one from the bacteria filled human debris on that section of floor? Yuck! Personally, if I were wearing hose I would be even more likely to slip disposable booties or grocery bags on my feet! I wouldn't want that crud on my hosiery for the next 8-10 hours any more than I would want it on my bare feet!

Hugs,
Persephone.

[erickka]

Smart lady!! You never know what is on those floors or where it was imported from, so her idea of protecting herself from whatever is really a good move, regardless of how silly she looked.

[Joanna41]

I was gonna add the bootie idea too...but the bags were great for the time being IMO.

Joanna

[Sarasometimes]

You bring up an interesting and disgusting point, how gross is that floor. We need a investigative reporter to swab it and show us what diseases you can get from that short barefooted walk??!!! My guess is that athletes foot is the least of one's worries. Maybe they will do a study and find that walking that short distance over hot coals is safer.
You should have asked her how she came up with such a clever solution. Who knows but someday they may add an option, after checking your ID the TSA rep may ask "paper or plasitc". If you bring you own canvas foot covers you save $.05 on your flight.

[Jamiegirl1]

Maybe she is like me,she prefers bare legs!

[TGMarla]

It's unlikely that no matter how disgusting that floor may be, that you'll ever catch anything from it by walking barefoot over it. And if you're going bare-legged in the first place, your feet aren't going to stay all that clean to begin with. There is nothing terrible about hosiery, and they make summer hose for warmer weather. But it's a woman's option - she can wear hosiery or not. Personally I like wearing hosiery. However, the fashion Nazis have deemed it a fashion faux pas these days to opt for such elegance on a daily basis.

[RobynB]

Just from observation, most women need hosiery to make their legs look good.

[Annaliese]

I dont wear hosiery in the summer I have to keep my legs tanned

[Sara Jessica]

Maybe it is just to damn hot and sweaty for her to be fashionably correct to wear nylons at this time. Who says wearing nylons is fashionably correct? Maybe she likes nylons during the winter. How does this scenario show that hosiery is "so terrible"? I wear nylons during the winter after my tan fades. I wear it once in a while during the warmer months if my total outfit calls out for a different legs treatment. Otherwise, the Summer season is perfect for my tanned bare legs with shorts, slacks and skirts. Wearing nylons does not make one a woman nor more feminine.

Perfectly stated. This really should be the last word.


Just from observation, most women need hosiery to make their legs look good.

Oh really? You must not live in SoCal where most women go bare and have absolutely gorgeous legs.

BTW, most women don't need a man to tell them what makes their legs look good.


My point was that if she wore hosiery, she would not only look nicer (IMO)...

Right, in your OPINION. Maybe she thought she looked nicer without hosiery, not to mention more comfortable, etc.

People make reference to "fashion police" and stuff like that in suggesting there is some conspiracy against hosiery. Fact of the matter is that times change and hosiery is no longer seen as a must-wear in order to be some sort of prim & proper representation of femininity. Marla nails it when she says it's a choice. Some women choose to wear it all the time, some none of the time and most some of the time. Bottom line, it's their choice. Women don't need projection of some sort of ideal from the TG community to suggest their look is less suitable, less beautiful, or less feminine just because they choose NOT to wear hosiery.

<end/rant>

Sara
(falls in the "most-some-of-the-time" category)

[Cynthia Anne]

Some women need to cover there legs for obvious reasons! Some don't! Come on down to the airport! That's where you will find me! Selling grocery bags for 50 cents each!:D Hugs!

[Vieja]

Lucky me, I did all my traveling before we had crazies who want to blow us all up so I never had to take my shoes off and people could see the holes in my socks. LOL.


Vieja

[Cheryl T]

My point was that if she wore hosiery, she would not only look nicer (IMO), but she wouldn't have to wear ridiculous grocery bags on her feet to march through airport security :) Not a warm day at all where this was, BTW ...

I'm sure the grocery bags were not a replacement for the hosiery and had she worn hose she most likely would have still donned the grocery bags as a form of protection against all the various forms of bacteria and fungi that most likely reside on that floor's surface as a result of all those who went before her in their bare feet or sweaty socks or hose. I don't blame her for wearing them...I would too had I thought of it first and now that I have that thought I may be the one you see next wearing those "fashionable" grocery bags. Perhaps I'll take it to a new level and use Nordstrom bags or Lord and Taylor. Would that be more acceptable to you?

[Stephenie S]

I almost never wear hose in the summer. If I do it's gonna be knee highs.

I think the grocery bag idea is delightful and I will use it myself. Who KNOWS what's on that floor. (Oh wait, I do. Yuk from everyone else's feet is on that floor.)

Stephie

[Chickhe]

Maybe she had some disease that she did not want to spread around...

But, why bags? Why not just bring some flip flops or slippers? They work great in the hotel room too.

[MissMarcie]

Just from observation, most women need hosiery to make their legs look good.
I have to disagree. I've recently seen women who looked awesome wearing no hosiery.

[Persephone]

But, why bags? Why not just bring some flip flops or slippers? They work great in the hotel room too.

"TSA guidelines on acceptable footwear state: 'Disposable booties or slippers may be worn through the checkpoint to help protect your feet, but they must be disposed of prior to leaving the screening area.'"

Technically I think you have to dispose of your disposable slippers before you retrieve your shoes from the shoe carnival.

Hugs,
Persephone .

[Vickie_CDTV]

After walking around an airport floor for a minute wearing plastic bags on her feet she probably went on to touch countertops, doorknobs, computer keyboards and other really germy things with her hands without a second thought. While it is plausible she could get athlete's foot or something, the risk is really, really minimal compared to the germ filled things we touch everyday with our hands.

As for pantyhose, I don't certainly wish to impose my will on GGs or anything, but I can't imagine why a GG would wear 4"+ heels all day and yet that same GG describes pantyhose as "torture". How her legs might look is really irrelevant, if she wants to project a polished, professional image (I assume she does), she should be wearing hosiery. When I dress I want to appear as a professional woman, and even though I have young, permanently smooth legs I always wear hosiery because that is the image I wish to project.

Now of course, the real ridiculous thing at the airport that day was making every single Caucasian, native American English speaking, western-dressed middle aged female (someone who does not even come close to meeting the profile of a terrorist) take off her shoes and walk around barefoot to begin with.

[RachelPortugal]

Hosiery is fine in the cooler weather or to complement an outfit, but bare legs IMHO are so much nicer, particularly when sporting a golden tan.

Professional women wear hosiery, yes the oldest profession in the world do so too!

As for airport security, my wife has refused to remove her shoes when she saw those little blue "grocery" bags being re-used at one UK airport and again when there were no seats provided. Each time her footwear was given a little extra scrutiny after the the detectors.

[5150 Girl]

I think the grocery bag idea is a damn good one! I'm certainly going to do it!

Are you suggesting that wearing hosiery or even men's socks somehow protects one from the bacteria filled human debris on that section of floor? Yuck! Personally, if I were wearing hose I would be even more likely to slip disposable booties or grocery bags on my feet! I wouldn't want that crud on my hosiery for the next 8-10 hours any more than I would want it on my bare feet!

Hugs,
Persephone.
This was the first thought that came to my mind as well

[BLUE ORCHID]

You can have my pantyhose when you pull them off my cold dead body.

Orchid

[Kittyagain]

It is so interesting our different likes. Myself, I rarely wear pantyhose anymore. I use too but I find myself more of a casual person of late. Still love the feel of pantyhose but I do so much like the feel of a skirt and half slip against my legs as well.

Kitty

[Tina B.]

My mother used to tell stories of how upset her mother in law would get when they would go to town, and mom didn't wear a slip under her dress, grandma thought she was acting like a cheap hussy, my older sister always wore nylons, whenever she wore a nice dress, would not have been seen without. But my wife, while she wore pantyhose, see never did like them, and would only wear them when she was dressed to the nines. Now most of the younger girls don't wear a dress all that often, and comfort seems more important than style, a lot of the girls have decided hosiery is just not all that important. I see starlets, and other women on TV all the time anymore, sans nylons. It's about comfort, and current styles, and how a man feels about it, is not important. Women dress to impress (other women), but they don't even think men think about or understand fashion, so why worry about what he thinks, make it low cut, and he won't think about anything else anyway.
Tina B.

[Stephenie S]

As a young girl I was not allowed out of the house without a slip. This was during the 1950s. I had to wear stockings and gloves also. Stockings meant a garter belt. Deodorant was all that was sold at that time, no antiperspirant was available at all, so if I was wearing a "nice" dress, that meant a dress shield. When I was old enough to go shopping for myself I bought a long leg panty girdle to hold up my stockings. My mother didn't approve, but she let me get away with it. My long line bra had little hooks on the bottom to hook into my girdle. We used to joke that our shoulder straps were holding up our stockings. LOL.

I thank Goddess that our clothes are a bit more comfortable now. Would I go back to that era? Never. I am SO sorry that this offends you, or makes you feel that women just aren't considering your feelings in this matter. But the fact remains that women dress far more for their own comfort these days rather than to conform to some arbitrary, male directed set of rules. My mother, for instance presented the necessity of wearing a slip as a MORAL issue. It was IMMORAL to leave the house with my bra straps visible.

We can look back now and say that was ridiculous, and it was, really. But please give me the freedom to dress the way I want. IN COMFORT. I support your desires to crossdress. Really I do. But give me the same freedom. Don't try to force me back to a time when comfort was ignored to conform to arbitrary societal rules. I hated it!

[Dawn cd]

This is BTW, but I must take exception to Vickie's statement that "the real ridiculous thing at the airport that day was making every single Caucasian, native American English speaking, western-dressed middle aged female (someone who does not even come close to meeting the profile of a terrorist) take off her shoes and walk around barefoot to begin with." This is racial profiling at its worst. Do you think all terrorists are swarthy arabians or wear burkas? Tell that to Timothy McVeigh.

[JenniferR771]

I have a mnior in bacteriology. Yuck! My bare feet where thousands of other people have walked. I think TSA should sanitize the platforms after every few passengers. Bleach and ultraviolit light while they rotate to a clean one.