Telephone Poles and Underwear

Someone, somewhere is making an obscene joke out of that title right now, but these are the random thoughts in my head today.

First. Our friends were sharing a story this weekend where she thought, as she was driving around being a rural vet, that telephone poles are kind of mysterious in their origin. Her question was, are they made from very tall trees that are milled down to the right size, or are they a blend? The husband was telling the story and was all snickery and I thought the answer was OF COURSE they are a blend of wood created to be poles. Umm, apparently not. He claims, and k-ster backs him up, that if you look carefully at telephone poles. they are indeed one tree that was shaped to be the right height and width. I find this very hard to believe but I am too lazy to go google it right now. I have looked at them a lot lately and I really can't tell. I thought I remembered seeing some that kind of looked like puzzle pieces but now that I look, I don't see any like this. I can't believe there are enough trees in the world that are tall enough to make them.

Second. Remember when you weren't supposed to see people's underwear? When it was not nice if you saw someone's bra straps? When did society decide it was OK to see them? Was it when society said women can run in sports bras with no tops? I think that might have been the day. Look around in summer and all you see are bra straps. Some are "fashionable" and are actually meant to be seen and even if they aren't meant to be seen, some women just think it's OK to let them hang out. I remember going to great lengths last century to hide my straps. Safety pins inside the straps of tank tops were one option. Back then, tank top straps were much wider, so that rule at school about how they must be at least 2 fingers wide would have been obscene in those days. They were all qutie wide, as I recall.

I believe it was when I started teaching classes at the gym that I began to allow my sports bra straps to be seen. This doesn't bother me in the least, probably because it isn't like a real bra, in my mind. It's meant to look athletic and often looks like a bathing suit, so it's OK with me. I just don't like to see those white, normal bras, the kind with the circle things just hanging out.

I suppose I am a hypocrite as I am sitting here, wearing a sports bra under a tank top and letting the straps hang out though I am not exercising. I am hot and I seem to believe it's OK because it's a sports bra.

Let's look at the other side. Can you imagine if society decided that men could exercise in public just wearing an athletic supporter? Picture the scene. A man is running down the road wearing a t-shirt, a jock strap and sneakers and socks. I am laughing/retching so hard it's difficult to type. Now picture this. A man decides he'll stop at the grocery after his grueling gym workout. He throws on a new t-shirt, still wearing just the jock strap and sneakers. What would you do if you came down the aisle and saw this man picking up broccoli? I know, a man stopping at the grocery is such a far fetched idea, I should have stopped there.

Is there a double standard? In summer, I see women at the grocery all the time in sports bras and shorts. Usually they are very tan and have great abs. Would it be better if the man was very tanned and in great shape when he did errands and exercised in his jock strap?

Think about it and while you do, thank the Good Lord society hasn't deemed that outfit proper. Yet.