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>Once again, so much depends on the period (year) we >are talking about and the geographical location. Talk >of panty girdles on young girls suggests, to me, that >the reference is to the USA and not to Europe. In >Europe and certainly here in the UK, young girls >(teenagers) never wore panty girdles, even in the >1970s when they were quite widely worn by older women >over their newly-adopted tights. >In Britain in the 1950s and 1960s it wasn't girdle >wearing but nylon stocking wearing that marked a >significant growing-up event for girls. It was rare >for a girl under about 11 or 12 to start wearing >nylons. This was because there were costs involved >(socks withstood childish behaviour much better than >stockings) but also because wearing nylons required a >suspender belt to be worn and mothers didn't think it >appropriate to buy their daughters a suspender belt >until they were "old enough" to wear one with >stockings - usually starting around 12. >Of course, even quite small children (girls) wore >thick tights for warmth in colder months and there was >no "growing up" significance. Starting to wear sheer >nylon tights was definitely a mark of more adult dress >for girls in the late 60s and 70s but these didn't >require any extra apparatus to hold them up. >Before tights, the transition from suspender belt to >girdle - probably via a simple elastic roll-on belt - >depended on individual preference (including mothers' >preference), some finding a roll-on easier to wear >than a belt with long suspenders that often needed >adjustment to avoid sagging stockings. In Britain and >Europe the far more significant moment was when a >girl, already used to wearing suspenders and >stockings, also accepted the need for some degree of >figure control. Manufacturers offered "teen" or >"junior" girdles, often emphasising lightness and >freedom but also suggesting such girdles were >beneficial for young girls growing up. >From what girls told me, by their mid-teens probably a >majority were wearing a girdle (sometimes referred to >as a "controller") at least for special occasions if >not every day. I certainly came across girls who, >because of their perceived need to deal with figure >problems, wore quite firm, adult girdles from their >mid-teens.

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