Sacred Underwear!

[southernhybrid]

I know we don't often discuss the Mormons here, but I couldn't resist posting from this recent NYT article about women who are rebelling against wearing their sacred underwear. Sacred underwear is just one of the many nutty things that we find in religion, as most of you know.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/21/us/mormon-women-underclothes.html?searchResultPosition=1

Sasha Piton was on a hike near her home in Idaho Falls, Idaho, when she realized something was wrong. The trek was just a few miles, and not strenuous, but a rash was spreading along the crease above her thigh.

Ms. Piton quickly identified the cause. Like many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she wears a white two-piece set of sacred temple garments, which are functionally underwear, almost all of the time.

After another painful hike, Ms. Piton reluctantly stopped wearing the garments when exercising and occasionally removed them overnight. Both changes felt significant, since church members have historically been encouraged to wear the garments “night and day.” But they were simply too uncomfortable.

And she did not stop there. Last month, Ms. Piton posted several cheerfully direct pleas to Instagram, where she discusses church culture as @themormonhippie. “We really want buttery soft fabric,” she said, addressing her comments to the church’s 96-year-old president, Russell M. Nelson. “My vagina has to breathe.”

I'd like to applaud this woman for being outspoken about the uncomfortable underwear, and refusing to wear it, but I am also perplexed as to how she can believe in some of the kooky things in Mormonism. Of course, many, all religious mythology has kooky practices and rituals. What is it about humans that they are able to take these things seriously? I've yet to figure it out.

Perhaps we have some former Mormons here who have a clue.

Ms. Piton, 33, had tapped into a familiar problem that few women in the church felt bold enough to discuss publicly. Her posts drew thousands of comments and private messages, in which women vented their frustrations with the holy apparel: itchy hems, bunchy seams, pinching waistbands and even chronic yeast infections caused by fabric that does not breathe.

“It’s sacred,” one commenter wrote. “But it’s still actual underwear.”

Temple garments date back to the church’s origins in the 19th century and symbolize the wearer’s commitment to the faith, akin to the religious garments of many other faith traditions. Adult Latter-day Saints wear them after their “temple endowment,” a private membership ritual that typically takes place before missionary service or marriage. The church controls the design and manufacturing process of the garments, and sells them globally at low prices.

I think anyone interested should be able to read the entire article since the NYT says subscribers can share 10 each month and I'm not there yet.

In private Facebook groups for women in the church, she said, garments are a constant topic of discussion, with some women hoping for improvements and others defending the garments as they are. But few women feel comfortable approaching male leaders to discuss bodily fluids, infections and sexual intimacy.

“People are scared to be brutally honest, to say: ‘This isn’t working for me. It isn’t bringing me closer to Christ, it’s giving me U.T.I.s,’” Ms. Perez said.

Open discussion is also thorny because the garments are frequent targets of mockery from outsiders. When Mitt Romney, a church member, was running for president in 2012, he was derided by some mainstream commentators for wearing “magic underwear.”

Wow! Is the underwear supposed to bring them closer to Christ? Who knew?

And, that's one reason why it's hard to take Romney seriously, even when he does the right thing. Of course, we know that he also tied his dog to the roof of his car while traveling once, but I don't think that was related to Mormonism. Hope this post either made some of you laugh or shake your heads and wonder what in the world goes through the minds of people who believe that underwear is sacred. I'm just perplexed. At least,, as an atheist, my underwear isn't giving me a rash or a UTI.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Joseph Smith had a knack for inventing things with a "religiousy" feel, which included dozens of vaguely Bibleish character names in the BOM, a really dull but earnest and authoritative writing style for the parts of the BOM he didn't crib from the Bible, a ponderous voice for God where he's supposedly speaking in the Doctrines and Covenants, temple rites which are partly taken from the Masons, and yes, holy bloomers.
It's a weird religion, but in microcosm, it's a fair metaphor for all religions. It has a pronounced in group/out group dynamic, and if you leave the tent as a deconverted ex-member, you often suffer a steep price in lost friendships and family ties.
Just as weird as the underwear is the business (the basis of the BOM story line) that Native Americans are descendants of ancient Jewish settlers in the New World. In other words, a rudimentary knowledge of what is known about the civilizations of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica should give anyone -- anyone who pays reasonably good attention in social studies class -- incontrovertible proof that Smith made th.e whole thing up out of fairy dust. Also, those tomahawk circumcisions musta hurt like a summa-mabitch.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Most humans neither wear nor believe in magic underwear but most humans do exhibit some connection with moralistic therapeutic deism. So telling an adult they need to wear their magic underwear is the same as telling a child that Princess Alice is watching them or that Santa isn't going to bring them presents if they misbehave.

I think that if a person believes there is some magic force at work, be it Santa or Princess Alice or their religion, they can be made to do some pretty dumb things. That's how superstition works.

 

[steve_bank]

Bizarro World.

Mormons have been baptizing dead Jews in a ceremony.

RCC Opus Dei members wear spiked bracelets around the thigh.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Mormons have been baptizing dead Jews in a ceremony.

Oh, they baptize everybody. Lenin, Hitler, Caesar, Pope Adrian the 4th (Nicholas Breakspear, the only English Pope).
Somewhere in Mormon Heaven a properly pissed Genghis Khan is probably wondering how the afterlife got so boring all of a sudden....

 

[Keith&Co.]

Wow! Is the underwear supposed to bring them closer to Christ?

It's a protective layer, spiritually. It connects them to the Temple, where they earned the right to wear it, to other Mormons who went thru the same rites, and to ancestors who were church members.

And with the funny underwear beneath your clothes, you won't wear revealing clothes, so it protects you socially, too, just like wearing a pocket protector or a D&D t-shirt.
You also won't go swimming, a big no-no for the kids on a mission.

Where i grew up, we only wore them at special church functions. Weddings (yours or a friend's), funerals (yours), maybe your kids' baptism.

So, hatchings, matchings, and eventual dispatchings.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Wow! Is the underwear supposed to bring them closer to Christ?

It's a protective layer, spiritually. It connects them to the Temple, where they earned the right to wear it, to other Mormons who went thru the same rites, and to ancestors who were church members.

And with the funny underwear beneath your clothes, you won't wear revealing clothes, so it protects you socially, too, just like wearing a pocket protector or a D&D t-shirt.
You also won't go swimming, a big no-no for the kids on a mission.

Where i grew up, we only wore them at special church functions. Weddings (yours or a friend's), funerals (yours), maybe your kids' baptism.

So, hatchings, matchings, and eventual dispatchings.

How exactly does one obtain the magic underwear?

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Wow! Is the underwear supposed to bring them closer to Christ?

It's a protective layer, spiritually. It connects them to the Temple, where they earned the right to wear it, to other Mormons who went thru the same rites, and to ancestors who were church members.

And with the funny underwear beneath your clothes, you won't wear revealing clothes, so it protects you socially, too, just like wearing a pocket protector or a D&D t-shirt.
You also won't go swimming, a big no-no for the kids on a mission.

Where i grew up, we only wore them at special church functions. Weddings (yours or a friend's), funerals (yours), maybe your kids' baptism.

So, hatchings, matchings, and eventual dispatchings.

How exactly does one obtain the magic underwear?

Never mind. The magic of wiki...

 

[Keith&Co.]

Wow! Is the underwear supposed to bring them closer to Christ?

It's a protective layer, spiritually. It connects them to the Temple, where they earned the right to wear it, to other Mormons who went thru the same rites, and to ancestors who were church members.

And with the funny underwear beneath your clothes, you won't wear revealing clothes, so it protects you socially, too, just like wearing a pocket protector or a D&D t-shirt.
You also won't go swimming, a big no-no for the kids on a mission.

Where i grew up, we only wore them at special church functions. Weddings (yours or a friend's), funerals (yours), maybe your kids' baptism.

So, hatchings, matchings, and eventual dispatchings.

How exactly does one obtain the magic underwear?

Whoops.
I confused the underwear with Temple Clothes. Those are earned, undies you just get.

I haven't been a church member for 50 years, and never around anyone i'd call observant.

 

[thebeave]

We talked about this many years ago on this forum. I do remember someone from here posting something about a Mormon guy who had has magic undies on when he spilled a bunch of gas that suddenly ignited. Apparently, the undies protected him from getting severe burns that he would have received had he not been wearing his Mormon undies. So, proof of God, I guess? Though you do have to wonder why God didn't prevent him from spilling the gas in the first place. That would have been less trouble.

I wonder if the Mormons have gotten with the times. Like putting Spiderman or Hello Kitty images on the undies. Might be the perfect marketing gimmick to attract new recruits.

 

[ideologyhunter]

The undergarments have been styled since their inception -- they were once like union suits, I think, and now you can wear them under jogging clothes and not be conspicuous. The few Mormons I've known (and whom I knew well enough to ask) don't wear them at all. Every faith has these interesting degrees of religiosity. "C'mon, I'm goin' to church some of the time, but I'm not a nutburger!"

 

[southernhybrid]

Wow! Is the underwear supposed to bring them closer to Christ?

It's a protective layer, spiritually. It connects them to the Temple, where they earned the right to wear it, to other Mormons who went thru the same rites, and to ancestors who were church members.

And with the funny underwear beneath your clothes, you won't wear revealing clothes, so it protects you socially, too, just like wearing a pocket protector or a D&D t-shirt.
You also won't go swimming, a big no-no for the kids on a mission.

Where i grew up, we only wore them at special church functions. Weddings (yours or a friend's), funerals (yours), maybe your kids' baptism.

So, hatchings, matchings, and eventual dispatchings.

How exactly does one obtain the magic underwear?

The church controls the design and manufacturing process of the garments, and sells them globally at low prices.

I assume that means that the church sells the underwear. Perhaps our former Mormon can help us out. I'm just quoting the article.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I assume that means that the church sells the underwear.

Yes, they maintain total control over the things. Which is the big complaint, if the design doesn't work for you, you can't go to ZCMI or KMart for a different brand/cut that doesn't chafe for bind.

 

[steve_bank]

Growing up Catholic I remember people putting little statues of St Christopher on the dashboard or hanging a medallion from the rear window to ward off crashes.

 

[Tharmas]

Growing up Catholic I remember people putting little statues of St Christopher on the dashboard or hanging a medallion from the rear window to ward off crashes.

In high school we used to say "Going ninety isn't scary, long as you got your plastic Mary, on the dashboard."

 

[steve_bank]

Growing up Catholic I remember people putting little statues of St Christopher on the dashboard or hanging a medallion from the rear window to ward off crashes.

In high school we used to say "Going ninety isn't scary, long as you got your plastic Mary, on the dashboard."

You can take the kid out of the church but you can't take the church out of the kid....

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Growing up Catholic I remember people putting little statues of St Christopher on the dashboard or hanging a medallion from the rear window to ward off crashes.

In high school we used to say "Going ninety isn't scary, long as you got your plastic Mary, on the dashboard."

You can take the kid out of the church but you can't take the church out of the kid....

We're all a bit superstitious. One's man's magic underwear is another man's plastic Mary.

None of this would have ever happened if we hadn't dined with the magic snake and become as dumb as god. Does this god have magic undies and plastic Mary on its cosmic helmet?
Sure seems like.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Dunno about the plastic Mary. Most guys who commit date rape don't want souvenirs.

 

[steve_bank]

It could be wrorse it might have been Zoroaster or Bal worshipers that dominated.

There is a scene in the Mummy movie remake. A guy wears a bunch of medallions. When confronted by the Mummy he strarts holding them up one by one with different chants hoping one will protect him.

Baseball players are notoriously superstitious. When they get on a hitting streak they may keep a daily routine exactly that they did at the start of the streak

 

[southernhybrid]

I think wearing a cross around one's neck is the creepiest of all these symbols. I guess if you're a believer in prosperity gospel, you wear a diamond studded cross around your neck. It's just creepy to wear a symbol of execution imo.

Mr. Sohy, who was raised Catholic, just told me that his family had a plastic Jesus in the car. It was probably another way for the church to make money, just like the sacred underwear.