Hey, dear reader(s?), not sure of the demographics of my audience, if any, but i am sure that you are younger than I. So I may have to guide you into the past to make my point today. I can't ask do you remember girdles because I am sure you don't. The name Playtex may mean something because you can still buy Playtex brassieres, I think. But I am sure you never personally experienced the Playtex girdle. Made of rubber, very tight-fitting rubber, the original version didn't even have a lining. You had to use talcum power to get it on, and you had to make sure you settled it in the right places because then you couldn't budge it, and it was very hot and got hotter as the day wore on. My worst memory of it was at a wedding I attended in Montreal one blistering June day, and no AC. Scarlett O'Hara, laced up to her ribcage, had nothing on me. I started wearing this medieval garment - no, not medieval, clothes were looser then. I'm thinking of instruments of torture - began wearing it after my third baby was born - a big one, and so was I. I looked very trim in that girdle. Looking back on it, I realize I was trim, weighing less than I do now. But we were all brain-washed then into believing we were FAT. Did Betty Friedan do away with girdles or just with the guilt that forced us into them? I hope none of my readers, whatever size they are, wear girdles. They constrict the brain. Tomorrow I will discuss garter belts. You can look them up.