To think my DH is being a big girls blouse about the the washing?

YABVVU in your choice of terminology for your post title.

Not heard that misogynistic phrase for years. For a reason.

Me too, same response to unusual allergies.

I have been very shocked at how dismissive other people have been about this.

Must be terrifying if you have a child with a serious allergy, knowing how many arseholes are out there.

I think 'big' in this context means grown up i.e. not a little girl. Like the American saying 'pull on your big girl panties'. I don't think it's about size.

It's certainly an odd expression and I've never used it but I couldn't get worked up about it.

Whether the OP's husband has allergies or PTSD he needs to see a doctor and sort this out. I couldn't cope with this, we don't even have a tumble drier.

I reckon he just wants to get out of laundry chores.

Oops typo mistake Sufferers *

@KarenNotAKaren

Perfect he can either just do all his own clothes washing or even better he can wash everyone in your household's clothes washing too,

using his own detergents he either buys outside from the supermarket or on the Internet,

Just thinking thinking the detergents that are beneficial for the environment and vegans and vegetarians use in the supermarket and online i think would be the most suitable detergents to use,

.No excuse from now on to get out of helping you to do clothes washing anymore L.o.l 😂

Your husband sounds like he can be a royally Whiny pain in the back side at times too. !

I wonder if this is also psychologically a way of getting to be pandered to aswell in a not obvious way,
as he has been in the past been used to the rough and tough realities of army life..

Obviously i have understanding to genuine allergies surfer's and the limitations in everyday this can bring even alarmingly potential life threatening too...

@Testina
I used to be surprised at how many Mumsnetters worst insult for a man was to call him a "cunt". Now I just try to ignore it, as these women and me, obviously have quite different outlooks on life, and I still find their's rather perplexing when using the word cunt in this way.

All women have cunts (although I don't personally like that nickname for female genitalia, as it doesn't sound at all soft or attractive to me), and no men have any, so why use our most intimate place, which most of us hold in high regard, afterall they give us so much pleasure over the years - and we don't even need a man to derive that pleasure!

Also, for many of us, we conceive a baby through our cunts - which for the time being we do still need a man's assistant with, even when using IVF - and a large number of our babies are also born through our cunts. So I am asking again, why do so many women use the term "cunt" to insult a man?

Not sure why people are suggesting changing detergent when the guy claims to react to dry, lined-dried clothes but not machine-dried clothes, same detergent.

Being in a damp environment with laundry everywhere isn’t good for you but it doesn’t sound as if that’s the case here (although that fear may be at the root). Psychosomatic response based on trauma maybe? It sounds genuine but perhaps mental rather than physical.

Hard to tell if he's being dramatic or not but I have an allergy to the cold (Cold Urticaria) and no one believes me when I tell them...that is unless they see the blotchy mess of hives I turn into if I haven't taken an anti hist in the morning.

So it could be in his head but it could also be genuine! On washing day, your hubby needs to take an anti hist and see if that solves the problem.

Sounds like he didn’t “survive childhood unscathed,” hated having clothing drying around the house when he was little, and will go to any extreme necessary to ensure he has a tumble dryer. I seriously doubt he has any kind of physical allergy, just a strong negative emotional reaction to having his washing hanging out in the house or garden!

The phrase is used as an insult. It’s a sexist, outdated insult.

Did you tell him about the washing experiment you did?

An insult of this format denigrates both:
-women are less than men
-men must behave in certain ways to be real men

I don't think it's anything to do with washing...if he's had traumatic/unpleasant experiences relating to water or wet clothing could it not be some kind of phobia or trigger at very least? He should probably speak to someone about that and see...

There is a simple solution here: tell him from now on he does the washing.
As for the term Big girl’s blouse yes it is sexist. Why not refer to anything masculine? Oh because masculinity isn’t good, feminity is bad that’s why.

Just bin him and live in gloriously line dried clothes forevermore

If you did a wash with no detergent would it be the same reaction?

The irony is that once people understand its not denigrating women or big women, just men, it'll be ok!!!

Dear lord get a life

So how does he use a towel? Has the drier de-germed it so he's allergy free when it's wet?

@Irishwelshetal I was not calling you ignorant.
I referred to the following of an ignorant ( lacking awareness) interprepation (that is, the incorrect interpretation based on lack of knowledge [wilful or otherwise]).

Has he got hayfever? I struggle with line dried stuff in the summer due to the pollen/tree spores. I just take an extra antihistamine and get the fuck on with it though, no way would I be using a tumble dryer in hot weather.

It’s the scent I’m allergic to. It’s not enough to get non-biological it needs to be unscented.

The only ones I can tolerate are Waitrose Surcare or BioD laundry liquid.

Just to chip in on the big girl's blouse. I agree that the we are talking about the floppy soft fabric of the blouse, not the wearer, and comparing it to the person being insulted, obviously. It's interesting how people are interpreting the "big" part though. I grew up hearing this phrase and I never took it to mean the blouse of a big (fat) girl, any old blouse would do to imagine. "Massive idiot", "huge drama queen", "big ol' scaredy cat", "big girl's blouse". Big to give extra emphasis to the insult. Maybe I'm wrong.in my interpretation, but I'm sure that the original intention has been lost with the modern interpretation of this old phrase.

As for the op, I'm sorry you are dealing with this. I think firm but kind is all you can do and the occasional internal scream perhaps! And if it gets too much then he will just have to take over the washing entirely.