It's just laundry - nothing to be embarrassed about

I have 3 baskets - 1 for me and dh, 1 for dd and 1 for dd. When I empty the airer I sort into the baskets so they can be taken to the respective bedrooms to be put away

They're just clothes though! Ugh, idk, when I was young you just got on with it. My brothers did too. I'm not judging the boys, if they're brought up with this dramatic attitude, it's likely they'll be confused over it all. The reality is, they're just clothes. And the sooner men and boys see this stuff as 'just clothes' the better. The ick of other people's dirty clothes is a bit different, but equally, it's something you just have to get on with in life.

There's a massive difference between siblings and partners/friends

My brothers happily buy sanitary products for their wives/gf's but I never would have wanted them to buy them for me, likewise with sorting out my underwear as a teenager. They're not the same.

Leaving them in a pile isn't an option though. He's been specifically asked to go through a pile of knickers and bras (amongst other things), and decide which are Mum's and which are sis's to sort into two options. That's the OP.

Personally I wouldn't be that bothered, I was allocated the job of laundry sorting at that age as it happens, but I wouldn't judge a teenaged boy who was.

Or just put them away in everyone's room? They're not nuclear!

Kind of wasteful for each person to do their own laundry when there are 4 people in the house.

Assuming his sister is also a teen, and assuming mum hasn’t graduated to only wearing ‘big pants’ I can understand that handling lacy knickers or thongs may be a bit uncomfortable for him 😁

At 17 I'd be expecting him to wash and dry his own washing!

They're bits of fabric, probably sewn by some poor kid in China.

Oh wow, here we go, that's an impressive moralistic gear change.

Or just use the DH’s method of sorting as you take off the airer?

Hmmm. I understand the weird feeling but think this is one of those things he just needs to “get over”. Like many other things in life.

I would feel fine with my mums undies but probably a bit odd if I had to to my MILs. However if she needed a hand, I would just get over it and do it.

Same for my husband if me or my daughter have to send him on a panicked tampon run - he might feel odd but he’ll get over it and I know the choice I’d make between a man who won’t do these things and one that will. Your son will grow up to be someone’s partner so I think it’s probably worth starting to learn and the under wear is clean so you are minimising the ick.

Ok, well I suppose they can just leave them in a pile so? Or stop seeing them as something sexual when it relates to their own families? They're bits of fabric, probably sewn by some poor kid in China.

Women that were washing the underwear of a man they were having sex with and children they birthed.

And the OP is also the same kind of woman. She isn't complaining about that. Her DS is saying he feels uncomfortable handling his Mum and sisters knickers.

Treat yourself to something small and made of lace to see his reaction.

if he can’t handle nickers now how is he going to deal with buying sanitary products for someone when he is older.

keep doing what you are doing, demystify women

I didn't love the idea of 'my parents fucking' (do you?) I tried to give it as little thought as was humanly possible. I equally don't equate underwear with shagging. It's an item of clothing. One that i'd want to dispense of asap into the washing machine albeit, but it has nothing to do with shagging.

Er, this isn’t about that stage of the process. This is about the individual handling, trying to decide which lacy thong or bra is your mum or your sister(s) and then folding and putting them into individual piles.

I agree with it. The ick is a useful instinct.

Still false equivalence.

How do you feel about your parents fucking? Or your siblings? The same as you'd think about anyone else fucking?

No you don't. It's not something you want to think about and you have an inherent aversion to because it's your parents or siblings and although you know they do/have done it, the thoughts/feelings/reaction you have are VERY different to your thoughts/feelings/reactions to anyone else in the world having sex.

Because they are your intimate relations.

And their pants/knickers are intimate too so most people feel very differently about their parents/siblings underwear than they would with underwear in general.

Fine, my mistake. But that post is Mrs Bennett level of ridiculous. What century are we in?

The op is on about when they have been washed and dried and they need to be parcelled out into individual piles to go into drawers.

You don't need to rifle through anything to do the bloody washing fgs. You grab them and shove them in the machine. Honest to god. These are not anywhere near 'boundaries' that are needed by men!

I have never handled either of my parents' underwear. As long as they are able to do it themselves, I won't be. At 17 I would have had the same reaction. That said, I did all my own laundry (and put it away) from 15-16 years old.

That’s silly. I always felt a bit 😬 when I put my elderly mother’s underwear on the airer for her. Doesn’t make me a bad person.

Ahhh I'm all for "don't be a wet wipe it's only a tampon packet" if my DCs faint at an empty wrapper I've not thrown in the bin type situations but tbf I do understand your DS not wanting to even see his mums and sisters undies let alone handling them.

What imaginary stuff? All those things I have listed have been dotted through this thread.