AIBU to rage at knicker gussets - or is it me? (lighthearted!)

[littlebrownbag]

First off, by knicker gussets I mean the double fabric bit that covers your under-carriage. And I've always presumed it has the cottony bit to be kind to your delicate areas and catch the odd drop of fanny juice that may leak out.

Well, my anatomy seems to be that anything liquid that you'd want to be caught in your knickers winds its way through all my labia, to exit at the front. This means it misses the gusset and hits the flimsy fabric - so it's visible. Is that just me it happens to? Am I an outlier, or have all knicker manufacturers got womens' anatomy wrong for all this time?

While this has never been a significant problem up to now, aside from careful positioning of sanitary towels during periods, it's now an issue thanks to peri-menopoause causing my fanny to get quite runny. I really don't want to have to wear panty liners every single day (hot and itchy), but I do because otherwise I'll be washing knickers AND trousers every day and I generally get a 2-3 days wear out of my trousers.

Anyone else?

Another one here who just thought I was designed wrong or was wearing knickers incorrectly. So pleased I am not alone.

Medium flappage, and although overweight now, had this problem before weight gain and before birth of child.

Weirdly I have the opposite problem! I always have to position my pad towards the back cause it always runs towards the back and off the back/edge!
Never used to have an issue and now I leak nearly every time I'm on my period.
Really strange!

No idea why you lot are getting it right at the front either!

When not on my period the rest does go on my guesset in the middle I should add

I've never had this problem, maybe my bits are weird I don't think they're Barbie sized though, ds was 8,12 and delivered by rotational forceps.

Rusty pants? Can someone explain ?

Yes I found the wings of pads are too forward and therefore not enough of the padding is at the front where I need it

You didn't, @Tillybilly1

Yep, always- pre/post children/weight, also shaved and not shaved. Rusty gusset only happens with cheap pants, i find- John Lewis pants don't fade as much. Use cloth reuseable liners, although some makes too short and end up too far back. DH rather sweetly (!) commented once I have a 'perfect shaped pussy like in porn'. Dear god he thought it was a complement. He also said he thought his ex was cheating on him because there was so much discharge on her pants when he did the washing, and that her bits looked totally different, (he's a keeper I tell you) so I'm guessing its not an anatomy thing, rather an inherent design flaw. I am so relieved other people have this. (Not the over sharing dh, the gusset issue)

Yes me too! Always worn pads at the front. And while we're sharing, all my farts come out the front too.

The trouble is, the producers are unlikely to hear about it. Who would write to M&S about the position of the gusset, stressing the leakage. So we are stuck.

Jeremy Paxman was worried about "widespread gusset anxiety".

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576056/Jeremy-Paxman-lambasts-lax-underwear.html

And while we're sharing, all my farts come out the front too.

OMG this happened to me too, after DD was born, for about 6 months. It frightened the life out of me the first time. I thought I'd ripped my stitches open or something.

It returned to the usual rear-puffage once everything healed. I was quite disappointed.

Sob.

I really had no idea that gussets were there to catch fluids...I just thought it was a comfort thing! I do feel properly stupid now, though . I thought that the gusset was so you had nice smooth cotton net to your underbits, instead of scratchy material or seams or anything. There's no way they do anything else (because everything comes out up front, above the gusset)!

Shocked by this, in that 2008 guardian article...

Recently the store reduced the price of men's briefs by 40 pence to 60 pence a pair, or £3 for a set of five, raising concerns about product quality.

I can assure doubters I wear big pants (midi from M&S...) of appropriate size. If too large they just end up baggy in the gusset which certainly doesn't help!

IIRC panty liners didn't exist until the late 80s - what did everyone do before that? Just change pants more often I suppose.

I can assure doubters I wear big pants (midi from M&S...) of appropriate size. If too large they just end up baggy in the gusset which certainly doesn't help!

IIRC panty liners didn't exist until the late 80s - what did everyone do before that? Just change pants more often I suppose.

People wore girdles and petticoats, didn't they? I know my DM wears pants under her pants... cotton bikini briefs with supportive underwear over it. Overunderwear. Catchy.

I know someone who goes commando, which I is ply can't imag8ne. I'd be so sore...

Just think of the smell and mess in history when people didn't change clothes that often.

As a side note- what would have happened if OP hadn't put '(lighthearted)'?

Is Rusty pants when your fanny juice bleaches your underwear so over time you get orange marks in your knickers? I remember the first time I saw this on Mumsnet years ago and that's it when I knew it was my spiritual home! I thought I was a total freak!

I don't have this problem-but maybe I have a Barbie sized fanny-6lb daughter delivered with forceps:(

more noticeable with periods but yep far to the front or at night - very long ones

Oh, yes indeed.

Option 1: yank knickers down at back, up at front to reposition gusset. Pros: covers tummy, provides more adequate coverage of fabric on rear undercarriage, reducing the inevitable wedgie from today's entirely insufficient skimpy gussets. Cons: builders' bottom crack exposed to dramatic effect.
Option 2: pant liner as substitute gusset, positioned where actually needed by female anatomy. Pros: does job that knickers don't. Cons: Nope, cant even get past the bizarreness of why the feck aren't knickers actually doing the job we want them to do FGS?

are my choices really applecatchers vs midget wedgie wisps?
Is it too much to ask that the average knicker actually fits the majority of average women's bottoms comfortably? Without looking like it multitasks as a potato sack, I mean?

It shouldn't be a clever niche marketed product to have pants that actually are fit for purpose.
Is it too much to ask for your standard knickers, that match your standard bra, to cover a standard female backside?

Sorry, haven't had time to read all the replies so I may be repeating what others have said. I find that the gussets are not just too shallow back to front but also too narrow side to side. Quite a lot of knickers have lace round the legs too, so that decreases the width still further. I'm sure that if I was a tiny child-sized woman these mini gussets would be fine, but I'm not and I'm guessing that many of you aren't either?
Gussets should cover the whole of the potentially damp part of your undercarriage.

Nooo, Sloggi are the worst. Unless I just have bought different ones that you all have. They have the tiniest narrow gusset, and halfway through the day you are chewing a cloth in the arse and fanjo departments. Just bloody surprized they haven't disappeared completely.....

Well I am slightly relieved to know that I am not the only one wearing out my knickers in the wrong places. I have 3 pairs of my favourite comfy knickers, which have since been discontinued (of course...) and I have worn them to death. Really. Put them on the other morning, had a look in the mirror, to find that the area above the gusset, is now threadbare. The rest of them are perfectly fine and the gusset is still perfect. Probably because it never caught anything it was meant to. Ah well I thought, I don't care if I have a see through patch... except then I had the dreaded thought that it might actually get back from my brisk walk, with an airvent.

If I think about it, all the new ones I have bought to replace my holey ones are even worse. They don't even have a gusset. Those boyshort ones, just straight fabric, no second layer anywhere.