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?

Oh and I use cotton pads & liners too. I have never felt the poppers and find them way more comfy than standard pads. No sweaty itchy plastic. My thrush problem I had suffered with for decades vanished after making the switch.

Is there someone on here who works in underwear design who could shed some light? I suspect as one of the previous posters said it’s a combination of:

• pants being designed on a “model shape” and then automatically sized up without thinking that the gusset should change position at all
• clothes being designed around two measurements only - waist and hip size - no-one ever thought to measure front to back!!
• less gusset material = cheaper to make
• design which has been around for what - 40 or 50 years - and no-one sees the need to change it?

They should do one of those Ceebeebies “How it’s Made” films on pants design....I saw Gregg Wallace doing a programme on each step in fishfinger production the other day, perhaps a similar one is required for knickers....

It's capillary action innit.

@picklemepopcorn the denominator isn’t generous flaps x I’m generously flapped and a gusset hitter.
I’m thinking maybe bum size, as my arse is flat as a pancake.

Wow it's not just me then.
I bet the big corporations that make our pants have never done any actual research to work out where the gusset bit needs to be optimally for different women. We have a fanjo regression to the mean situation. This is surely #everydaysexism.

Wow it's not just me then.
I bet the big corporations that make our pants have never done any actual research to work out where the gusset bit needs to be optimally for different women. We have a fanjo regression to the mean situation. This is surely #everydaysexism.
(This is why I luffs MN, only on here could you have this kind of discussion)

@LemonysSnicket unlikely to be bum size as I'm, um, blessed in that department.

Damn it neither of those then.

Pelvic angle maybe?

That's exactly what I was going to say, Lemony - surely it's the fact that fanjo's normally go backwards in a slant up towards the uterus, which goes frontways again - like a zig-zag?

And yes to all 3 from me, size 16, four dcs but none vaginally. I usually wear both a tampon and a pad (heavy bleeder) but put the bigger bit at the front - so backwards, basically. And thank fuck I'm not as weird as I thought I was too!

yes pregnant and also have this problem due to the increasing fanny juices...however with some knickers i also find the gussets themselves to be a problem. They 'ride up' in to the nether regions and have to be 'dug out' and are quite uncomfortable themselves. thank you for sharing OP. My mother wears Sloggi, which can see have been recommended - she obviously cottoned on to this issue a while back.

plus one inch wide gusset quite likely to saw me in two whilst wrestling a four year old or waitrose shop

Late to the thread but

Here is my question - why bleached gusset with black knickers?? Surely what comes out isn’t Domestos? I have always wondered - solve the mystery for me please MN

Just had me properly guffawing! My eyes leaked and I rubbed in mascara and now it's ouchy.

I too suffer with this affliction.
My personal thoughts are a) weird flaps or b) pubic hair....

Perhaps we should poll those with and without the affliction against their public hair preferences??

Best thread anyway so far this year

Birthing an 11lb human has all but ruined my fanjo and im only 25 😂

Nacho ELEVEN POUNDS?!!! Dear God you deserve a medal.

DS2 was 9lbs 6oz and has caused enough damage!

milliemoodle he was 11lb 0.5oz and the mw was at the size of him. More shocked though at the fact i only had labial grazing and a tiny 1st degree tear that needed no stitches...

Maybe its to do with posture, or how the inner labia area hangs? I guess if yours hangs lower it would go straight to the gusset, anyone else it's sort of trapped in the outer area and explodes out the top when sitting down etc. Well that's my guess anyway..

I think we've uncovered a gap in the market ...

Regarding the link to the lunapanties
"...The Bikini sits low on hip with high cut legs, and offers sensible rear coverage."
thats made my day "sensible rear coverage." I find that such a funny phrase!

Sorry to digress...

So glad to find I'm not alone. I've been puzzled by the apparent non-availability of front gussets for 25 years.

And when winged sanitary towels first came out, I was convinced I must be deformed or something. The position of the wings meant the pad ended up in completely the wrong place. More useful for catching unexpectedly damp farts than for any feminine dribblage.

I’ve been wondering how to word a post like this for ages. Well done OP

I get so annoyed at the fannypad ad where they highlight how we all have different fannies so need different pads then display only four, none of which cover the front foofular area.

I’ve noticed my daughter has similar marks on her undies up front too. Poor kid.

I always assumed I had this volcanic issue because I had a tight wee fanny neatly tucked away - at least I boast about it as being such on posts like these ;)

Squintily, tilted foof

Unexpectedly damp farts

This has to go in MN Classics, surely?!

Trying not to laugh too hard for fear of moistening my badly positioned gusset

Me too.

I'm pretty sure I hit the gusset before DC, and I think I noticed this repositioning of fanny fluid when pregnant with my second child. I may have used the phrase 'pant stalactites' to describe what happens in my knickers when said fluid solidifies. It's quite fun pulling them slowly off my pubes, they're like long thin cones.

For statistical purposes I am minor overweight, have a flat bum, average flaps, and an au naturel bush. I think my vagina used to be a bit more straight up before DC, but is now more front to back diagonal I think. A bit like a staircase.

Sorry if this has been already mentioned.

Interlabial cloth pads can be purchased on places like etsy. Have a google.

Funny, I was pondering this exact thing today. I guess you can work out why I don’t as wondering why gussets are so far back...

Linky you just killed me with "pant stalactites"

I just had to go and have a look in the mirror. My foof opening goes up a good several inches above the edge of my gusset. I am wearing massive period pants today, had to hoik the towel up higher than the edge of the gusset.

I am 45 and a size 16 and currently au naturel, bush-wise... but I have had a front leaking foof at any size, at any age (i.e. have been a size 10 and everything between that and a size 20 and still get front seepage) and with any amount of bush. I haven't had kids and my inner labia are almost non-existent. It would seemt hat this front leakage thing happens regardless of size and shape because, well, women are naturally all different shapes and sizes (stating the obvious)

I feel ok oversharing on this thread as I am fairly confident that the DM won't pick it up.

Google "Great Wall of Vagina" (I know, I know, it should be vulva... but that doesn't work as well) for a fascinating 3D view of different foofs.