Why are women embarrassed when you see them wear their Panties but not in a Bikini?

Question

This discussion was started at work. Why are women embarrassed when you catch them in their Bra or Panties. But flaunt their bodies in a two piece Bikini? I know its confusing, right? The women at work also seemed to be baffled.

Answer 1

Who says yahoo answers is not a serious platform for discussion probing at ideas with fascinating illumination and searing insight.  

Answer 2

It isn't the garments themselves, so much as the context.  When you're wearing a bikini, it's not necessarily "intimate", you're probably just going swimming or sunbathing.  You wear the swimsuit with the expectation that people WILL see it.

You don't expect people to see your underwear except during intimate situations.  So, while everybody under the sun has seen your bathing suit, only a select few people have ever seen you in your underwear.  What you wear under your clothes is also a little more personal because of what it says about you - what are you wearing that you don't expect anybody to actually see?  

The situations in which people see you in your undergarments are more personal than swimsuits - odds are, you're gearing up to have s*x or perhaps go to sleep (which leaves you vulnerable in different ways), so although it doesn't expose more skin than a bathing suit, the situations that you associate with being in your underwear - in your mind - leave you feeling more vulnerable.

Answer 3

Bra and panties are underwear, is for privacy, and bikini has porpouse, is for swimming or taking sun. You must be showing same amount of skin, but what means is different.

Answer 4

  I  think  it  is  because  panties  and  bras  are  not  for  the   public

to  see  and  that  is  stuck in   to  their  mind . you  think ?

Answer 5

I prefer bikini top and men's swim shorts.

Answer 6

easy answer. SKID MARKS

Answer 7

It all has to do with what is socially acceptable for the environment. For example, if you wear a purple satin floor length gown that matches 4 of your friends and you go to the movies, you'll feel out of place. But if you wear the same dress as part of a wedding party, then it perfectly ok.

At the beach, you're not supposed to wear much clothing, partially because it's hot and you want to tan. Bra and panties are "underwear" and they are supposed to be worn "under" your clothing and hence never seen. So when they are seen, it's out of context and potentially embarrassing.

Answer 8

Because one garment is designed to be seen in public and the other one is not.

Answer 9

To be honest, I am confused by it too. I think that: if a woman is caught in her underwear, she feels that her underwear shouldn't be seen (and it shouldn't really). But if a woman goes onto the beach in a bikini, she chooses to wear that.

Answer 10

The material is quite different, you can usually see through the sheer material of underwear but the bikini is double lined at least to hide the unmentionables.

Answer 11

That's not very hard to figure out--- its the context of the situation.  If I'm in a bikini its because I don't mind being seen in one.  I'm ready to be looked at and the context is that I'm in a bathing suit (a form of clothing-- no matter how small).  However, seeing a woman in her panties and bra is invading a privacy setting-- she doesn't want to be seen like that because she's not prepared to be seen as such and while a bathing suit is considered a suitable form of clothing (to a degree), underwear and bra are clothing only for private eyes and in a situation she choses to be in.  In the end, its exposing skin that she was either not ready to expose or showing undergarments that she doesn't want people to see.

Also, some men will jump and grab their clothes if a woman walks in on him in his boxers yet he'll wear trunks to the pool.  Same thing.

Answer 12

There's no logical reason.  We've just been conditioned to see one as appropriate to wear in public and the other not.  

Answer 13

When you catch a women in under garments they don't want an audience sometimes. When we are in our bikinis we don't mind.

Answer 14

I think it is to do with social compliance.

Basically, we are all programmed to think a certain way. It is acceptable to be seen in swimwear, but not in underwear.

It is totally illogical, but it is the way we are programmed to think. It effects us in all aspects of our life.

Answer 15

like the person above me said.. swimmers and underthings have two very different purposes... one is for public viewing... you wear it to the beach or the pools and you sun bake and stuff but a bra and panties are for your lover you dont want any one else to see you in that vulnerable and revealing position... coz ts only meant for some one who you would want to reveal your self to...  

Answer 16

You know what? I have no clue. Maybe it's because a bikini is Swimwear. Which means it's an outfit, but panties are UNDERgarments so they're more private???

Answer 17

I don't know. It makes no sense. The only difference between a bikini and underwear is the material they're made from. One is just as revealing as the other. You are just as naked and exposed in a bikini as you are in your underthings.

It's probably because when you're out on the beach in your suit, everyone else around you is running around mostly naked too so you don't feel out of place or unduly exposed. But if someone catches you in your underwear, you are usually not at the beach or surrounded by other mostly naked people, so you feel more exposed even though it's the same darn thing.

The human psyche is a strange, complex thing.

Answer 18

INDEED.....  The key word here is FLAUNT.. See ?.... A few answers here have tried to successfully point out the difference however we all know it don't fly any of those ways..... It will remain to baffle us & not make any sense.. They don't know why either..... Brother..