The history and overview of Thongs.
The thong is an undergarment and swimwear, worn by mostly women, in a style characterized by a thin strip of material along the center
of the garment’s rear designed to sit between the wearer’s buttocks cheeks connecting the front or pouch to the waistband behind the wearer.
Thongs come in a variety of styles depending on the thickness, material, or type of this rear portion of fabric and are available for both men
and women throughout the world. It is known as the “tanga” in Brazil.
A thong is predominately the bottom half of a bikini - women's swimsuit with two separate parts, one covering the breasts (optionally in the case of the Monokini),
the other the groin (and optionally the buttocks). It is often worn in hot weather or while
swimming. The shapes of both parts of a bikini closely resemble women's underwear, and the lower part of a bikini can range from the more
revealing thong or g-string to briefs and modest square-cut shorts.
The wearing of thong swimwear on the beach is fairly common in the Southern European countries and on the tropical beaches of South America
and Florida. Some county and municipal governments in the United States have passed legislation generally or specifically relating to thongs,
such as Huntington Beach, California, which in 2007 passed an anti-nudity ordinance that did not ban thongs. Councilman Don Hansen
assured, “we remain thong-friendly in Huntington Beach.”
Recent surveys place the number of American women who wear thongs as their preferred underwear style at 28%. As of 2002, thongs were the
fastest-selling type of underwear for women. While thongs are available for girls as young as third grade it is common for parents to
prevent young girls wearing them until they reach their teenage years.
Many reasons exist why women and girls may choose to wear thong underwear or swimwear: prevention of visible panty lines, prevention
of ride up so one needn’t pull at their underwear in public, comfort, doesn’t ride up past jeans, fashion consciousness including the
feeling of more adult and more feminine, saving storage space during travels, minimization of tan lines.
This is one item of clothing that cannot be worn in dance competitions under the rules of the IDSF (International DanceSport Federation).
History:
Thongs are descended from the earliest form of clothing, the loincloth, which were generally a male’s clothing item, the reverse of modern
Western culture where the thong has more acceptance among women. In modern clothing, thongs first became popular as a swimsuit style in Brazil.
The origin of the word “thong” is from the Old English thwong, a flexible leather cord.
The first direct descendant of the loincloth, in the direction of thong, was the jockstrap, created by Chicago sporting goods company
Sharp & Smith in 1874. The first historical reference to the thong in post-1900’s is in 1939 New York City when Mayor Fiorello
LaGuardia ordered nude dancers to dress more appropriately. Jacques Heim’s and Loius Réard’s original bikini from 1946 — that introduced
the term “bikini” — had a culotte with a thong back. Fashion designer Rudi Gernreich was credited with introducing the modern thong in 1974
which grew in popularity in South America, especially in Brazil. In the 1990s, the thong began to gain widespread acceptance and
popularity in the United States, amounting for sales of more than $2 billion per year in 2006.
Controversy:
Several institutions have banned thongs, mainly schools and universities. In one particular case in 2002, a female high school vice
principal in San Diego physically checked up to 100 female students’ underwear as they entered the school for a dance, with or
without student permission, causing an uproar among students and some parents and eliciting an investigation by the school into the
vice principal’s conduct.
References
- Wikipedia.org
