women are reclaiming granny pants

Forget burning their bras – the young women of today have chucked out their thongs and moved their period pants to the front of the drawer.

If that doesn’t say gender equality, I don’t know what does.

_{Burn baby burn (Getty images)}

Data obtained by American market research company NPD Group shows that sales of thongs have decreased by seven per cent in the last year, while sales of larger pants – that’s briefs, boy shorts and high-waisted briefs — have grown by 17 percent.

“Within millennial and Generation Y consumer groups, it’s considered cool to be wearing full-bottom underwear,” Bernadette Kissane, an apparel analyst at the market intelligence firm Euromonitor told the New York Times.

“Thongs have had their moment.”

I’d go one step further than Bernadette and say that young women aren’t wearing big undies because they’re cool, but because they’re seriously comfortable – and they don’t care who knows it.

Western women are slowly starting to realise that their country’s gender equality laws don’t mean a thing when it comes to what you wear down below. There’s a hell of a lot of ingrained sexism left over.

It’s all so normalised – that women are supposed to wear teeny, tiny sexy knickers. Like shaving our legs, we hardly question it.

We assume this is what we want – that we couldn’t live without it – because we’ve been conditioned to.

_{Thongs aren’t comfortable for men or women (REX IMAGES)}

Growing up, my peers would preach about how ‘comfy’ lacy French knickers were, and how La Senza (RIP) made the best thongs. It’s only now they’re all starting to recognise that wasn’t exactly true – they were just trying to get on board with what they were expected to like.

Deep down, every woman knows nothing can beat a pair of old, stretchy MS pants with worn-out elastic – and now, finally, they’re admitting it to themselves and each other. Granny pants are no longer taboo.

Halle-effing-lujah. It’s about time women start choosing what’s best for them and not just what their partners will think they look sexiest in. Bridget was on to something all along.

It helps that a number of ‘feminist’ lingerie companies, like the New Zealand-based Lonely Girls Project, are selling gorgeous, delicate underwear with no uncomfortable padding. It’s anti push-up bra and anti-thong, too.

In fact, the only uncomfortable thing about the Lonely Girls Project is that it encourages women to post underwear selfies onto Instagram. Lena Dunham, queen of body confidence, has already jumped on board.

_{(Lena Dunham/Instagram)}

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to share a lingerie photo on social media if you want to, but there’s a danger that it will backfire.

Women might end up feeling pressured into choosing the underwear that looks best – not what feels best. The whole point of granny pants is that they’re for you.

Not for your boyfriend, your girlfriends or your 250 Instagram followers, but for the benefits of your vagina and your boobs. Remember: only the best (and by that I mean comfiest) will do when it comes to your lady bits.

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