While packing for my Thanksgiving trip home last week, I flashed back to a conversation held over the breakfast table on my junior-year study-abroad term in England. We students were preparing to head out for a week backpacking around Europe, and we were all trying to marshal our dwindling clothing resources in the most efficient manner possible. Thus the conversation turned to the following question: Which was the more essential item to pack: socks or underwear?
All of the girls at the table swore that underwear was by far the more essential -- two days in the same pair, ewww. But all the boys were equally vehement that a fresh pair of socks was required every day, and you could double up on underwear if absolutely necessary. I'm curious to know whether this division is a true reflection of gender attitudes, or whether I was just dining with some particularly granola-ish boys that day.
So, if you were forced to choose between taking a clean pair of socks or a clean pair of underwear on a trip, what would you do? Please read the poll choices carefully, and include not just your choice but your gender in your vote -- clearly an incredibly scientific and accurate polling method, as you can tell. And thank you for helping me to resolve this burning question, as I honestly have wondered about it occasionally for a whole ten years now: Socks? Really, guys? Hmmm.
All of the girls at the table swore that underwear was by far the more essential -- two days in the same pair, ewww. But all the boys were equally vehement that a fresh pair of socks was required every day, and you could double up on underwear if absolutely necessary. I'm curious to know whether this division is a true reflection of gender attitudes, or whether I was just dining with some particularly granola-ish boys that day.
So, if you were forced to choose between taking a clean pair of socks or a clean pair of underwear on a trip, what would you do? Please read the poll choices carefully, and include not just your choice but your gender in your vote -- clearly an incredibly scientific and accurate polling method, as you can tell. And thank you for helping me to resolve this burning question, as I honestly have wondered about it occasionally for a whole ten years now: Socks? Really, guys? Hmmm.