– Many of the ladies posting here have recorded memories of wearing stockings as young girls. It was the style then. It’s not now. Sexless pantyhose have taken over. But an interesting event of this morning prompts me to ask the group’s opinion on an unusual matter.

I told you in an earlier post about a disco fund raiser my wife had hosted. I also told you that some of the women attending had told her that they would be calling her to ask about stockings suppliers. One of the women called today and casually mentioned that she was going to need stockings and good garterbelts for herself and her two daughters. The daughters are 14 and 16. They attend a private school that requires skirts and sheer hosiery for its girls. Their mother has decided that pantyhose are out. Her daughters will from now on wear gartered stockings. (I’m sure they will become quite popular amongst the young men… and a few older ones too!)

I had already given my wife information about suppliers and she relayed it to the caller. But, I must confess, I think that 14 and 16 are too young these days to be wearing stockings at all – much less on a regular basis. Maybe it’s just me but I think stockings have a strong sexual connotation and power. Pantyhose do not. Just the thought of these two pretty young girls in stockings and garterbelts everyday makes me a little uneasy. I get very conflicted feelings. If they were 18 and older fine. But 14 and 16?

My wife of course disagrees. But is there an age these days that is too young to wear stockings? Or, said another way, at what age should young girls be allowed to wear stockings?

– It’s sad in this day and age that something as innocent as a pair of stockings has darker connotations. I tend to agree with you which annoys me as stockings are actually a lot healthier for women to wear than tights.

I started wearing stockings at 16 and never had any problems, but then again I was never one to flash my stocking tops. If these girls wear their stockings in the same fashion very few people will know, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Definitely one to think about.

– I feel it should be the choice of these young girls to wear stockings – not their mother’s choice. The mother needs to be reminded of how she would feel if someone forced this issue on her. Remember too that the many of the young teenage boys of today are not raised with the values young teenage boys had in yesteryear. Meaning they are not always as kind and considerate, and these girls could easily encounter a lot of teasing and ridicule from classmates. It’s hard enough to be a teenager, but then to stand out by wearing an unusual form of hosiery, they will be made targets. They may also strongly rebel against what their mom wants them too do.

I am all for the promotion of stockings but I agree they are too young for this sort of thing. Unless they themselves have expressed an interest in the stockings, but still I think they are too young. After age 18 fine. Forgive me if I sound a bit old fashioned, but those are my feelings.

– What’s the problem. Stockings are a part of underwear. It is a little bit unusual when such young women (girls) wear them. But who is wrong? Those who think it is normal (or will we say nice or pretty) or those who say it is only for sexual doings?

– The comment that if these girls do not flash their stockings very few people will know reminded me of my own junior and senior high school days. We did have a few “flashers” but my biggest thrill came from catching a glimpse up the skirts of a girl who wasn’t flashing.

This was in the early 1960s. Pantyhose were practically unheard of and every red-blooded young American male I knew was hormonally challenged. We lived to see a bit of thigh above the stocking, a dark band of welt, a gartertab or, if we were particularly blessed, the Holy Grail itself, a panty sighting!

Ah, those were the days! These formative years introduced me to the joys of women wearing stockings and fine lingerie. Slips and petti-pants were popular and most girls wore white, pink or blue nylon or satin panties. It seemed to me that the less attractive girls always wore cotton panties and to this day they are a huge turn-off for me. My high school girlfriends wore lots of lace under their dresses and it has marked me for life.

I don’t know if these two girls will flash or not but they won’t have to. I promise you most, if not all, of the young men will soon know that these two young ladies are “different”. And, vive la difference!

– When my daughter entered high school with similar uniform and decorum requirements, my wife and I had this discussion. After lots of talk, the decision was stockings.

Ultimately, we had this discussion with our daughter to get her feedback. We discussed the social and sexual issues. Our daughter made it very clear the age of innocence relative to teasing and come ons was much younger than when we attended high school. She told us we were naive.

She made it clear she had been deflecting unwanted attention since sixth grade. Because she was 6’1″ tall in 9th grade, she said any comments about a flash would be easy to deal with after teasings about her height.

Our daughter saw stockings as a way to make a fashion statement while wearing what she felt was a drab uniform. My wife was careful to make sure the stockings were very long to reduce potential garter exposure.

This was ten years ago. To fast forward to today, I saw an article in the Atlanta Journal this weekend on back-to-school clothes battles between 9-12-year-old girls, and their parents in suburban Atlanta.

“Tweens”, as the AJC called the young misses, are being lured by the fashion industry into wearing hip-hugging pants and belly-button-baring tops that expose six-inches of skin. The AJC said Britney and Christina influence them, and parents go along with it.

Parents of a fifth-grade girl sued to allow their daughter the right to wear one of the new short mini’s that is shorter than the school’s modesty test permits. Suggestive dress on 9s and 10s makes any discussion of potential sexual concerns of stockings on a 14-year old look old fashioned. I think the real issue is how parents reared their daughters, and how much discussion takes place on moral issues at home.

– I suggest that if girls are old enough to wear any form of sheer hosiery then they should be given the choice to wear what they are most comfortable with. However, stockings do have some practical advantages over p/h and things like this should not be overlooked.

– Because of the almost unavoidable sexual connotations, I don’t think 14 and 16 old girls should be wearing garter belts. Boys just aren’t raised like they used to be. These innocent girls could, at the very least, be in an uncomfortable position or, even worse, be in danger. At the risk of sounding old fashioned I think they shouldn’t wear them.

– I’m not sure about this one. On one level it is nice to hear about a school that insists upon skirts and sheer hosiery rather than pandering to the trouser scourge but I am not sure that S&S are really right for a school environment.

When I was at school it was quite unusual for girls to be allowed to wear adult hosiery, as many schools would only allow their girls to wear white knee length socks (in fact believe it or not I think that my local school still has a knee socks only policy). I guess the idea was that the socks were by definition a “childish” garment and subsequently meant that the young lady didn’t get too hung up on her appearance at too young an age. I am not sure that the theory worked, as white socks in themselves are now considered a bit of a fetish item and with hindsight it was a bit harsh to make the girls wear them right through the winter.

– This is a real poser. I think I’m a pretty modern guy, but when I talk to my daughters, who are nearly 17 and 15, they tell me I’m so fuddy-duddy it’s not true! My eldest daughter especially is a really great looking girl, with legs right up to her armpits, and wears skirts which should really be called belts, as they cover her ass and no more. Now there’s no point in me telling her to wear longer skirts as she would tell me where to get off, and remind me that this is 2001 and not the ‘old days’ as she calls them. She wears tights only very occasionally-she doesn’t like hosiery, saying it restricts her and she doesn’t like the feel of it. But the point is this: kids today are a lot more street-wise than they were years ago, and – in my case anyway, and if I or their mother were to suggest that they wore S&S, they would think we’re not wise, or perverts or both! It’s a sad fact, but there it is.

– As a school counsellor in training, I last night visited the new Junior High School where I will do my practicum at and I was reminded of just how short the girls like to wear their skirts these days.

– Girls under sixteen wearing stockings – DEFINITELY a ‘no-no’:

Teenage girls will admittedly wear short skirts and even my eye has tended to ‘wander’ in the direction of them, sheer hosiery is natural such as tights, but stockings, no!

This world is to progressive: look at modern day role models for teenage girls who give the wrong image, ie Britney Spears, female rap artists, soap stars and even children’s television presenters.

– The only way that a young lady should wear traditional stockings to school is to have a skirt of the proper length. Maybe this will be a good thing as I cannot for the life of me understand how a parent would let their daughter go to school wearing some of the outfits I see them wearing. Stockings or not the potential for “a view” is pretty risky and parents need to be responsible.

With respect to stockings as opposed to tights. Yes times have changed and the decision needs to be made by individual parents and their daughters. Young girls need to dress and behave as young ladies, which they rarely do these days.

I went to parochial schools through high school and the girls were required (under threat of suspension or expulsion) to have skirts at a specified length which precluded any opportunity for flashing.

Public schools in the USA are unfortunately another story. From what I have seen on the street and in the stores, the choice of hosiery is the least of our concerns.

Stockings in and of themselves do not have to be construed improperly and when the woman wearing them is discreet then others are none the wiser.

I’m 73 years old, and attended parochial school. When entering seventh grade, that is, at about age 12, the young ladies were required to wear sheer stockings with their blue and white uniforms. Bobby socks were allowed with the stockings. The advent of sheer stockings was a “right of passage” for most girls of the era. My twin sisters four years older usually came to breakfast with their stockings rolled into their bobby socks, and then pulled them up and fastened the four garters as they left the house for school. I well remember my mother supervising the operation to insure that the seams were straight and there were no wrinkles in the stockings. On many occasions, my sisters had to adjust the garters several times before getting my mother’s approval. I was an interested, but unnoticed, observer.