Revealing myself: A phenomenological approach to my underwear choices through the years

In this article I apply a phenomenological approach to discuss my personal lived experience and creative authorship in selecting my underwear, thus, explaining the meanings created by my interaction with my underwear and how this clothing object has been shaped by my cultural context, socio-economic factors and my relation to my own body and sexuality. Underwear can be directly linked to questions of identity and a person’s location within a social context. Since identity can be read as imbedded in social relations and situations, it can be assumed that underwear is a dynamic tool in the construction of multiple identities. Underwear advertising openly showcases men’s bodies indicating that there is a strong connection between the role underwear plays in the private and public self. Whether underwear is revealed or not to others at some point of the day, the undergarment choices we make help create identity as performance both in private and public. The article discusses how underwear is essential in the performance of our self and social image and related to aspects of masculinity, sexuality and other scripts of cultural conventions.