Controlling women's bodies

Spanx have been around for awhile but it seems like they're getting more popular all the time. And really, they're nothing but a girdle. When I was a kid in the 1960s, my mom always wore a girdle when she had to dress up for anything. This was before pantyhose, so her girdle had snaps on the legs to attach her nylon stockings. Getting dressed was quite an ordeal for her and she never enjoyed it.

By the time I was old enough for nylons, panty hose had been invented - we saw them as such a convenience. I think I wore a girdle once but they were pretty much out of style.

That was the 1970s, at the height of women's lib. Hardly anyone - at least young women - ever wore girdles. I was never brave enough to go without a bra but a lot of women did.

Today I started wondering if it's just a coincidence that girdles seem to be making a big comeback at the same time religious nutjobs are trying to outlaw contraception and abortions and women's health care in general. Aren't girdles just another way to control women's bodies?

The only thing scarier than what right-wing men are trying to do to women is what we do to ourselves.