Lingerie - a salesman's forte?

I was very surprised today to learn that women in Saudi are almost universally required, by default, to make their lingerie purchases from men.  This is a side effect of some other policies aimed at keeping men employed and keeping women out of employment in mixed-gender locations.

Hilarious? Yes. I loved the quote in the article: "even in very open societies like the US, women do not buy lingerie from men." Darn straight! Unless he's very, very, very gay, I really prefer to keep my discussions about intimate-wear and what it can-or-cannot do for me between ladies. Not only that, but what if the guy is cute? Even worse.

Lingerie, speaking of which, is big business here. I've never seen so many small, mid-size, and large, independent and corporate, boutique and -non, underwear stores in one place. Back home, it was like, Victoria's Secret or bust. If you want granny panties, any big-box department store will do. But specialists in lingerie are hard to come by. I remember when Oh Baby opened in Portland a few years back and it was kind of a fantastic novelty that kept coming up in conversation. Over here, I'm willing to bet your average woman spends at least as much on underwear as she does on outerwear. Maybe more. It's a whole 'nother thing.