In the cover story of its February 2001 issue, British men’s magazine Mondo claimed that tights (pantyhose) were sexier than stockings. We all know that’s not true. And for a magazine to perpetuate such a falsehood with such vigour was, to me, immensely irritating. Cosequently I wrote to tell them. Here for your reference, is my letter…
I had big hopes for Mondo when it first appeared but the pantyhose article in issue three is just the sort of poorly-researched sensationalist nonsense I thought you’d set out to avoid. I applaud you for raising the appeal of nylon to cover story status, and understand why you opted for the controversial “pantyhose are more popular than stockings” angle. After all, where’s the story in the alternative, in telling us what we already know?
Let’s face facts: type any single keyword into an Internet search engine and you will generate hundreds of thousands of links. As a barometer of public taste it is useless – and in any case it depends on the search engine you use. While there are indeed many sites dedicated to pantyhose (and, in fact, every other fetish) there are many more dedicated to stockings. Trust me on this as someone who knows. The biggest, like Stocking Heaven, are without equal in the pantyhose world.
The first inescapable fact is that the market for sheer hosiery began to decline at the start of the 1990s and deteriorated further as the decade wore on. However, there are now signs of a much-welcomed revival. The second is that from the mid-thigh down, most stockings and pantyhose are identical. Trust me on this again: many men who write to me to declare their love of nylon are first and foremost captivated by the nylon-covered leg. They therefore admire stockings and pantyhose in equal measure and often confuse the terms. Ask them to look further up though, and choose between a nylon gusset and the framing provided by a suspender belt and there really is no competition. And don’t even start me on the health risks associated with nylon in the gusset department. You do not want to know…
Your interviewees made some valid points, but I still get a sense you were trying to create a story where none exists. The editor of Leg Show is always good for a quote. But three sets a month? Ask her how many sets a month feature stockings. Ask yourself why you used stockings on seven editorial pages of your launch issue. The owner of the pantyhose fetish site was hardly without vested interests. And so what if he wears tights? It’s hardly breaking news… Wolford itself actually produces a range of tights for men.
My point in writing could be summed up in one of two ways. First that I hope this article was an aberration and in future you will look to attain a much higher standard of writing and research. Second the entire article is based on a falsehood. The two, I feel, are inextricably entwined and I look for you to do better in future. If you’d like me to write the article that should have been written in the first place, please let me know.
