Rachel Johnson advises a woman who is grappling with her husband’s secret penchant for borrowing her knickers and stockings Dear Rachel I recently noticed that several pairs of my quite expensive underwear have gone missing. They were not in the laundry basket, my knicker drawer or left in the washing machine. I mentioned it to a friend who asked if any male friends or workmen had been in the house recently, suggesting that some men get a kick from stealing intimate items of clothing.
I decided to lay a trap, so I bought a similar pair and left them strategically placed in the laundry basket. My detective work was almost immediately successful but, unfortunately, it highlighted the culprit as my husband. I searched the house to no avail but eventually found a hoard of more than twenty pairs in a box in the shed – together with some stockings and tights, highlighting that this has obviously been going on for many years.
Without going into any unnecessary detail, I can say that he has definitely been wearing/using them! Naturally, I am somewhat upset and more than a little perturbed by this discovery. We have been married for 24 years and are truly best friends. We have two grown-up children with their own families and, although intimacy did dry up some years ago, we enjoyed a regular sex life both before and after getting married.
My husband never mentioned or showed any fetish for underwear so I am wondering how and why this compulsion developed..