The things it occurs to you to ask when you're writing fic.

[alixtii]

Poll #397 Post-Judgment Day Underwear Poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

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In the post-Judgment Day future, men in the Resistance (Kyle, Derek, future!John) will wear in the field:

View Answers

Boxers
2 (33.3%)

Briefs
2 (33.3%)

Boxer briefs
3 (50.0%)

G-string/Thong
0 (0.0%)

Jockstrap
2 (33.3%)

Nothing at all under their trousers--they're going commando both literally and figuratively.
2 (33.3%)

Something else I'll mention in the comments.
0 (0.0%)

In the post-Judgment Day future, women in the Resistance (Allison, Jessie, Lauren, Kate) will wear in the field:

View Answers

Traditional bra
1 (11.1%)

Sports bra worn as an undergarment
7 (77.8%)

Athletic top/shirt with built-in support, worn as an outergarment
2 (22.2%)

No bra or support
1 (11.1%)

Panties
2 (22.2%)

Thong/G-string
0 (0.0%)

Boyshorts (I'm not even sure what these are, but whatever)
4 (44.4%)

Whatever lower-body underwear the men wear
3 (33.3%)

No lower-body underwear (repeat "commando" joke here)
1 (11.1%)

Something else I'll mention in the comments.
0 (0.0%)

For reference:

Comments

[karmageddon]

I don't know this canon, but if things are bombed out, isn't the answer 'anything they can come by'? Briefs would be worn by athlete, and my guess is, by extension, a soldier.

As for bras, I think even a woman with an A-cup would not be able to run without a sports bra.

[alixtii]

Scarcity of material would absolutely be a huge factor--the biggest probably, dwarfing even the needs of a soldier for functional clothing. The question (for me; I don't know what others are thinking as they fill out the poll) is what balance between these two imperatives a post-apocalyptic would be able to achieve.

My (incredibly uninformed) guess is that female soldiers would be in most cases provided with some type of sports bra-type garment, but it would probably be fairly ill-fitting and not particularly effective.

[copracat]

I reckon if they kept a sub running then they had some access to clothing manufacture or warehouses.

[alixtii]

*nods*

I--with no knowledge whatsoever--suspect that the type of resources it takes to keep a (presumably nuclear) sub running are rather different than those needed to produce underwear, but I agree that the production of clothing should be well within the Resistance's capabilities. I suspect ultimately it's a question of priorities, allocation of resources, and functionality--I doubt very much sexy lingerie is being manufactured, even if it's relatively easy for the Resistance to do so.

I really don't know what type of undergarments would be used by Resistance agents even if they had inexhaustible resources. (Well, I guess if they had inexhaustible resources everyone would just wear whatever he or she preferred. But there'd probaly be pronounced trends, and ones that would be different than those shown in a civilian population, either contemporary or post-apocalyptic.)

[copracat]

Aargh! You made me research.

I reckon their clothes are made of man-made fibre, like nylon, which you can make at home. I can't imagine where they keep field of cotton or herds of sheep. Though you can make fibre from lots of things - like possum fur. Depends on which animals survive and how they can be kept from destruction by the machines.

Really, the resistance is way too well-equipped for the apocalypse.

[alixtii]

Yeah, that's the other problem--figuring out when it's time to stop trying to get Hollywood logic to make sense and to start shutting up and suspending disbelief.

Which doesn't always work when one is writing fic. :(

(SCC's overall world-building is IMO pretty good, though, so I can't really complain. Although the existence of time travel really only exacerbates the 20-somethings playing teenagers problem.)