it's all about the context

No really.

It's all about context.

It is.

So, let me set the stage. I was in a play (yes, I know, you all know this, I talk about it ad nauseam, but you have to bear with me, it was a big part of my life for the last couple months, so lots of my stories come from it). Now, in community theatre generally you don’t have a lot of space to work with in terms of dressing rooms. Couple this with the fact that you have a bunch of extroverts in a room and you’ve got a situation where co-ed dressing rooms are pretty much the norm.

We have all seen each other in our underwear and bras. Well, to be fair for the most part the men aren’t wearing bras, but they generally are wearing underwear

It’s nothing new for any of us in the cast and there is very little self-consciousness about it. I wandered about in my skivvies all the time waiting to get dressed. It’s just kind of like the change room at the gym, except there are men there too. Oh, and it tends to be less sweaty, and a bit dryer, and there aren’t lockers, and… okay, well, not much like the gym except for the people in various states of undress.

And here is the story about how it is all about context…

I have this really fun new shirt that has snaps instead of buttons. When pulled apart the snaps sound vaguely like ripping. So, I can ‘rip’ my shirt open. It’s really fun.

Anyway, one night I was getting changed and I walked up to my friends Jeff and Tim and said “I really love this shirt ‘cause I can do this.” And I promptly ‘ripped’ it open. Eliciting a startled gasp, and “oh my” and a quick turning of the head away from the offending breasts from Tim. Which was bloody funny to me, since for over a month these guys had seen me parading around in my underwear, so really, not a new sight for them.

But it was the context. The context people! The context! It was the ‘ripping’ open of the shirt, not the breasts (neatly stored in a bra) themselves.
It made me giggle. (and yes, I know, everything makes me giggle, but this *really* made me giggle…