Rainwear Central Rainwear Forum

Researching for my possible future book which has a section on rainwear, I have been pushing back in time to see if I can establish when it became not just a robust outdoor garment for men, but also a fashion item for women. From there to fetishism or simply a non-fetish interest, becomes an easy step. The 19th century psychologists such as Kraft-Ebbing and Freud never mention rubber rainwear fetishism although they describe many cases involving fur coats, leather gloves and "discarded" ladies' handerchiefs. It was only rubber and oilskins in the 19th C, nylon, PVC and PU and nylon being 20th C inventions. There is much literature on the web about this, most of it incorrect and judging by the similarity of the wording, copied from incorrect and unresarched sources. I tried searching newspaper archives by the colour of the rainwear and this threw up interesting variations. By the end of the 19th century, things had changed, as this item in the New York Journal in 1895 shows. One can read between the lines.

``While it was raining yesterday afternoon a neat young woman sat in the far end of a bridge car, buttoned up snugly in a heavy, long, blue mackintosh. She looked fresh and smiling, and her hat sat square on her head.
The few people in the car looked wet and smelled damp.
Men rested their umbrellas in the holes of the rubber flooring and the women held theirs out and let the little rivulets run down on their clothes.
Both men and women looked depressed and draggled, all but the little woman in blue mackintosh.
At length a middle-aged and well-dressed man who knew her and who felt so irritated at the day that he wanted to say something cross to some one, went and took the seat beside the blue mackintosh. "You women are such fools," he said, after the first greeting. "Such sights as I have seen today in the way of wet skirts and hosiery! Women look such frights in rainy weather, though you do look pretty decent." "Thank you," she said, a little amused, as the car stopped; "it's because of this," and she unbuttoned her mackintosh and threw it back. She had on a complete suit of bloomers. "The devil!" he said, She moved toward the door, and he followed slowly, while the conductor said, "Step lively." ''

Faced with the same circumstances today, I would definitely follow her off the bus.

"I would sit next to her and start chatting her up, using macks as a intro. And I would follow her off the bus if she flipped open her mack to reveal her latex underwear, which was the real reason she looked so happy. And I would know what would happen next"

Hopefully you’d be arrested or at least pepper sprayed
Do you actually think it’s acceptable behaviour to follow a woman in a world where most are afraid of being attacked while walking alone
I’d like to think this is bravado on your behalf and you’re not really a menace to society

Rainwear is simply a desire on an infinite continuum of things that people like both sexually and non sexually. Some members are true fetishists (where the article of rainwear is more important than the wearer) and some are not. At the ends of rainwear are things made of similar material but not rainwear, like plastic pants or PVC leggings. Are they somehow different in your eyes? I think you are putting a personal slant on a topic that is as wide and varied as every individual on the planet. I cannot see the point in a book on the topic, but whatever you hope to achieve, I wish you luck.

JM

Dear rainwear-experience
Of course I would not follow an arbitrary woman and I agree that anyone who does deserves to be pepper sprayed.. I have built my life on respect for women and I would always be alert to anyone threatening their safety. But if you read the 1895 newspaper article, it was clear that there was already something between the two and they were playing a charade for the otherwise depressed people in the car. So of course, it was a similar charade I described in a modern situation. I thought I had made that obvious, but I do apologise.