Facebook Marketplace has a lot of stuff on it. That was not surprising to me. It made selling stuff easier than on other platforms, where you had to create a separate account for that purpose only, and you didn’t know a lot about the seller since it was often a small profile, without real names, and and only with ratings on the seller’s reputation as a seller. Facebook Marketplace made selling seamless, essentially, and even curated deals for you by prioritizing items sold in your city or town, or nearby rather than somewhere across the continent or even on another continent. What was surprising, to me, was some of the completely legal, not even risqué, stuff being sold on it.

By far the most surprising thing I saw sold on Facebook Marketplace was women’s underwear, into which I’ll throw similarly minimal coverage garments like swimsuits and bikinis, alongside bras, lingerie, panties, body compression wear, among other underwear. I suspect I got shown them all because I design and make those garments, among many other types of garments, as part of my wide-ranging sewing interest. It was surprising to see that much women’s underwear being sold on Facebook Marketplace, then it became shocking, which doesn’t happen often to me often in life to be shocked having been surprised. It became shocking because of the volume of it on Facebook Marketplace, given how the interface operated and what people could associate between the garment and the seller.

As described, the interface identifies the seller with a link to their Facebook profiles, so you likely would likely get the real name of a person, as well as what the sellers chose to share on their profiles. Looking through the profiles of a couple dozen women selling underwear on Facebook Marketplace in my city to see what these women shared along with their claims to underwear someone could buy, I saw that not only most had a lot of publicly viewable pictures, many had pictures of themselves in similar garments, and the odd one that had the same underwear on! I mean, all this talk about privacy, stalkers, creeps creeping in various ways they feel they can’t fully guard against, and they’re doing this??? Seriously, had I tried, I could now know the names of a bunch of attractive women in my city I had never known, cause even dating apps don’t give nearly the amount of personal information. I would also know where many work, neighbourhoods where many lived, definitely what some underwear and sizes they wore, sometimes how they looked in similar garments, and so on! I even knew two of those women in my medium sized city! I mean, OMG! Do these women realize they’re exposing themselves like this??? I don’t know. Maybe they do. Maybe their gaul, bravery, extraversion, fearlessness, whatever you want to call it, makes this harmless to them, and I got a very biased sample I shouldn’t extrapolate to more women. With the two women I knew, though, I would chalk it up more to naivité than any of that.

To illustrate what someone might be able to piece together from an average profile of the small sample of women’s profiles selling lingerie in my city, which is hardly a liberal or open-minded or risqué sort of city, I’ve decided to write two teasing profiles. The information are all false, except neighbourhoods of medium sized cities that I looked up online to help make it more real in case a reader were reading from there. However, I could write something completely factual with all the same detail from some sellers’ profiles I have seen… and more! Tell me this wouldn’t creep out most women, if not people!

Hi, I’m Jennifer MacDonald. I’m a busty and curvy married mother of two in Little Rock, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a gorgeous smile. You can see how fun of a person I am from all the pictures in my profile. I work as a lab assistant at the local state university where I don’t look out of place the least bit from the students there. I have these two 36D La Senza lace bras for sale. I’ve never worn them aside from trying them on and finding out they’re at least one cup size too small. Just look at my breast size in my bikini photos on my profile if you think I’m lying. But can have these bras for $20 each, or $30 for both, if you want. Just message me on my profile for more details and to arrange pick up either on campus, or near where I live in Shannon Hills. I probably won’t sell it to you if you were a guy, but since I don’t say, please don’t make assumptions about my open-mindedness. After all, I am selling bras that I’m telling you are too small for my big breasts so you can imagine how large they are, with revealing photographic hints on my profile to help.

Hi, I’m Jane Smith. I’m a single, Amazonian looking brunette who could be Wonder Woman’s lost sister. See all the pictures I have of myself on my profile if you don’t believe me! You can also come to TLC Drugs in downtown Winnipeg and see the real deal me work as a pharmacist. These are my tiny panties, which I’ve barely worn. In fact, the only time I’ve worn them is in one the pictures in my profile, if you look through them all for it! And you know what? You can own them for just $10! Please contact me via direct message, and pick up either in downtown Winnipeg or in the Mynarski suburb. I likely won’t sell to guys, but please don’t assume that even though I don’t say it, and judge me on what you don’t know about me. I am showing the world my panties, and even me in them, after all, in case somebody wanted to buy them for whatever reasons they have.

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