 | Bag LadiesBy Grace Downunder |
On the weekend, after I had packed up my little market stall, I put my handbag at the feet of my lovely lady and asked her to watch it while I put some things in a bin nearby. I returned to find her laughing with her housemate. Curious at to what had happened in such a small window of time, I shot a quizzical look her way and she told me they were laughing about the fact she had to mind a handbag and has never dated a handbag carrier before.
I hadn’t really thought about it before, but of all my lesbian friends, I can only think of one other handbag carrier. Some carry backpacks and the rest shovel everything into their pockets. I have had backpacks through school, but since then, they’ve never really held any appeal for me. I am sure, ergonomically, it would be far and away better for me to carry a backpack than heaping my giant bag on one shoulder but what can you do? Backpacks just don’t work for me. Pockets are entirely out of the question. Let me tell you what is currently in my handbag and see if you can guess why pockets just don’t cut it:
- purse
- phone
- an iPod Touch
- three pens of various colors
- four lipglosses of various colors
- a tiny packet of tissues
- a small pack of anti-bacterial wipes
- a bottle of hand sanitizer
- a packet of pain killers
- half a roll of Oreos (my attempt at packing “lunch” for work today)
- an Economics textbook and a folder full of notes (in an attempt to guilt myself into study)
- a small note book
- three DVDs
- a Peppermint Magazine (because I knew I wouldn’t study)
- half a roll of Lifesavers
- a card holder with my public transport card
- a foldable umbrella
- a Hello Kitty Pez dispenser
Just last week I pulled a wipe from my bag to clean a sticky table at a bar and then later in the night as a friend lamented the lack of peanut butter, choc chip cookies in her evening, guess what I was able to produce from my handbag?! (To be fair, it was out of my bag at the point, but I had been carrying around the bag of said cookies in my handbag to give to a friend that night.) How do you pocket girls deal with these situations? I guess that most of you would be able to handle a sticky table at a bar? I wouldn’t say I am a particularly girly girl, so it’s not like I am totally precious, I just like to have a lot of bits and pieces at my disposal. It’s not all bad for my friends either, if I am out with my pocket-loving pals they will all too happily decant their excess load into the bottomless pit of my faux leather, home away from home.
Tell me ladies, are there other handbag carriers amongst the ranks? Are most of you backpacking lesbians? Pocket lovers? Or something else all together? I have known people who are a big fan stuffing things in their bra rather than using a purse. Why do you choose your vessel of choice? Indulge me, tell me about your choices!
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April 16th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
I love my purse and won’t give it up. Where else would I keep my appointment calendar (Yes, the paper kind!), face powder, lip gloss, money, glasses…and let’s not forget the “feminine products”!
April 16th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
I just carry my wallet, my handy and my keys. That’s all I really need and for that my pocket is enough. And if I have to study or something I use a messenger bag or a backpack.
April 16th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
If I can’t get everything into pockets of my jeans + columbia jacket, Its usually a hippie-like sling bag. Always plenty of room and not required or possible to organize.
It has also been known to smuggle a six-pack into unfriendly situations on occasion.
April 16th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I carry my wallet, cell phone, chapstick and car key in my pockets. If on the off chance I need anything else it gets dumped into my girlfriend’s purse
April 16th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
I almost always carry a bag; I just don’t like my pockets to be so bulky. I’m in school, so I carry a messenger style bag around most of the time. It’s not fancy, not super casual, and I like it a lot.
April 16th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
All I have is a phone, a house key, my license (ID) and bank card. I dont even put them in pockets often. They just sit on the table of whatever bar we’re drinking at. I tried the handbag thing once upon a time, I could never work out what to put in it. All it had was the four items I mentioned rattling around on their lonesome so a bag just seemed bulky and unnecessary.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
I usually only have lip gloss,id, and keys. Cargo pants usually fit the bill. When my ex and I were together I carried a purse that would make MacGuyver proud. Luckily the purse could be left in the car in most cases.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
ah, bags. I usually don’t have a bag, as it’s too much trouble to have one. I’ve usually just got the necessities with me – keys, money, cards, phone, mp3 player. However, when I DO need a bag for work/school, it’s a backpack. I’m in my mid-20s and I look like I’m a decade younger. Do adults carry backpacks? Backpacks keep your hands free, and you can cram in all sorts of books, laptop accessories, wires, disks, papers, without you crying out for each shoulder as you switch your messenger bag.
But also, I will admit. handbags, or whatever those girl bags are called, are WAY too girly for me. I sometimes carry my girly best friend’s Gucci leather fringey tasselled handbags for her, and I feel like such a fool.
April 17th, 2010 at 12:53 am
Um, sorry to be a pain, but this is my post
April 17th, 2010 at 1:04 am
I would look very stupid trying to carry my small but thick wallet in a pocket. And why would I want to carry it in hand? So, definitely a bag person, mostly shoulder-bag. I carry my keys, wallet, phone, palm, ipod, little cosmetic bag, chapstick, pens, tissues, hand sanitizer with me all the time, and no pocket would be enough to accommodate all that. I use my backpack when I need to take my laptop with me. oh, and that shoulder bag is big enough to have a few items of groceries in it, too.
April 17th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Unless I have classes, I carry everything in my pockets. Phone, keys and some cash don’t take up that much room. If I need to take something else (bottle of water or something) I have a small messenger bag I carry around =]
April 17th, 2010 at 7:45 am
Messenger bags all the way. I could survive a year on a deserted island with the stuff you can find in my bag.. And I won’t go anywhere without it. Purses are just too girly for me, I feel like an idiot if I have to cary one.
April 17th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
pockets for me, but if necessary to have one a backpack. Prefer to carry as little as possible when out and about
April 17th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Cool post Grace UP. My take is that I’m allergic to girly handbags, especially the animal print or shiny variety. I have a femme girlfriend who always carries a bag…she lightens my life in so many ways
backpacks are uncool after primary school up until university when you can wear them again – go figure!
April 17th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
i always carried a purse around while playing the straight girl game -my mom taught me every lady needs a handbag to carry her lady things. Man that was awful. I now live by two extremes: I love putting my wallet in one back pocket, phone in the other, ipod in my left front pocket and lipgloss and hair pins in the right and keys hooked onto my belt loop. Or you’ll see me walking around with my giant boho messenger bag with the necessities and then 30 other things in it. Right now that bag includes a textbook, a large and small notebook, planner, leisure reading book, head band, brush, wallet, keys, phone, ipod, a second mp3 player, water bottle, apple, hershey kisses, hand sanitizer, tissues, make-up, lady things, multiple pens, eye glasses, dog’s leash, bag of dog treats, tennis ball, and tons of change rattling around. It also takes me about 30 minutes to find anything in it… I should probably start thinking about organizing my life.
April 18th, 2010 at 1:23 am
I carry an amazing beautiful brown leather sling/messenger/shoulder (adjustable strap, different lengths) that ca also morph into a backpack by the loop on the back and the moveabillity of the strap. Makes every dyke I know drool. I carry a bag because I have to carry insulin/blood sugar meter and it’s just a little to bulky to fit in my pants – and thus I carry a lot of extraneous crap as well, because I have the bag and it fits and I might need it, really, and Mary Poppins lugged that carpet bag around and obviously that came in handy and why not? And I love cool backpacks..
April 18th, 2010 at 7:40 am
REI – one stop shopping for the not-a-purse type of outdoors bag.
April 18th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Everything goes into my insulated lunch bag including keys, phone, sanitizer, wallet, checkbook, pens and lunch
It even has a little zippered pocket just big enough to stuff a reusable grocery bag into if necessary.
April 18th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Haha, my pants are far too tight to fit all I carry in them. Plus, I wear skirts sometimes, ya know? So yeah, I carry a bag of sorts, but I wouldn’t call it girly.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:34 am
I wish I didn’t need so much stuff all the time, then I’d definitely use my coat pockets.
I only have one purse which I take everywhere, because I’d go crazy if I had to move everything around between several purses.
April 19th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
http://lulabites.blogspot.com/2008/06/big-black-bag.html
here is the original post with the contents of my big black bag way back when. As you can see… there is a reason why it was/is still that big. All my girlfriends carry a bag. Can’t live without it.
April 19th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
For just the usual stuff its only pockets for me. (The usual= keys, phone, wallet, chapstick)
Any time I bring more that that like my iPod or a book or something I use a messenger bag or canvas tote.
April 19th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
well. I wear pants with two back pockets and two pockets in the front.
Sometimes a Hoodie with a Kangaroo-Pocket.
A jacket with as many pockets as possible.
And I also got a wristband with a little zipper, where I can put some money for emergencies.
Usually thats enough for my purse(+keys and ID), my cellphone, and a MP3-Player. What else do I need? Sometimes chapstick.
I once saved my girlfriend bc. she didn’t want to carry her purse so she gave me the her things to put in my pockets.
In school, I carry around a backpack, (it’s also got something where I can put my skateboard -> big plus!) if it’s not school but I want to stay over somewhere or need to carry the Wii or my external hard drive, it’s the messenger bag.
Do you no-handbag-girls find handbags as confusing as me? Every now and then a handbag-carrier asks me to get something out of it because they are holding something else. I NEVER find ANYTHING in the depths of handbags…
April 19th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
I found that my pockets just weren’t enough anymore so I started carrying a bag (a small, custom Timbuk3 eula). Now, I carry my driver’s license, ATM card and credit card in my back pocket (along with my cash and receipts) and my chapstick/blistik/Burt’s Bee lip balm in my front pocket. So, what’s in the bag? A whole lotta crap I never lugged around before like TWO blackberries, two notebooks, a wallet (not sure why I have a wallet), bum, tampons, jump drive, eye glass cleaner, Starbuck’s Via packet (again, why?), my iPod, two sets of ear buds, pens, and my newest addition – a tiny hamster eraser. A bag full of fun!
April 19th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Ha! That should say “gum” not “bum” but I could probably fit one of those in there too.
April 20th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
My bag is a purple beauty, I love it. I hate it. Never find anything in there. And never need anything, except money and keys. Girlz are kraazyyy.
April 20th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
cargo pants don’t really look great on me, so I mostly wear tight-fitting jeans. I carry my $/cards, keys and iPhone in a small wristlet purse that is really only big enough for those items plus a lipgloss/burt’s bees chapstick or two. I have a larger purse that I use when I travel, but I find that all I end up doing with a bigger purse is hoarding a bunch of useless junk
April 21st, 2010 at 10:53 am
On a typical day, I carry a purse. I’ve usually got my wallet, phone, pens, keys, reading glasses, planner, camera, coughdrops or candy, and an assortment of makeup in there.
When I go “out,” however, I hate carrying a bag. I slip my cellphone in my pocket (or, if I’m wearing a skirt, hook it over the waist band), I put my ID and credit card in a pocket (or my bra), and hook my keys to my belt loop (or if I don’t have a belt loop, give them to a friend or S.O.).
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:27 am
[...] shoes? Because the bag post by Grace Downunder is nearing 30 comments, so the next logical step is talking about [...]
March 17th, 2011 at 10:11 pm
yea i hate wen my mom sends me 2 find sumn n her handbag. in the same breath though i have 2 dump out evrthing out of my backpack (babyphat original baby…not too girly not too manly) 2 find shit 2