I remember being told, when I was little, that it "proper" and modest to hang your smalls on the inside rows and I suppose I still do, but really only out of habit.
I do like to have all the knickers together, all the socks together, etc. It makes it easier when folding later.

  The fight against clothes line bans By Tom Geoghegan BBC News Magazine, Oct 2010

 

For decades, the clothes line has had an image problem in the US but, ahead of a rally to highlight the benefits of natural drying, is it about to be reclaimed?

 

There is a new protest movement sweeping the US and at its heart are two sticks and a piece of string.

 

Upon the humble clothes line, a battle line has been drawn that embodies a uniquely American clash of ideas about class, liberty and the environment.

 

Rules imposed by community associations and landlords forbid tens of millions of home owners to dry their washing outside because, they say, it's unsightly and even lowers property prices.

 

But a number of clothes line rebels have risked legal action by disobeying these rules, saying it is the duty of Americans to reduce their carbon footprint and leave their energy-hungry tumble dryers idle.

 

This Sunday their supporters will make their feelings known by holding a rally in Concord, New Hampshire to promote line drying.

 

These unlikely dissenters come in all ages and from all backgrounds. After moving to Witney Ridge in Pennsylvania nearly three years ago, Deborah Brensinger, a 55-year-old nurse, immediately began hanging her clothes in her back yard.

"Our government is trying to encourage working with the environment and doing things to cut down electricity, yet here's something totally free.

 

"I get to see my neighbours, it's clean and it smells good. It's a contemplative practice. I don't rush it, I enjoy it. It relieves stress. You can do it leisurely at your own pace, in a world that's so fast-paced."

read more:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11417677

 

  'Prudery plays a part'

Australian anti-nuclear advocate Helen Caldicott spent 18 years living in the US.

"Tumble drying is absolutely unnecessary. They can hang their clothes out in summer and by the furnace in the basement in winter. But they are being brainwashed that they need to machine dry.

"Part of it is also that they don't want to be looking at Mrs Brown's underwear. I suppose that prudery comes from the Puritans."

 

 

 

 

Clothesline rebels and dissenters LOL