Good question, Kendall.

1. I suppose people get used to nightware when they are young and share the house with other children and roommates.

2. A lot of places are so cold that pj's are necessary.

3. Parents put nightware on kids so that when they get up, they are covered.

4. To me, my nightgown signals that it's time for sleep. It's part of the process of going to sleep.

5. I do get up and move around at night, and I like to have something on.

6. My final point, and this is something I think all people should think about, comes from an article in the paper about women buying cars. The article said that "Women today feel deeply vulnerable." Thus they buy cars bigger than they need. They also have nightware because to be naked is to vulnerable.

I guess all the violence we hear about gets to us at a deep level. I'll tell you one thing. Recently my husband wanted to wake me up at 3 am to start a trip to Europe. He touched my shoulder, and I screamed and came up swinging. (He was quite startled.) We agreed that from then on, he would wake me up by calling my name from several feet away and not touching me.

"Deeply vulnerable" seems to include fear of being attacked while sleeping.