Picture this: You're trying to buy underwear - a bra or panties. But when you go to the store, all the salespeople are male. They can't measure you for a good fit because touching you is against the law. And you can't try anything on in the store because there are no fitting rooms.

That's how maddening it is for women shopping for lingerie in Saudi Arabia. Because physical contact between unmarried men and women in Saudi Arabia is forbidden under strict segregation laws, women can also not be properly measured for their underwear. Although there's a law on the books that says women should be able to staff shops that sell items to women, traditional attitudes discourage females from working at these places.

An administrative clerk at a women's college told the BBC that she doesn't buy lingerie in Saudi Arabia anymore. "It's really embarrassing. They try to give comments -'this might suit you better than that' - it's really not ethical." How frustrating is that to have to leave the country just to be able to purchase a bra and panties?

There's a campaign to get women to work in lingerie shops instead of men. Led by a lecturer at Dar al-Hikma Women's College in Jeddah, the group hopes to organize a boycott of all lingerie shops staffed by men. The full story is at BBC World News America.

Further reading: Lingerie boycott: Saudi women won't buy lingerie until shops employ female clerks