This article is about how more and more kids clothes are made to be “sexy”–for as young as seven-year-olds. That’s a story in itself but I found this quote intriguing:
It’s important to realize that these clothes are ubiquitous and they are hard to avoid,” [said] Mackey. “But when young girls wear these clothes they send the message that they are sexually available. And the more they are exposed to clothes that suggest they should be attractive to the opposite sex, they could put themselves into risky situations.”
Seems to me this comes awfully close to saying that how we dress matters, because it sends certain signals. But that’s taboo, and I believe the genesis of the “Slutwalk” came about to protest a cop who implied that women should be careful about how they dress. Just wanted to highlight the discrepancy.
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I’m a man. I should be able to walk into a bar frequented by biker gangs and have a drink if I want. After all, bars are public establishments. I should be able to. That’s in a perfect world. But in this world, practically speaking, I understand that some behaviours are more risky than others. And using the freedoms I should have, might put me at more risk.
While I think the relationship between how a woman dresses and the risk of being raped is quite complicated, I am more interested in how the way a woman dresses can be used to initimidate and manipulate men. I know that men are supposed to be all in favour of women exposing as much of themselves as possible (not even “as good taste allows” anymore). However, there must be some who do not enjoy spending their days in the office and at school trying to control the physical response to all the bare flesh. It’s not only women who are objectified by this ever-expanding sexualization of fashion.
Working with high school aged kids is difficult enough without these girls thinking a) that showing as much skin as possible looks good, and b) when they do so they are “empowered” and “embracing their femininity”. The men that work with them have it really rough – don’t look or you’re a creepy old guy, don’t accidentally rub against someone because the hall is too crowded or face the threat of harassment charges.
This is the new feminism, the feminism of my generation, and it stinks…and we’re all having to deal with the ripples of it.
so let me get this straight: you think there’s a discrepancy between women who are of legal age to make their own decisions, embracing their sexuality by dressing how they are comfortable and refusing to be victimized for it, and children who are not of legal majority, being grossly sexualized by corporations looking to make dollars off of fashion trends and moms who want to be seen as stylish and cool?
yeah. yeah, there’s a discrepancy there. it’s called SOCIETY. it’s called a severe misunderstanding of feminism. it’s called patriarchy. and you’re called dumb for even comparing the two completely different examples of sexuality.