Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!caen!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero-c!nadel From: chris@psych.toronto.edu (Christine Hitchcock) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: Clothing Message-ID: <1991May8.133550.14685@psych.toronto.edu> Date: 8 May 91 13:35:50 GMT References: <1991Apr27.120803.29765@nntp-server.caltech.edu> Sender: news@aero.org Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Lines: 46 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Status: R Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Isn't this a repost from a few weeks ago? In article <1991Apr27.120803.29765@nntp-server.caltech.edu> khy@deimos.caltech.EDU writes: >What ever happened to the issue of clothing? In the 70's no >self-respecting feminist would be caught dead wearing a dress or a >skirt, but these days lots of self-proclaimed feminists wear them all >the time. Is protesting distinct clothing for men and women off the >feminist agenda? Or do radical feminists still wear pants >exclusively? Do radical feminists look down on feminine-looking women >who wear dresses and stockings? I don't consider myself not to be a feminist because I sometimes wear dresses. A lot of the second-wave of feminism seemed to me to start out by confining women's choices (in clothes, in life choices, in sexual orientation, in some cases), but that seems to be mercifully less common now. The trend seems to be not so much imposing new guidelines, but on fighting the old constraints on how women can live their lives. >Myself, I'm not complaining, because I never liked women in pants and >the fact that feminists dressed so badly turned me off feminism. It >seems to me that after they softened up on the clothing issue, >feminists got more recruits. What are the opinions on this issue >these days? It's *possible* that this isn't a sexist view, merely a shallow one. Do you judge movements in general by the dress of their members? You seem to have missed a major feminist complaint, namely that women's attire has traditionally emphasized her sexual attractiveness over comfort and utility. If you judge whether you like a woman by whether she's wearing pants, or is dressed attractively, then perhaps you're also happy being treated like a walking wallet and be judged for your nice sportscar. I'd rather live in a different world than that, and I think *that's* part of what feminism is about. -- Chris Hitchcock, Dept. of Psychology chris@psych.toronto.edu University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario UseNet: I only read it for the CANADA M5S 1A1 .signatures