clothes/fashion

Laura Malischke, a friend and lovely photographer, sent in an ad featuring “women’s sizes”:

The phrase “women’s” is perhaps the most common euphemism used in the U.S. (I’m not sure about elsewhere) to refer to clothes made for women who wear sizes 14 and up.  What’s amazing about the term is what it implies about the “regular” sizes.  If non-“women’s”-sized clothes are not for women, who are they for?

I’ll take hypotheses…

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Anna sent in another example of a brand marketing itself as for-manly-men-only.  Add this one, featuring McCoy Crisps, to some of our other examples: Dockers, Klondike Bar, Alpo, Oberto beef jerky, and Ketel One.

The first thing that the McCoy Crisps Pub site requires is that you tell it what kind of shoes you’re wearing:

If you answer “incorrectly,” the website says: “No, not right.  Get inside and learn how to be a real man.”

When you enter the online pub, the first thing you see is a woman that you are supposed to be disgusted by.  Immediately a set of beer goggles flies up onto your face (because you wouldn’t want to look at her for more than a split second, apparently):

Then you see this (phew! that was close!):

Alongside playing darts, drinking games, and playing manly trivia, you can get tips on how to be more manly.  Such as “How Not to Look Like a Girl Watching TV” and “How to Get Away with Not Ironing”:

And you can also take a manly quiz to find out how manly you are.  The quiz nicely tells you exactly how you are allowed to behave and what you are allowed to like.  Some examples of questions:

So being a guy means manipulating women with puppies, making fun of your brother-in-law for being a good husband and father, making women cook for you, eschewing personal grooming and healthy eating as much as possible, objectifying women, and enjoying the Pirelli company calender.

Oh, and, if you haven’t seen the Pirelli calendar, you really, really, really don’t want to click here (NSFW; trigger warning).

So there you have it: another marketing campaign that assumes that men are stupid, shallow, sexist, sport-o-holics.  I don’t understand why men tolerate it.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Crossposted at Jezebel.

Sarah Barnes, who blogs at Uplift, expressed surprise at seeing the ad below in Grazia magazine:

She found herself surprised, she explains, because it took a minute for it to sink in that the dolls weren’t real people…

She explains:

In a time when everything is photoshopped to such disastrous levels, there really isn’t that much difference between a Ralph Lauren advert using a real model and an ASOS ad using Barbies. When fashion just has to be seen on ‘perfect’ women, we are becoming used to seeing a Barbie-like cookie cutter version of what women look like in our magazines.

So, this is why I screamed. Because, for a second there, I thought the Barbies were real women.

Do they freak you out a bit?

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Sometimes when we put up hyperfeminine clothes and toys for girls, people argue that no one has to buy those clothes, so there is no point in critiquing their existence.  The implication is that all conformity to gendered expectations is voluntary (on the part of both mothers and their daughters).

However, the recent furor over Shiloh Jolie-Pitts haircut and boyish outfit, sent in by Tara C., Cailin H., and Lindsay F., shows us that having a gender-consistent appearance isn’t simply voluntary; when you don’t perform gender, other people will police your choices.  In this case, people are questioning whether she is harming her child by turning her “into A BOY?”

In this case, of course, it’s mass media doing the policing (or inviting readers to do the policing).  In the lives of non-celebrities, this same sort of policing is often done by family members, friends, and even strangers.  For the non-conformist (parent), then, gender non-conformity can be a real drag.

Image borrowed from DListed.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Finally, a push-up panty for the penis!

It’s here and, thanks to Luis J.C.R., we all know about it.

Images and discussion after the jump because not safe for work.

more...

Just a reminder: being a girl means wearing pink and thematically attiring yourself in cooking and baking implements! Erica Glasier, who snapped and sent in the photo, writes:

The message is clear: little girls, you’re going to grow up cooking, and you’re going to like it. Needless to say the little blue jammies had no such future drudgery being celebrated on their fabric.

The pjs are Joe Fresh brand, sold at Superstore.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Dmitriy T.M. sent us a link to Jezebel’s analysis of the inclusion of models of color at New York fashion weeks.  The post author, Jenna, begins:

…in the fall of 2007 that fully one-third of shows in New York had 100% white casts. Two years later, we calculated that 18% of spots in show lineups were booked by models of color — a real improvement in the representation of black, Latina, and Asian faces in the crucible where the beauty standard is forged.

This season, fashion took a step back.

…

Of 4,095 turns on the runway, only 662 went to models who weren’t white. That’s barely 16%.

More:

Most of the shows that took place used some models of color — just three designers, A Détacher, Alice + Olivia (full disclosure: an old client of mine), and Preen, chose exclusively white casts — but many used very few. Well over 60% of the shows, in fact, used casts that were 85% white, or more.

Most of the shows that took place used some models of color — just three designers, A Détacher, Alice + Olivia (full disclosure: an old client of mine), and Preen, chose exclusively white casts — but many used very few. Well over 60% of the shows, in fact, used casts that were 85% white, or more.

More details on the data, and the models, at Jezebel.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Fun Fact #1: Female figure skaters are required to wear skirts and men must wear “full-length trousers: no tights.”

Note: This isn’t true anymore; “this rule was repealed in 2004, allowing women to wear tights, trousers, or unitards” (http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/faq/rules.shtml)

Sonja Henie, of Norway, is credited with introducing the short skirt to women’s figure skating.  She won gold medals in 1928, ’32, and ’36:

According to Abigail Feder, in her article ” ‘A Radiant Smile from the Lovely Lady’: Overdetermined Femininity in ‘Ladies’ Figure Skating”, the International Skating Union (ISU) introduced a rule requiring that women wear skirts after they were scandalized by Debi Thomas’ unitard at the 1988 Olympics:

(source)

An NPR slide show explains:

Today, according to the ISU, figure skating’s governing body, “Ladies must wear a skirt. The Ladies dress must not give the effect of excessive nudity inappropriate for an athletic sport. Men must wear full-length trousers: no tights are allowed and the man’s costume may not be sleeveless.”

So, just to be clear, the performance of femininity and masculinity, as defined by the ISU, is required if one is to be a competitive figure skater… all skills aside.

—————————–

Fun Fact #2: People used to make their costumes by hand; today they are high fashion.

The 1976 Olympics were the last in which figure skating costumes were mostly handmade.  Here Dorothy Hamill competes in a costume her mother made for $75:

Today, costumes frequently cost thousands of dollars.    Michelle Kwan and Nancy Kerrigan both competed in Vera Wang (who, in 2009, was inducted in the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame for her designs).  Kerrigan:

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.