Some woman wrote an article in Harper’s Bazaar about how she was sick of having to pick out clothes every day and being late for meeting so she bought a bunch of clothes that were the same.
I had to go get my eyes because they rolled all the way out of my head while I was reading it, but this particular gem caught my eye.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, let’s add to the mix the extensive pressure on women to uphold a flawless appearance. Here, we ultimately end up with an unscalable mountain of high expectations. No wonder many people walk around feeling that the world owns them, when it really should be the other way around.
- If there is pressure on women to uphold a flawless appearance, it comes from other women.
- Harper’s Bazaar is a gd FASHION magazine that only women read. So they have to flip past 50 pages of unrealistic body images and clothes they can’t afford just to get to the article.
- Some men spend more time putting cups on their faces to trim their beards and refolding their idiot pocket squares than women do getting ready for the Oscars.
- I work in Manhattan. Here is what women wear: black shirt, black pants, black boots, black coat. I swear to god that until it hits 80 and every woman switched to sun dresses, walking around in NYC is like watching a million women dress up like The Undertaker.
So seriously, I am not sure how this woman just figured out what the army, McDonalds, doctors and Bert and Ernie have always known: wearing the same clothes every day s easier. But good for her. Now I can go put on my suit and hope I have socks that match my pants and that my belt matches my shoes. Yeah, those are the only two rules men have. And I still spent 20 minutes holding up blue socks in different windows to see if they were black, then decided they were then got to work and figured out they weren’t.
Stupid Harper’s Bazaar. Why don’t they write something about that?
OK so I will now gift you with the female opinion. (I’m just kidding, I do not speak for all women. Calm the hell down.) Here is the thing – she’s right and wrong. As are you. It’s true that often a lot of pressure on women for their clothes and looks is coming from other women. But, as we live in a society that is still, let’s be real, a freaking patriarchy, then it’s a society that is controlled by and set up by men… so it’s kind of all men’s fault in that way. If you get what I mean. Before you #notallmen me, I know that. Duh. Case in point, Acadia has not catcalled anyone in at least, I’m sure, a year or two, and that was probably an actual cat. Here’s what I think about the “what to wear” dilemma which I’ve read a lot about over the last year or so. 1) Yes wearing a suit makes it easier for men. What is stopping women from wearing a suit if that’s what they want to do? Done. 2) But outside of suits, I guarantee you any guy I have ever worked with could wear literally the same shirt and slacks/chinos every day and no one would notice or comment. If any woman did EVERYONE would have something to say. So it’s not so much that there’s anything wrong with doing it, of course there’s not, wear your white blouses and black slacks forever lady, go for it – it’s WHY DOES EVERYONE NEED TO COMMENT ON IT. Very very few men need to be especially concerned about what they put on every day. I have instituted sort of a uniform for myself though not as strict as hers. I will usually find a sweater or a blouse or a knit top that I like a lot, buy it in several colors/patterns, and wear the hell out of them till they die. I do the same thing with pants. I wear the same 2 colors and styles of chinos every day to work until I wear them out. Nobody comments. If I wore the exact same color of both every day someone would. I have never felt the stress she describes about what to wear. I think some of it is self-inflicted. Maybe the problem is she needs to just chill out a little bit. But, of note, you know about the Australian newscaster (male) who wore the same exact suit every day for a year and after the year was up he announced what he did, and no one had noticed, right? (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/17/tv-anchor-same-suit-sexism_n_6170900.html) Because that proves the point this woman is doing kind of a bad job of proving quite succinctly. It went unnoticed. Do you think his female news anchor could get away with that? Of course not. On the second day it would be the most talked about thing at the office/station and everywhere she went. As for every woman in Manhattan wearing head to toe black every day I believe you but that’s not the case in Boston, so maybe Manhattanites have it figured out, in which case, more power to them. Go NYC ladies. Get it gurl.
Also you are a liar. There is no man on earth who spends more time trimming his beard (how is the cup incorporated exactly?) and folding pocket squares than any single woman getting ready for the Oscars. I guarantee you that is an all-day or even multi-day process. Get serious.
What are you kidding? If you don’t want to look like you’re on Duck Dynasty beard care is never ending.
1: your gd comment was longer than the post AND the original article.
2: “. So it’s not so much that there’s anything wrong with doing it, of course there’s not, wear your white blouses and black slacks forever lady, go for it – it’s WHY DOES EVERYONE NEED TO COMMENT ON IT.”
Because she wrote a damn article about it. Nobody cares.
3: “I will usually find a sweater or a blouse or a knit top that I like a lot, buy it in several colors/patterns, and wear the hell out of them till they die. I do the same thing with pants. I wear the same 2 colors and styles of chinos every day to work until I wear them out. Nobody comments.”
Because nobody cares.
4: “Do you think his female news anchor could get away with that? Of course not. On the second day it would be the most talked about thing at the office/station and everywhere she went.”
I guaranTEE you it would be women who did the yakking. Not men. Some woman should do that experiment. One time a girl in my office wore the same shoes every day for a week. I wondered why, but I never said anything. I bet the rest of the office did, though. The WOMEN
5: The cup thing is when dudes put a cup around their mustache or some shit and trim around it. They suck. The name for those people are: guys who suck.
We are so in a fight right now. False, nobody comments on my similar outfits because they’re not exactly the same. If someone wore something EXACTLY THE SAME people would notice, not just women. But even if it was only women, it’s because society is f***ed up. Society is a patriarchy. (I am buying this shirt: http://www.lookhuman.com/design/58908-trample-the-patriarchy)
Here is my point, succinctly, since you don’t like me to ramble on: there is generally unfair attention on how women look. Whether this is perpetrated by women unevenly against other women is kind of irrelevant (though I am staunchly of the “lift each other up and stop being b***es to each other” camp) – the problem is that society as a whole unfairly values women’s appearance above their accomplishments. This is just a fact. If you disagree with that then I’m sending men in white coats to take you away somewhere for a while.
Examples to help you understand:
Stupid red carpet events where they ALWAYS ask the woman “who she’s wearing” i.e. who designed her outfit, and never ask the men that (http://therepresentationproject.org/askhermore-how-the-media-talks-to-women-on-the-red-carpet/)
All the coverage in the news about women in politics heavily discusses their appearance, outfits, hair; these items are never a point of discussion for men.
FLOTUS is always getting comments on her weight, clothing, and hair. Always. Do not lie and tell me you don’t see that. She is a f***ing smart, awesome woman who should get credit for the awesome stuff she does.
It is not just women that say these things and ask these questions.
Ann Hathaway: (skip to 1:40) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nEHZZi6_nU
Scarlett Johansson “You asked Joss what kind of underwear he wears?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHxzxgwJTFc
And here you go – Emma Stone, Scarlett Johansson, and Ann Hathaway: http://www.sparksummit.com/2012/08/20/get-it-girls-emma-scarlett-anne-talk-back/
I don’t need examples, jeez. I know all the things you are talking about. But you have already said that ScarJo spends days getting ready for the Oscars. Then she bitches at people who ask her about her looks? WHICH IS IT? Also, men wear tuxedos so we don’t get asked.
And honestly, I don’t care what actresses think, or actors. They are like plumbers or taxi drivers. They do a job. The politicians it bugs me. Because if we are going to judge politicians on their looks then we need to get that handsome Shock guy back and kick out one eyed Harry Reid.
But how stars and politicians dress and how the press treats them has nothing to do with what you wear to work. If you wore black pants, a white shirt and a black sweater every day. Even if they were the same one, nobody would care.
Your job is to do your job. Part of Anne Hathaway’s job is to look pretty and fancy.
One solution that didn’t involve uniforms is that everyone could go to work naked. Of course it’s too cold in Boston for Cider to do that.
“If there is pressure on women to uphold a flawless appearance, it comes from other women.” Maybe it appears that way on the surface, but as Cider pointed out, this concept is strongly rooted in patriarchy and the need for women to always maintain sexually desirable physical appearance. The competitiveness that results among women simply wouldn’t exist without the underlying male belief that women are valued solely for their sexuality (and domestic abilities, obvi).
Anyway, you left out Doug Funnie from the list of people who wear the same thing every day. There was even an episode once where they looked inside his closet and there were like 12 of the same exact thing.
Guys would ask out a girl working at Golden Coral if she was covered with prime rib blood. So I disagree. In a manly fashion