I was born in the mid-seventies and raised by a woman who went to modeling school (John Casablancas, if you're curious), so I'm not unfamiliar with so-called "feminine" standards of dress. I even played along with it for a while because when everyone from your mom to your school to the fucking nerds at the back of the classroom Have Opinions about how you're supposed to look, you grow up thinking that's all normal. We stick with what we think is normal until we have reasons to do otherwise. I picked up those reasons well after childhood was over. So I see both sides of this.
But.
What is it with women, really? I mean, okay, I'm a woman, but it's like we are positively mental on this subject.
It's not a hate thing. I'm genuinely puzzled.
Even as a child, even thinking I enjoyed all the extra attention I was supposed to pay to my appearance, I had trouble adjusting to some aspects of women's attire. I always hated miniskirts because they tried to ride up my ass, which is not the effect we want when we're not even age of consent. Slips were annoying because, well, they'd slip and start showing. Do not even get me started about shoulder pads. I ruined more than one blouse and coat because I just would not tolerate those fucking things and I'd cut them right out. Or I dunno, maybe I actually improved them. Don't know, don't care. Will not wear shoulder pads. The end. And then there were high heels. I loved the way they looked on adult women and when I got the chance to try them for myself, I put good-faith effort into it but... no. Those things killed my feet. Learning what high-heeled shoes do to feet in the long term besides make them uncomfortable in the short term (and what they do to ankles and legs, and what they do to hips, and what they do to backs) put me off of them for good. As if to validate my decision, my feet changed shape just enough to no longer fit into them anyway. Go figure.
But I look at other women now and for whatever reason, they never had that awakening moment.
So, every now and again on social media I see some woman declaring that she doesn't dress "like this" for men, because frankly, men would fuck a hamburger. (They would.) And I'm like... Well, you certainly don't dress like that for me, because I don't give a fuck what you wear as long as I don't have to see your bits. I don't know which women these women are dressing silly for, because allegedly the Silly Dressers are heterosexual? So why dress to impress women in the first place?
Are you doing it to impress yourself? Okay, so after the foot aches, leg aches, knee and ankle aches, and back aches, then the not being able to breathe because your pants (trousers) are too tight, then the having to pull things up constantly or pull things down constantly or else you'll be arrested for indecent exposure, I guess it's all worth it because you like how it looks? You really couldn't find some other way to like how you look? It has to be this way with all the discomfort and ill fit?
And the cost. This is what really gets me. We will scream the world down because we get screwed out of fair wages and are basically kept poor (or at least poorER than men are), and then we will go out and blow ridiculous amounts of money on the above wardrobe results. Which will then be out of style in six months, if it doesn't all fall apart before then. Do you have any idea what you could do with that money if you weren't spending it on flimsy fashion-wardrobe bullshit? You should have seen my book collection before my life fell apart. It was awesome. I had clothes I liked too. The difference was I could actually breathe in mine. Walk without getting bunions, too.
"Why are men's pants a size 30 for a 30-inch waist but women's sizes depend on the phase of the moon?"
You're the one putting up with that inconsistent bullshit and buying the product anyway. You tell me.
Quite apart from the poor quality and the poor coverage and the poor health outcomes, so much of "women's wear" is just impractical. I don't get why we dress for impeded movement. Don't we want to do literally anything besides be ornamental? What's up with the long hair that tangles and falls in our faces? Why so much jewelry that can get caught in things? Why can't we go for walks in our shoes? Why do our pants (trouser) legs drag on the ground? What's the fucking use? I used to go along with this shit too. Doesn't make me any better suited to explain it.
It's not like we don't have better-quality options that would also look nice, or at least well-groomed. Maybe we have to look online for those options, but why is that a problem? Really, about the only snag I can see is that we can't try it on before we buy. Although if you look on Amazon, they have that option with clothes now, sometimes.
I dunno. I wish we would figure this out. Meanwhile, if you've bought stupid things and feel like you have to defend them on social media? Don't. Take the L and just make better choices next time.
P.S. Yes, dresses and pants (trousers) with pockets exist. Step away from Cheap Crap Boutique and look a little harder. I am literally wearing women's pants (trousers) with pockets RIGHT FUCKING NOW. Extra pockets, even, because they are cargo pants!
Got them from Old Navy. For less than $50 a pair. You're welcome.
I’ve hated scratchy clothes since the age of two.