"What the Hell is She Wearing?" How Women's Clothing in the United States is Being Attacked
When living in America, people are often given petty rules to follow, especially if they’re women. Women are criticized for many things, and many times these criticisms clash with each other; these include: ‘you're bossy’, ‘you’re a doormat’, ‘you don’t want kids? You’re so selfish’, ‘you want to be a housewife? You're single handedly setting women back fifty years’.
A lot of criticism that women face, though, is about what she is wearing. Somehow, when it comes to
women's clothing, there is never a right answer for what she can wear. Everything is either too modest
or too revealing, maybe she is begging for attention or isn’t even trying to look good.
If something happens to a woman, though, the first question that is always asked is ‘well what were you wearing?’. Whatever she answers, she is always going to be wrong. In America, women’s clothing is overly criticized, no matter the demographic or what she is wearing.
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It could be argued that with the feminist movement, people have become more accepting or empowering of women's clothing choices. While the feminist movement has done this, women are still under attack for their clothing!
Those who judge women's clothing are loud, and don't seem to want to shut their mouths when it comes to how these ladies dress! These people will go into comments of posts, or even make their own posts, to shame an article of clothing. Some may do this because of ideals; others do it because it might attract them to a woman which is just not fair!! "How dare these women dress for themselves and not for me!?".
The point is, even when there are movements of empowerment, it doesn't destroy all the hate that will be spewed. Society likes to be heard, and they've got a megaphone ready, so you better be listening! So what if what they're saying is hateful? You can't silence society, or their freedom of speech when it comes to your fashion sense!
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Lakshmi Pillai Gupta points out that women’s clothing has always been everyone else's business.
Beauty standards have always been thrust upon women in every decade, forever changing, some more impossible than others. Do you need a paler complexion? Come try this new lead-based foundation, you'll only feel a little dizzy afterwards! These heels add so much height, just ignore the bleeding blisters!
Throughout time, women have been put under a microscope for their appearance to be studied. They're constantly told what they should be wearing and what will make them look 'better'. Even if what they're wearing can hurt or even kill them, it does not matter. What matters is looking good, and isn't that better than basic safety?
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This criticism usually starts while women are young; most of the time, while they're in school and under the dress code.
Schools claim dress codes are made to keep the learning environment intact. After all, a girl showing her shoulder could dismantle the entire school system! According to neaToday, many dress codes are created to stop female students from being ‘distracting’ to the male students.
Common dress codes for girls are no showing shoulders or bra straps, nothing above the knee sitting or standing. These policies often come from the oversexualization of young girls and non-sexual parts of the body. Schools will sexualize certain areas, such as the arms or knees, because they assume other students are as well.
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A few years ago, girls in my high school were brought to a classroom, while the boys went off to have a study hall, to 'discuss’ their clothing decisions. Later dubbed the ‘slut talk’, this was the school's way of blaming girls and their clothing for anything that happened/happens to them.
'It is on the boys to control their minds, but we can help by dressing appropriately'; this was an exact quote said by my principal's wife. What kinds of clothes was she talking about exactly? She was talking about clothes like leggings, off shoulder shirts, anything that wasn't a turtleneck sweater and nice pants.
This sort of situation happens often in school settings. Students, usually of the female demographic, will tell stories of complaints of sexual harassment or assault not being taken seriously. Some of them even report being blamed for this harassment because of what they decided to wear. More often than not, the victim is punished while the perpetrator goes scot-free.
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Time passes by, yet a girl can't get through life without her clothes being called out. Surely though, in a setting like a job, women are safe, right? Even when women are following a job dress code, people can't seem to make up their minds about what's right and what's wrong!
Lisa Marie Basile talks about how women are sexualized for what they wear to just do their jobs. The biggest example is the pencil skirt, basic, sleek office attire is constantly being called into question. People are making claims that because it is more form fitting, and the fact it creates an obvious silhouette, it is too ‘revealing’ therefore it is unprofessional.
What about slacks or pantsuits? These things must be okay since they usually hide more of a woman's figure. While both of these things are true, women are still criticized for wearing either of these things because they aren't seen as ‘feminine enough’ to some people. Because of this and since these things aren’t as shaping as a pencil skirt would be, people think that they don't create as polished of silhouette, which is the supposed goal of office attire.
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Even outside of the office, or outside of school, what a woman is wearing is still being judged by the thousands of eyes around her.
Strangers get quite ballsy when it comes to telling women about their choice of clothing. 'Did you see what she's wearing? Gag'. Some may say it to the persons face, after all, their opinion is big and important! Others take the cowards route and just whisper behind a woman's back, assuming it won't get back to her.
Sometimes it's not just strangers, it's people that women know! Countless stories shared where a woman's family will hound with comments about her clothing. 'You paid extra for jeans like that? I could've given you my work pants!' or 'Honestly, do you think you'll find a husband dressed like a hussy?'. Others talk about their friends making them feel insecure to the point they double check outfits before hang outs. 'Oh, no, that looks good. I just couldn't wear something like that.' or 'Wow, it takes a lot of confidence to come dressed like that.'.
Clothing is meant to be an outlet, a way for people to express themselves freely. When we hinder that with our criticisms and force them into a box of what we think is correct, we are stifling that form of self-expression.
Clothes are clothes, not tools of power or control, and we should be treating them as such.
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