I want to return to Josephine Asher‘s weird idea that feminists have forced men to live by women’s rules (check out the comments on that post – Asher used a fake name to say she’s intelligent).
Those big bad feminists. Damn, I guess she knows about our secret meetings on how to castrate men and how to punish women who like to wear pretty dresses. Just as – gasp! – women are not all the same, so too are feminists not all the same. I’m a small-l liberal feminist, which fits with my small-l liberal politics. As just one example, Linda Radfem‘s feminism is much more radical than mine, yet we are both feminists. Even if we don’t always agree, I love the passion and anger and knowledge that drives her feminism. And, just like in real life, the priorities of individual feminists change as their lives change. Like all social movements, feminism adjusts to the wins and the losses: women recently got a win with parental leave (albeit basic leave), but we are still losing the equal pay and opportunities battle.
So, I submit to you evidence that feminists do not rule the world.
Exhibit A: Leggings as pants
Sure, leggings are comfortable, but leggings as pants are very revealing. Bottoms and often labia are there for all to see. Who would benefit from this item being worn by the majority of young women, I wonder? Also, for a second summer in a row, micro denim shorts are in. I challenge anyone to argue cogently that feminists control mainstream fashion.
PS: Leggings are not pants.
Update: This last quip was me being silly and we had fun ribbing each other about it in the comments. I am thankful for my regular readers who knew I was being a goose, but this doesn’t change the fact that I offended people. And I am sorry I offended people. Readers were correct to point out that people can wear whatever the hell they like. And this is a position that I firmly believe in. Unless they’re newsreaders, in which case they should look more smart office than nightclub. Until I was pulled up on this, I had never considered the classism, sizeism and ableism issues around leggings as pants. So, thank you. You make me better.
Exhibit B: Breasts
We live in a boob-saturated culture. Boobs are everywhere and used to sell you non-boob-related products, like burgers and vodka.
Asher writes: Feminism has achieved victories for women, but could it be at the expense of femininity, chivalry and attributes of the opposite sex that instinctively attract us to each other?
Frankly, her idea that victories for women – such as the right to own property, the right to have a bank account without needing our husband’s signature, the right to an education, the right to paid employment outside the home, the right to choose to be a stay-at-home mother, the right to keep our job if get pregnant, and the right to control our reproductive systems – are less important that having a man open a door for you, is just odd. Plenty of men open the door for women. Just as plenty of women open the door for men. It’s called manners.
But I’ve digressed. Boobs. If feminists controlled the world, breasts wouldn’t be used to sell clothes for men.
Exhibit C: Toilet cleaner ads
If feminists ruled the world, it wouldn’t be women and only women who appear in ads for toilet cleaner. I’ve seen just one ad with a man in it, and he was an “expert” who magically appeared to show the women in the ad how the job is done properly.
Exhibit D: Rugby league players
I rest my case.
Have been pondering the Asher article for the last two days. Was too enraged to post anything yesterday. Perhaps we should suggest to Asher that she could relinquish her right to vote as her own personal anti-feminist protest. Someone that stupid shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a ballot box.
Melski, I’m still cackling at your comment. But you’ve got a point. If she thinks feminism is no good, then she can give up her right to vote and her right to paid employment.
I don’t know why you even bothered with exhibits A through C; D sums everything up so perfectly.
Ha! Marlon, welcome to the News with Nipples.
Leggings are pants.
Leggings are not pants.
Leggings can be pants?
No. Just no.
YES. Though they flash a lot of butt and flap, they are so comfy. They’re the only kind of pants (for they are pants) that don’t make me hate the world.
LEGGINGS AS PANTS FOREVER.
Oh Frances, I thought you were cool.
I am. Your first impressions with bang on.
With bang on?! WERE bang on.
You should own the ‘with’. ‘With bang on’ sounds like fun.
As a (possibly atypical) representative of the male gender I have to say I don’t understand the appeal of leggings-as-pants. If this male was inflicting his patriarchy upon the world, he’d be more likely to ban leggings-as-pants than mandate them: they’re just embarrassing.
And don’t get me started on jeggings.
Eurgch, jeggings. Awful. It’s amazing how a single item of clothing can remove any class you have.
You know, it always makes me a little sad to see judgmentalism based on people’s clothing choices. I know you mean to be light-hearted about it (at least I hope you do!) but my daughter wears jeggings, does that mean she must therefore have no class?
It’s one thing to say you wouldn’t choose yourself to wear a certain item of clothing, it’s another thing all together to talk about what other people should or shouldn’t wear.
(For the record, I don’t wear leggings as pants
)
Yes mimbles, I am being light-hearted about it. I don’t give a crap about what anyone chooses to wear. Except newsreaders. They need to look smart and business-like, not like they are going to a nightclub (Channel 10, I’m looking at you).
Yeah, I rather thought so
But still!
I wonder if newsreaders all hanker after the hey-day of radio and not having to do wardrobe and makeup all the time…
Or wear pants.
What are jeggings?
are they those jeans type leggings. I saw some on a woman this week and the tight fit just made me think of the eighties and jayne fonda work out videos.
Yep, that’s them.
I’m more concerned about the footless tights craze. If it’s cold enough to cover your legs, surely it’s cold enough to keep your feet warm?
Hi Stef, welcome to the News with Nipples. That’s a good point. Also, wearing jeans, beanie and thongs. If it’s cold enough for a beanie, then put some fucking shoes on.
My view on leggings has changed beyond belief in the late stages of pregnancy, I now love leggings as pants (long top tho no one needs to see my giant butt) and they allow me to wear summer dresses in comfort (although I do get hot, I have to suck it up)
Wearing them under something (long top/dress) doesn’t count. Then they’re leggings. Not pants. I can’t believe this is the discussion we’re having, but it’s pretty funny.
Long top is essential for leggings. Or dress. Even the flattest of tummies, in my opinion, looks a trifle odd with the leggings.
And *I*, in leggings without the benefit of the hip-and-tummy-hiding-garment, look like a novelty eggcup.
Be proud – people collect novelty eggcups!
So what if leggings show more female body parts? We shouldn’t have to hide our bodies all the time. If women want to wear something that they think is comfortable and/or fashionable, then it’s everyone else’s job not to leer at her body just for existing.
FWIW, I have never worn leggings and probably never will. I just don’t think women should be shamed away from them because it reveals the scandalous fact that they have bodies.
Hi bananacat, welcome to the News with Nipples. The leggings thing was a joke. You are indeed correct – women should be able to wear whatever they want without being leered at.
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