Gender in class

Based on our discussions in class, I feel that a lot of important topics were brought to light. I think the main thing I want to discuss at this point, is the discussion on traditional "feminine" clothing. While I do not think that wearing traditionally feminine clothing as a woman is necessarily as oppressive as the way that women are ALWAYS sexualized in media, it does have a place in this discussion. Speaking as someone who both wears dresses and wears jeans and t-shirts (as I know a lot of my friends/classmates do as well), I don't think it's entirely fair to completely brush off the concept that women who choose to wear high heels are often demonized by certain groups of people, saying that this kind of woman can't be "smart", or can't be "feminist".

I think it ties into this concept of female protagonists in a lot of media seen as a girl character saying she's "not like other girls", or having a guy tell her this. Saying this is hugely problematic, because what's so wrong about other girls? It's usually in context of the girl saying she doesn't wear lots of makeup, doesn't go out with lots of guys, or doesn't spend all her time taking selfies. I think having this mindset of being better because you don't fall into the category of a "typical" girl is flat out wrong. And I think this is portrayed more than we'd like to think. That was the main reason I was up in arms about the fact that girls in heels and dresses can also be looked down upon for their choice.

There's also a slut-shaming aspect to it. Girls are told they have to look pretty, but also that they can't be too "slutty" either in their clothing choices, or in their choice of who they date/sleep with. To have a mindset that says "girls in heels aren't looked down upon as much as girls who don't fit into the gendered categories" is both minimizing real issues, and is actually, in some senses, wrong.