I'm actually so angry right now.
Misogynistic attitudes towards fundamentally "feminine" things are so deeply ingrained into our culture that it's nearly sickening.
Fashion has and will always be an important part of cultural identity, and it's constantly undermined, belittled and shit upon by people. Not just men, all genders. Fashion is seen as junk that doesn't matter, as if appreciating different aesthetics of varying designers and cultures makes you an unintelligent person. As if caring about how you dress means you aren't smart!
This also ties into reclaiming feminine identity from misogynistic societal values, like wearing lipstick and skirts and pink and how in our culture, "feminine" things are seen as bad. Not to say that all women should wear lipstick and skirts and pink, but there's not a positive social environment for women who do want to do that. When I was five, I pretended I hated Barbies to endear myself to the boys at my school. I was five years old. From the day we are born, "feminine" interests are seen as secondary.
The phrase "I'm not like other girls" -- usually used when speaking to boys whilst doing something traditionally unfeminine -- is a massive blow to reclaiming feminine identity and is grossly misused. Of course you're not like other girls! Girls are all different. Haven't you ever heard of humanism?
Additionally, "girl books" vs. "boy books." There seems to be no such thing as boy books, but rather books for all genders. On the other hand, ChickLit-- books about women, forgive me if I'm mistaken-- are given their own genre. If you're so keen to gender books, you can't just slap a gender on to one form of books then disregard the other.
This got really off topic, but the original rant was inspired by my dad who, after seeing that I was reading an article about the Met Gala in the New York Times, said "look, she's reading the New York Times! You start from the junk and work your way up."
I called him out and shit, but it got me really angry and I basically copied and pasted this rant from a rant I sent to my friends a few hours ago.
- grace
