Just to expand on this a bit more and how society seems to, at least for the most part, aggressively sexualize women while most people, even many het women, will have either a repulsed or humorous reaction to sexualized men.
If you go to any major mainstream clothing retailer, one that most western teens or young adults go to (since teens and young adults seem to be the most sexualized age demographic, especially in western society) such as say, Target, H&M, Forever 21, TJ Max, ect. Look at the clothes in the men’s section, and look at the clothes in the women’s section. Really compare and look at the differences between the two sections, and compare the thickness, tightness, length, and overall ‘coverage’ differences between the two sections.
In which gender’s clothing section are you going to find most, if not all of the shorts are going to be short shorts that often barely cover more area than underwear, and in which gender’s clothing section are you going to find most if not all of the shorts are very baggy, thick, and come down to the knees?
In which gender’s clothing section are you going to find most of the shirts are thin, tight, and low cut to the point of where you’d probably have to wear another shirt under it or wear a cardigan wear over it (which is more $$$ to buy those extra clothing articles mind you) and in which gender’s clothing section are you going to find most of the shirts are thick, loose, and baggy, and completely keep the wearer covered with no need for extra articles like a tank top or cardigan?
In which gender’s clothing section are you going to find most of the pants are so thin and tight that you can’t even fit a phone in the pocket, and in which gender’s clothing section are the pants going to be thick, loose, and baggy enough that you can fit a small book in the pocket?
Whose gaze is this catering to? And whose gaze is this inhibiting or outright blocking? What is the gender of the CEO’s and executives of the clothing companies designing, advertising, and selling these clothes to you?
This is by no means meant to shame you for wearing these clothes or saying that you’re bad or evil or wrong for buying and wearing those clothes. However, I want everyone to pay attention to how capitalistic institutions like the fashion and clothing industry, which like most industries are male run and owned, sell the toxic gender norm of women/feminine = sexualized, while man/masculine = unsexualized.
And I mean, look at the difference in your typical formal dress vs a suit. A normal suit worn by your average dude keeps your whole body covered except head and hands, while most formal dresses, at least aimed toward teenage girls and young women, are strappy, thin, low cut, and show lots of leg. Again, this is by no means shaming you or saying you’re a bad person for wearing that, but we need to analyze and think critically of how aggressively gendered it is and which gender’s clothing tends to be thinner and more revealing and which gender’s clothing tends to be thick and keep the whole body covered. A lot of times when I see clothing designs of an outfit that was originally masculine mean to be more “feminized” it’s feminized via making it shorter, lower cut, and generally more revealing, and in reverse an originally feminine outfit re-designed to be more masculine is usually made so by making it longer and generally more covering.
And yeah, you do see women in suits for formal wear sometimes. But if a man were to show up to your typical formal function in a thin strapless top and something short where most of his leg was revealed, how do you think the majority of people would react? Probably either with laughter, disgust, or both, like the reaction OP got for posting a male pin-up piece.
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