Not sure if this'll fly or not, but I'll give it a try. Here's the idea: every week, I'll post a little excerpt from a book or web site that I think members here might find interesting, just to see if people are up for a wee bit of discussion and armchair analysis. I'll aim for gender or transgender topics while yet keeping my options open. Some controversy might be generated but I'd much prefer it if people remained civil and on-topic; I'd like for this thread to remain in the general forums and not be cast down into Mordor (as we used to say). Of course, this thread is open to all--GGs as well as anyone on the TG spectrum.
The idea came to me as I was finishing setting up my bookshelves; I kept getting sidetracked, picking up books and reading at random. I realized there's a lot of stimulating stuff, right there in my living room, that's ripe for the intellectual picking. So, on to this week's excerpt.
August 4th, 2008
Femininity
Susan Brownmiller; Fawcett Columbine, NY, 1984. pp. 79, 81.
Who would deny that dressing feminine can be quite creative? A woman with a closetful of clothes for different moods and occasions is an amateur actress and a wily practitioner of the visual arts. A grand sense of theater reposes on that rack of hangers, offering a choice of imaginative roles from sexy vixen to old-fashioned, romantic lady. Children of both sexes love to dress up in their mother's costumes, complete with lipstick, handbag and high heels, because they adore the game of "Let's pretend." Feminine clothing induces the body to strut about in small, restrained yet show-offy ways. Feminine clothing produces its special feminine sounds: the staccato clickety-click of the heels, the musical jangle of bracelets, the soft rustle of silk, or, in an earlier era, the whisper of petticoats, the snap of a fan. And the finishing touches, the makeup and perfume, create a distinctive, sweet feminine smell.
And then there are the compliments, the ultimate reward, for men are known to be highly appreciative when a woman has taken the trouble to create an entire human being who looks and acts and smells so different from them.
Every wave of feminism has foundered on the question of dress reform. I suppose it is asking too much of women to give up their chief outward expression of the feminine difference, their continuing reassurance to men and to themselves that a male is a male because a female dresses and looks and acts like a different sort of creature.
(...)
Then why do I persist in not wearing skirts? Because I don't like this artificial gender distinction. Because I don't wish to start shaving my legs again. Because I don't want to return to the expense and aggravation of nylons. Because I will not reacquaint myself with the discomfort of feminine shoes. Because I'm at peace with the freedom and comfort of trousers. Because it costs a lot less to wear nothing but pants. Because I remember how cold I used to feel in the winter wearing a short skirt and sheer stockings. Because I can still call to mind the ugly look of splattered rain water on the back of my exposed legs. Because I recall the anguish of an unraveled hem. Because I remember resenting the enormous amount of thinking time I used to pour into superficial upkeep concerns, and because the nature of feminine dressing is superficial in essence--even my objections seem superficial as I write them down. But that is the point. To care about feminine fashion, and do it well, is to be obssessively involved in inconsequential details on a serious basis. There is no relief. To not be involved is to risk looking eccentric and peculiar, or sloppy and uncared for, or mannish and manhating, or all of the above.
Who said that clothes make a statement? What an understatement that was. Clothes never shut up. They gabble on endlessly, making their intentional and unintentional points.
There you have it, folks. Discuss. (Heh. I've always wanted to say that!
)Love,
CJ
but it's a show, nonetheless. We're actors and actresses; we "act gender." In fact, we "playact," we "pretend," we "perform" gender. When we perform "transgressively" (such as is the case, allegedly, with transgender behaviour), we are, in effect, reading lines intended for another player. This makes the other actors and actresses on the stage turn to us with a puzzled expression on their faces. Some will go as far as admonishing us for "ruining the play" by not sticking to the script. But the beauty of being human, I think, lies in the opposite direction; while it may be true, as the Bard wrote, that "all the world's a Stage and we are but Players on it," we have the ability (some would say, "the duty") to write our own parts if we wish, and speak our own lines, and to always keep in mind that the ending is never written until the very moment we breathe our last.
) Second, though she considers herself to have some feminist leanings, Roxanne doesn't believe you cannot simultaneously be feminist and wear a skirt, or wear trousers and be feminine. And although she, too, spends a few minutes each morning "obssessing about inconsequential details," she says that doing so is part of the fun of having a feminine wardrobe. Inconsequential? Perhaps. (She says.) Fun? Definitely! (She also says.)
