I was watching the final of The Apprentice tonight.
One of the candidates' business ideas was to start a company selling tights matching skin tones and it was interesting to note some of the comments made by the men when talking to each other about "getting into tights" in a jokey manner. Now I don't mean to get all mad and po-faced about it because that's just the way things are, it's still very much a joke to a lot of people to see men in traditionally female clothing like it's unmanly. Hell, we have a pantomime industry built on the foundations of people playing roles of the opposite gender. I just wonder if we will ever get to a point when it's normal. Probably not in my lifetime anyway.
Then again, look at the ways we dressed in years gone by and look at some of the things in today's society that are more acceptable than they were decades ago. Everything changes. This year in fashion, tacky Christmas jumpers have made a comeback and now they even have an element of cool to them as geeky icons like Star Wars or Guardians of the Galaxy have been put into patterns in pixelated forms. Back when I was growing up in the 1980s this kind of jumper was still in vogue a little until it became a symbol of naffness. Now, this is a bit of a glib example but it's the one that sprang immediately to mind.
I was watching QI the other night and apparently back when women were campaigning to get the vote, there were some women that disagreed with the idea. Of course, men made a joke of it and I remember seeing propaganda once in history class suggesting that even criminals and madmen should be given the vote ahead of women. It seems like such an obvious decision to us in this day and age. Again, I'm probably being too glib. Perhaps with some of the gender fluidity that's beginning to emerge these days, the idea of a man wearing tights won't be something to make fun of in the future.
Glib or not, your points make sense. I remember looking at the anti-suffragette movement with similar disdain and amazement when I was at school; I've taught the same subject and I'm really none the wiser as to the motivations of the people that opposed. There were also influential women that worked against the movement. The same is true today of movements in the States and in Feminism in general.
ReplyDeleteLong story short, any kind of acceptance is opposed by those who feel that by giving others a bit of acceptance diminishes the acceptance they receive - like it's a zero-sum game.
Also, your pop-culture-fu is better than mine.