What Not to Wear
What is this trap,
that makes one believe looking good is so important? Why has our
society has placed so much emphasis on looks? Is this an un feminist
attitude
that we are to look our best? Some would say looks lead to competition,
and an emphasis on looking good for other men and other women. It is
also to feel good about yourself but DOES A FEMALE NEED NICE CLOTHES TO
FEEL GOOD ABOUT HERSELF ? WHY SHOULD SHE? Do you think that a women
needs
to worry, to be apart of that sick attitude in this developed world
about looks?
This sickness is causing eating disorders, insecurity, bullies and an
ability for men to
still have the front stage. How often do men have these issues in our
society?
How often does a young male have to deal with eating disorders, clothing
options, make up and the perfect body, compared to young women? I was
given one of society's acceptable
bodies. That was never something that i believe was apart of who i was.
I
never wanted to believe that i was better looking or a better person
because
of something I had no part in. I was born with a body that for right now
(who
knows in 50 years what the perfect body will be?) is acceptable to pop
culture. I knew it would
last through my 20s (and the ending of my teens), so i could not always
rely on it for
a sense of confidence. My philosophy is that looks are as temporary as
clothes,
make up and hair style. I will have to conform to a job environment, I
will
conform when I am down about myself and want to superficially make
myself feel
better by wearing something nice.
Does anyone else see that while I worked in Paraguay I tried to show the girls that although I had money I did not show it in my clothes? That i did not wear fancy shoes or make up. The times in which i had to look nice I did. I understood that they needed to show their pride in themselves when they went to a community event by looking nice. But, I wanted to challenge their ideas that having money to look nice and dress nice is not as important as having another sense of confidence. The younger girls looked up to me. I lived by myself as a female (unheard of!). I dressed how i wanted to. I felt good in what I wore. I wanted them to question: Could they feel confident as well with the clothes they could afford? Like here in America, Paraguayan mothers struggled with their daughters (only! not sons) to display them nicely for the communities event. It reflected on the moms, the family. This could mean, a new pair of jeans, which would mean selling their pig, eating less meat that month, so that for that one event their daughters would look good. I talked to Agustina my neighbor about this. She kept her daughters home from these events sometimes. But she was worried because when Monica went to High School she would have to let her go to the high school's events. School was free except for those events and dressing nice. Some families kept their daughters from going to high school to avoid all clothing costs (uniforms for school, dances and parades). Pencils, binders, books were provided and paid by the government. Another excuse for the moms, was that they could use the extra help at home and some wanted to keep them away from other boys and hence an unwanted pregnancy. Many more boys in the community went to high school.
This is an extreme example of how clothing and looks (hence money) can prevent women from achieving their lifetime goals and education. But as other peace corps volunteers notice in paraguay, the country was only 40 years behind the USA. We have television shows in the USA, that I admit I have watched. One is so extremely demeaning toward females. It is called WHAT NOT TO WEAR. They take an average female and make fun of how she dresses, with photos and bring her clothes in from her private closet. They film her friends and coworkers making fun of how she dresses. Then the two actors laugh as they go through her clothes, her flat shoes, her ordinary (!) looks and then tell her she could never get a promotion looking like how she does. Then, they give her money to go shopping, and the audience laughs at the average womens attempts at finding clothes by herself. Although the audience themselves, relate to the average woman, wanting to be different, better in societies eyes, they mock her. The two actors have a camera on this woman as she makes, always make mistakes (how could she know what they want her to pick?), in finding 'perfect' outfits. Finally she comes back to the show and the actores criticize her on her selections. They then go out with her to these selected stores. It is almost seen as reluctant move by them, although each show they do exactly the same. They have her go out on her own, just to poke fun at what she picks out on her own. The "experts" pick expensive outfits, high heals, and mostly clothes she probably feels extremely uncomfortable in but is being told that this will make you more confident (she has her friends at the end of the show that are sooo happy to see her that way). These new clothes are the key to her new life, her new found happiness. The expert actors are seen in a heroic light. They have save her life. Bravo!
Does anyone else see that while I worked in Paraguay I tried to show the girls that although I had money I did not show it in my clothes? That i did not wear fancy shoes or make up. The times in which i had to look nice I did. I understood that they needed to show their pride in themselves when they went to a community event by looking nice. But, I wanted to challenge their ideas that having money to look nice and dress nice is not as important as having another sense of confidence. The younger girls looked up to me. I lived by myself as a female (unheard of!). I dressed how i wanted to. I felt good in what I wore. I wanted them to question: Could they feel confident as well with the clothes they could afford? Like here in America, Paraguayan mothers struggled with their daughters (only! not sons) to display them nicely for the communities event. It reflected on the moms, the family. This could mean, a new pair of jeans, which would mean selling their pig, eating less meat that month, so that for that one event their daughters would look good. I talked to Agustina my neighbor about this. She kept her daughters home from these events sometimes. But she was worried because when Monica went to High School she would have to let her go to the high school's events. School was free except for those events and dressing nice. Some families kept their daughters from going to high school to avoid all clothing costs (uniforms for school, dances and parades). Pencils, binders, books were provided and paid by the government. Another excuse for the moms, was that they could use the extra help at home and some wanted to keep them away from other boys and hence an unwanted pregnancy. Many more boys in the community went to high school.
This is an extreme example of how clothing and looks (hence money) can prevent women from achieving their lifetime goals and education. But as other peace corps volunteers notice in paraguay, the country was only 40 years behind the USA. We have television shows in the USA, that I admit I have watched. One is so extremely demeaning toward females. It is called WHAT NOT TO WEAR. They take an average female and make fun of how she dresses, with photos and bring her clothes in from her private closet. They film her friends and coworkers making fun of how she dresses. Then the two actors laugh as they go through her clothes, her flat shoes, her ordinary (!) looks and then tell her she could never get a promotion looking like how she does. Then, they give her money to go shopping, and the audience laughs at the average womens attempts at finding clothes by herself. Although the audience themselves, relate to the average woman, wanting to be different, better in societies eyes, they mock her. The two actors have a camera on this woman as she makes, always make mistakes (how could she know what they want her to pick?), in finding 'perfect' outfits. Finally she comes back to the show and the actores criticize her on her selections. They then go out with her to these selected stores. It is almost seen as reluctant move by them, although each show they do exactly the same. They have her go out on her own, just to poke fun at what she picks out on her own. The "experts" pick expensive outfits, high heals, and mostly clothes she probably feels extremely uncomfortable in but is being told that this will make you more confident (she has her friends at the end of the show that are sooo happy to see her that way). These new clothes are the key to her new life, her new found happiness. The expert actors are seen in a heroic light. They have save her life. Bravo!
But how long will this fake confidence last? The clothes she will get tired of, she will get rid of them after a year....
but luckily she has been taught how to be a good consumer and buy more. She will rely
on clothing for the rest of her life to gain confidence. This in turn teaches the audience to do so as well.
Who is to stay if it
is the clothing that will get her the promotion or her new confidence?
Is it someone's personality over her clothes that get her the
promotion? What if that same female dressed the way she had been, but
had a
great amount of confidence, capability and personality? Would she get
the promotion just the same?
In conclusion, women in the workforce I understand should look a certain way. However, we can fight it to the degree in which we would love to: wear what you want as long as it meets the minimum requirement to society's accepted norms. One day, how we look at work can be as casual as we are at home. What one should learn from a television show like “What Not to Wear” is that women are still being judged on how they look rather than their work performance, much more so than a male.
