What we talk about when we talk about pockets

[hitchhiker]

Originally posted by merchimerch at What we talk about when we talk about pockets
Originally posted by kylecassidy at What we talk about when we talk about pockets
This post is about pockets, feminism, design, autonomy and common sense. Please feel free to repost or link to it if you know people who'd benefit from the discussion.

A few weeks ago trillian_stars and I were out somewhere

Comments

[tsjafo]

All my pants have pockets and all my everyday wear have big cargo pockets. My shirts have pockets. I wear belt pouches sometimes. And sometimes care various bags.

I'm old and well married so I don't have to worry about how I look beyond clean and tidy. I don't need to impress anyone, although I fully understand that others do, and I make full use of that freedom.

[zandperl]

It's not that I want to "take up men's habits," it's that I have items that I need to have on my person for work and health purposes and clothing appropriate to my profession does not accomodate that. As an educator, I have a keyring with 6 keys and this barely fits into my jeans pockets and doesn't fit into my dress pants pockets at all. My inhaler does not even fit into my jeans pockets. Sure I could wear cargo pants or a pocketed vest, but most of these do not look professional. I should not have to choose between getting respect from my students, and having the tools of my job handy. I should not have to choose between looking professional and my health.

[therru]

YES, YES and YES. Thank you

[wild_irises]

What bothers me is that Samuel R. Delany wrote about this very evocatively in his autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water. The story he tells is that his wife came home sopping wet, and after he gave her a towel, he handed her a pair of his jeans. She was astonished by the pockets; her jeans had tiny decorative pockets that wouldn't hold anything.

The incident happened in 1961. He published the story in 1988. And here we still are.

[lightning_rose]

I remember reading a novel or short story (the title escapes me) by Samuel Delany in which upper class women's dresses featured hidden but useful pockets.

[zandperl]

I went shopping this weekend at White House Black Market (mid/upper-scale women's clothing store) for a dress for a wedding I'm going to soon, and you would not believe how delighted I was to discover that every one of the dresses I tried on had pockets. I kept saying to my shopping companion "it's about time designers wised up like this." Of course, I'm not sure any of the pockets were large enough to hold my inhaler and car key, let alone my office keys, wallet, and iPhone, but still, at least I can put a tissue in them

[leiacat]

I hate purses.

I have stopped buying anything that isn't outright girl-formalwear unless it has pockets. It's explicitly a requirement. All of my businesswear is trousers (with pockets). The line of trouser be damned, it beats leaving my essentials semi-attended somewhere off to the side. On the few occasions that I wear skirts that don't have pockets, I pair them with sportcoats or jackets that do.

And I am still irked, because most women's winter coats have bitty dainty pockets that are barely large enough for gloves, let alone hands. Because men's khakis have enormous pockets of holding, and women's can barely contain the aforementioned ID and phone. Because women's sportcoats don't have the very useful inside breast pocket. Because finding athleticwear and loungewear with pockets, while not impossible, is not to be taken for granted.

I very much want a photographer's vest, but I have no idea where they come from, as I'd have to try it on to make sure it can zip/button about the chest area. But that's another rant.