Clothing: a Gender Discrepancy

[howlsthunder]

Clothing can be so difficult at times. With me, a lot of thought goes into who is going to see me and how will they percieve me. In Portland I didn't worry so much about what I wore, simply because genders are a little more balanced there than they are here. Here, it's a little bit more "old fashioned", the differences between male and female,

Comments

[pyoor_excuse]

's funny; 'cos I'm also really variable in what I wear - but possibly swing much further than you; generally I'm a Jeans and teeshirt kind of girl, but I can go for fairly masculine pinstripes / plain shirt / etc (was actually thinking about whether I could grab some of my dad's old 1960's ultra-thin ties, but I think Andrew took them)... and then I can wear a long floaty skirt the next day; it's whatever takes my fancy.

But it did take a while for me to get used to wearing dresses and skirts with power, as it were. Mostly people are totally thrown; hell I actually had someone step back in shock, the last ward I worked at, when I wore a dress. So... mmm.

[howlsthunder]

nonono - I didn't write this correctly. My point is that I DONT have a wide variable - it's nearly SQUARELY in the "androgynous" circle. It's when I veer just outside of that circle when I start to feel a bit out of my range. I wrote a better post about it...

[kanaetkassad]

yup. . .

just come in wearing a long skirt that is deep cerulean blue with dark purples and blacks and it looks richly colored and bright. it's 'eyecatching'...

i mean, they are not looking at me so much in the skirt sometimes. sometimes they just look at the skirt because it's so beautiful... and i do it too.

those kinds of outfits are just as powerful as masculine clothing because the colors are so emotional.

i like khaki with business casual bright colored shirts... it adds a zing to the day and alters your perception.

there is plenty of evidence that people regard you differently because of the clothing you wear. it wasn't just that you wore business professional crisp clothing... people saw you looking the part... plus not just that... --when people come into a business they come in LOOKING and EXPECTING to be helped. if you are in their view, you are *prey if you are dressed up, hahah and you at least know someone who can help them. you 'asked' for it if you are in view

[kanaetkassad]

well, it's not like all my clothing gets reactions like that, but this is one where the reaction is very apparent.i have strong reactions myself to the skirt, so i just wear it every few months...

[howlsthunder]

people come into a business they come in LOOKING and EXPECTING to be helped. if you are in their view, you are *prey if you are dressed up,

Hah, no kidding. That's a good point.

I don't feel like I properly expressed myself in this brief post. I wrote a better one to clear up stuff. To be VERY basic, I tend to dress SQUARELY in the "androgyny" zone. If I step a smidgin out of that circle to either side where it overlaps into masculine or feminine territory, I feel that I am running the risk of either trying to "fake that I am male" (good way to get gay bashed) or that I'm selling out my dykeyness, because I won't be recongized or respected, possibly, of being gay if I'm not dressed the part.

Hmm, I should add that last bit to my new post....

[thenewhope]

man, yeah. I'm doing the whole job hunting thing here in nyc, which means skirts (I'd go for fitted pinstripe pants, but it's a bagillion degrees in the city, even with the heatwave gone) and dress shirts and.

I'm not overly fond of the cut on women's dress shirts, cause while they're usually helpful 'round the cleavage area, I have a longer torso than a lot of chicks and am not fond of having to worry about showing off my back or stomach. but at the same time, guy's dress shirts do nothing flattering for my cleavage and often look odd when paired with skirts.

also, shoe choices are driving me crazy. I live in flip flops, but I'm a men's 12 and can never fit into those cute, girly ones. besides, those are only appropriate for, like, one third of the interviews I'm getting. when I have to wear shoes, I'm really picky about them, and. right now my two options are my lovely, old black & white puma track stars or my newish, two sizes two small brown & orange puma track stars. let me tell you, there's really no way I can pull off a cute

[howlsthunder]

Yeah, I had a rough time dressing professionally in the summer heat in Portland when I do not wear skirts (I loathe them. It'd be just like trying to make a tough boy try to wear them. that is how demeaned I feel in them). Particularly if the place of business is even remotely conservative - they expect you to dress to your gender. So even if I wore a nice mens dress shirt and nice pants with nice shoes, I'm somehow NOT dressing professionally becasue suddenly I'm dressing in a way that is a novelty. *headdesk*

I would like mens dress shirts cut for a woman's body. I wrote a newer, better post about this whole thing and mentioned that, for instance, I REALLY want a 3-piece suit. I don't have anywhere to go in one, unfortunately, but I want one -- like in Tipping the Velvet. Dress shirts like that would be perfectly androgynous for me. :D