Stephen Smith wrote:
>
> Susan:
>.......
> Since you brought this one up...i'm curious...what do you think then about
> dress and feminism? Do you think that dress isn't responsible for seeing
> women as objects? Does dress matter? is it an issue? I think it must be in
> some light. Merchandisers of really bad B movies know that they can increase
> video sales of a movie with a no name cast, director, or scriptwriter simply
> by putting a sexy, scantily clad woman on the cover of their box and mention
> the words "hot, sexy..."etc. Clothes or lack there of must make some
> impression upon the consumer.
> Julien
>
lg: Had to put in my two cents here (even though I haven't yet done the
bio thing)
1) women were objectified BEFORE different cultures imposed an
interpretation of what kind of women we were by what we were wearing.
(Exposed or partially exposed breasts are not universal symbols of "hot
& sexy", for example, but each culture has its image of what a "loose"
or "bad" woman dresses like.)
2) Where men are, in general, NOT objectified, they can wear whatever
they want and not necessarily be subjected to a cultural interpretation
of their dress representing them as objects. For example, I live in a
place where it is very HOT most of the year. Men can walk or run around
with no shirts, body hair and nipples exposed, buttocks accentuated by
clinging shorts and not be accused of dressing like sex objects, "asking
for it" by their dress, or of presenting themselves as "hot, sexy..."
the same is not true for women. Rambo was never called a slut for his
bare chest.
On the F/SF & movies theme and dress -- the daytime dress of men and
women working at that "space corporation" in Gattaca tended towards
gender-neutral and thus less sex-object-ish. (my ability to be coherent
declines after 10 pm, sorry)
In Star Wars, IMHO, clothing made clear that men were men and women were
"princesses" -- thus the symbolism of Leia's white flowing
gown-with-not-too-much-bosom vs Solo's rugged, sweaty gear.
Then there were the days of Barbarella , Women of the Prehistoric
Planet, One Million Years BC. Going back another decade, there was a
Zsa Zsa Gabor movie about space queens on venus or something.... in all
of these hollywood dressed women as "objects". Just in terms of dress
not signifying women as objects the first Aliens film was a breath of
fresh air... as it were.
luz
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:07 PDT