Last week, I talked about my position on skin-lightening creams. Even as I wrote that post, I was bursting with contradictions. Some include:
Is it a woman’s right to do that to her body?*
Are people using these products uninformed about the consequences and the societal expectations informing their choices? If not, what makes them choose to use it?
And, most importantly: Are fashion choices sanctioned by feminism, even when they are considered destructive?
Thinking of fashion from a feminist perspective is a tricky feat. There are feminists on both sides of the burqa debate; there are those that find mini-skirts and booty shorts just as offensive or progressive. In many senses, fashion can be liberating or constricting.
As we go into a season where people come out of their thick layers and begin using their clothing to express all different messages, I want to explore this single question:
How does feminism intersect with fashion and what are the consequences?
More after the jump.
*I know that men also use skin-lightening creams, but for the purposes of this post I would like to restrict it to women.
Feminism has broadly been interested in women having control and options. American feminists focus on the sexual politics surrounding job markets and abortions, while global feminists try to break the confinements of the home and the view that women are subordinate. Similar mission, different approaches. And different outlooks on how a feminist should show off her stripes – individual choices are key in each context.
The personal certainly does get political when it comes to clothing and fashion. The motivation behind wearing a denim mini-skirt or a burqa may seem extremely different, yet each of these articles of clothing can be construed as a political statement working towards the same ends, though neither woman wearing them might acknowledge their shared struggle. Tanmeet Sethi explains that struggle well to two Western white women in an essay she wrote, anthologized in Colonize This!:
“I explain that many women in the world use the burkha as a symbol of power, as a statement of their value system. Women who wear the burkha refuse to be judged by their body or face. They want to be seen as another being, not as a sexual object. In this way, the burkha can be a tool of empowerment. The women across from me listen with blank faces and confused stares… I pity them; their oppression is so subtle they cannot even recognize it.”
In this way, Western women are looking on at burqa-wearing women as oppressed, while burqa-wearing women are looking on at Western women as sexual objects. Yet each of them clamors for a greater perception of women as owners of their own bodies. Those who make the choices about what they wear. These two styles could be considered on the same side of the Venn diagram, if only they chose to reach out and see the others’ logic (and by no means do they have to agree).
I wish that we did not create a divide between women based on their chosen outward appearance. I wish that we could see that the other party has motivations and agency just as we do, and I wish we would ask them about it. When feminists, all of whom proclaim choice as their moniker, support clearly anti-choice measures such as the complete burqa ban in France, tensions rise on other levels beyond gender. It becomes a war of colonized and colonizers, race, and class – where opinions of those higher in the hierarchy are imposed upon those at lower rungs.
No choice should go unquestioned, but many privileged feminists dictate the “right” choice without even asking the proper questions.
How have you seen feminism interact with fashion? How would you answer the question of choice and scrutiny? Let me know your opinions in the comment.
I encourage you to check out my posts Oops, Your Islamophobia is Showing and Discrimination and Mixed Metaphors for more discussion of this topic.
You may also be interested in some of my feminist book reviews, including Colonize This! and Click: Moments When We Knew We Were Feminists.
2 thoughts to “Denim and Black Cloth: Feminism and Female Expression”
I speak as a neither white, nor muslim woman.
If men want to abuse or rape women, they will do it regardless of what she wears – bikini, shorts, office attire, multilayer religious wrap.
White women calling for outright banning are hypocrites. Dialogs and special rights for themselves, draconian control for The Rest Of "lesser women". If white women really want to free muslim women, she should ban white prostitution and raunchy white teen flashers. When white females start acting like their meat actually has SOME intrinsic value, muslim women will come out of hiding.
Still, muslim women need to admit – if and when the husband or male family member decide to beat or burn you, it is far easier to run away in shorts than your spiritual uniform. The security you seek by hiding yourself is temporal. There's gotta be better strategy. See how other non-white self-valuing self-respecting women cope and find their balanced solution.
We live in a world with physical form. We have to like our body and enjoy being inside our body, regardless of the lies being bombarded to us day in day out. Do not believe them. Accepting our unique female beauty, no matter what western media insist, is the greatest love of all.
Thanks for your comment! I definitely think that respecting and loving one's own body is the greatest goal – and that means different things to different people. I think covering can be an expression of respecting your body, just as showing it off can be.
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