If Civilization Hinges on Fashion, We are All Screwed
When you Google the term “men dressing feminine” you are met with a barrage of upsetting article titles. Things that say “Cross Dressing is an Epidemic”, “Dude Looks Like a Lady”, and of course more recently “Bring Back the Manly Men”. While Harry Styles is the most recent in a trail of male musicians to dress more femininely, he isn’t the first and definitely won’t be the last.
Musicians like George Michael, Prince, and David Bowie were dressing in elaborate costumes and choosing to portray themselves in a more feminine way before Styles did. Kids all over the country are doing it and getting bullied for it without media coverage. Drag Queens have been a popular phenomenon for several decades. It begs the question of why, in 2020, when gender and sexuality have made so many strides, is society focusing on this one thing so intensely? The short answer? America and American society are still deeply, inherently sexist.
While things are still very far from perfect for the LGBTQ+ community, things have been slowly shifting towards positive things. But for every right, they win (which they shouldn’t have even had to fight for in the first place), something new comes on the table to try and take away a different right. Politicians are fighting to repeal same-sex marriage, a gay couple is allowed to be asked to leave a business based on religious beliefs, it’s way harder for a same-sex couple to adopt, or get a home, or be in public or so many other things, and yet politicians keep trying to knock them down even further and make things even harder on them. It seems ridiculous because in general, you wouldn’t think that sexism would ever be turned around on two men, but the fact is that sexism lives and thrives off of the idea that there are two genders one sexuality. It thrives off of people being put into boxes and being forced to do the “right thing”. So when two men are together, they have defied the norms and must not be that mainly because they don’t want to be with a woman. This quickly spirals into intense hatred but is casually disguised as something that is being left out of mainstream society to protect people. It all circles back around to the stereotype of gay men being more feminine and femininity being a bad thing, because why would anyone want to be like a woman when you can be like a man?
Androgynous and gender-fluid fashion isn’t a new thing. Celebrities and normal people have been doing this for an incredibly long time, but only with big names doing it does it gain any traction. When the aforementioned musicians did it, there was push back but nothing ever too bad. Simple insults, regular confusion, but overall people were willing to look the other way because they were some of the greatest musicians of the century. They were rockstars! It was a stage persona! There was nothing to worry about because they were still men and they were still powerful. When women wear suits to award shows, they are also met with a similar confusion: no one is inherently mad, there are a few positive comments about how she is playing with fashion and power dynamic, someone may even say she is doing a great thing for defying gender norms. But when Billy Porter showed up to the Met Gala in a full gown complete with a train, people had things to say. A woman can wear a suit without her entire identity and morals being called into question. No one starts to ask if she is gay or transgender or if she is trying to make a statement. They smile, they compliment the jewelry and her makeup choices, and send her down the red carpet. But when a man dons a dress, he must be gay. He is probably transgender and this is how he is telling us, or they wonder if there is a political statement to be made here. I hate it to break it to those people, but sometimes it is just fun to wear a dress. Because it is such an inertly female thing to wear a gown or to wear makeup, there is no wiggle room for men to have that same freedom of expression. Clothing shouldn’t be gendered, but the function of gendered clotting allows for women to still be perceived as the weaker ones, and men to be admonished for even being slightly weaker than the powerful men they are meant to be. Patriarchy harms men too, everyone!
While there is an entire discussion to be had on intersex, I do not believe this is the space to do so at this time. Sex is what you are born with between your legs, and gender is how you present yourself. They do not have to match. You are allowed to change your mind because no one knows how you feel and what makes you feel like you more than yourself. There is also no rule anywhere that says if a man identifies as a male, and is straight, he isn’t allowed to wear a dress. There doesn’t have to be a sexuality component; that is once again a function of the patriarchy in order to keep things moving a certain way and to keep a certain group of people from gaining any real power in this society.
While men have been dressing however they want for as long as media has been a thing, recently, a woman named Candace Owens made an appearance to present the idea of “bringing back the manly men” and how “human civilization depends on it”. Before we go any further, I just want to make it perfectly clear that a man choosing to wear a dress is not what will break this civilization apart; people like Candace Owens will break it apart. She went on an entire rant about how the West’s feminization of men is going to be what ruins our society and why it is already in shambles as is all because Harry Styles wore a dress on the cover of Vogue. Since she is a conservative political commentator, I am not totally shocked at her blatant disregard for personal choice or the other issues ruining society today, but I am a bit shocked at the over 100,00 likes her Tweets got. While she and her followers clearly want to brand this issue as the break down of society and Marxist beliefs, I would encourage them all to think about the reason it makes them uncomfortable and makes them feel like it is somehow an attack on society. Since when is someone doing something they want to do an affront to the way society works? A man choosing to wear a dress for any reason he/they see fit is by far the most minor issue she could have picked to get upset about. Gender and gender roles are all just social constructs anyway.
Madey
Cover Art by Avery Lynch
Sources: Think