A Fellow Linguist
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On the purpose of this thread:
I think you're misunderstanding the aim of this thread.
The way I see it, there is a certain archetype of Female Model and Female Style. More than just an idealized representation of "woman," this sublime object serves as a regulatory and hierarchical mechanism; beneath the weight of this regulating gaze, most women (and men, too) respond by attempting to negotiate their cultural, ideological, physical (affected) assets with the idealized figure so that they may be folded into the order of Affirmed Style—which is to say that they are conditioned to desire a dominant, differentiating, discriminatory sartorial cover-up.
This thread is a space for what might be described as "queer" fashion; it rejects the mainstream, authoritative J. Crew trend that demands—among a myriad culture-appropriative as well as body- and race-specific prescriptions—traditional patterns, shapes, and affectations. What this thread offers is a space for the **** that is, according to the regulatory mainstream standards, weird and threatening (to its order). So when you say that this thread is, in a sense, exclusive, you're right—this thread is constituted by the need to recognize those forms of women's style that are so often erased by **** like "oh look at those legs," "would smash," and other articulations of (typically) male desire.
A couple of questions:
1. Have you ever heard girls say "Channing Tatum has such good style"?
2. Have you ever looked at a Jcrew lookbook and wondered "what is the point of all this?"?
I.e. (1) people have been confusing sexy chick with good styling. This is sexist because it promotes the fact that dressing is something that can only be measured by men's sexual gaze. There's also the fact that dressing "sexy" as defined by today's standards is incredibly limited by outdated norms and theories. We've all heard the MC logic that a suit emphasises the male physique by building up the shoulders and narrowing the waist; I don't care. There are more ways of being sexy than that. Movement, hints of body shape, imagination etc etc. We are also intellectual creatures. The mind is more sexy than most of the pretensions of clothes - we see past shoulder pads, ridiculous pushup bras and fake ****. It doesn't turn us on.
i.e. (2) While there's nothing wrong with dressing as the girl next door or whatever, how many pictures of this do we need to see? It's also interesting to think why the "girl next door" look is so attractive in the first place.
This is coming from someone with no education in feminism, literature or any arts at all.
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