It's hot. A group of western tourists stands by the Hatshepsut's obelisk in the Karnak Temple, sweating. Their guide stands in front of them, explaining the circumstances of that particular queen. „And she had to dress like a man to be able to rule Egypt,“ she says, „and pretend she's not a woman at all.“ One of the female tourists shakes her head. How barbaric! It's great that we've left such things behind us, and the world nowadays is one of equal opportunities. She nods her head and moves to a shadow, in her trainers, jeans, T-shirt and a baseball cap to protect her against the sun.
Am I saying that we haven't actually moved forward at all since Hatshepsut's times? No. We've gone a very long way. But there are some things that are still the same, or very similar. Dressing as a man when a woman wants to be successful is one of them. I'll go for another holiday memory. This year in Oxford, I met a secondary school trip, complete in their uniforms, and the girl version made me stare. They were wearing shirts and ties, of course (as male as it gets), and skirts. Actually, rather short skirts, way above their knees. It just seemed to me to be a sum of all gender problems with clothing. From my point of view, the idea behind this uniform is simple: if you want to be educated – a traditionally male thing to do – you have to pretend you are a man, and thus the shirts and ties. But at the same time, since we, men, are around, it being a co-educated school, you should provide us with a good view of your legs, to remind us you still are a woman and thus primarily a sexual object. Therefore, show your thighs! Of course, I would never accuse anyone of actually thinking these thoughts, but I really do see it behind the clothes, on the unconscious level.
Or take the business dress for women. It's basically the same thing, minus the tie, plus the jacket, so it equals out. The emancipations proceeds, leading slowly to repression of the second aspect in favour of the first – to pantsuits.
But is that the way emancipation should actually be taking? From having to expose our womanhood to be sexually available, to hiding it and pretending we aren't actually women at all? It's up to everyone to decide. I, personally, don't think so.
Of course, it's not really that easy to tell what is female and what is male fashion. Heels, for example, started out as a male thing. But trousers, jackets and, to an extent, shirts, began to be worn by women after the feminist movement first appeared, and are connected to it. I certainly don't think it was wrong. Women can hardly be equal to men if they don't have the right to wear trousers, since there are some things which can't be done properly in a skirt. But once we've secured that right, I can't help feeling we should go further and be able to maintain a position of power or respect dressed in a skirt.
I've discussed this with some of my friends – yes, I know that's not a very good sample as far as statistic goes, but this is a blog post, not a peer-reviewed article – and they admit that when they want to be taken seriously, they wear trousers, no cleavage and generally dress as asexually as they can. Well, I refuse to accept this. I refuse to play this game. I want to be respected as a woman with everything it entails, not as almost-a-man. That is the reason why I don't wear trousers at all.
As usual, there as some PS:
I don't mind anyone wearing miniskirts, or trousers. What I see as a problem is when it becomes part of a uniform, forcing someone – anyone – to act that way. Especially when the miniskirts are concerned: miniskirt in itself is not „exposing our womanhood to be sexually available,“ but it becomes exactly that when someone is forced to wear it. That is a problem if it's not actually part of a job - obviously, a prostitute has a different dress code than a schoolgirl, or at least should have.
And also, I don't look down on any women wearing trousers. Not at all. The introductory literary image is just that, a literary image. The whole trousers thing is only my personal way of making a statement.
