Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Chuck Taylor Shoes :D
Earlier this week, because of Anna's blog, I got thinking about gender and expectations we assign to things. For instance, it's expected girls wear pink, guys wear blue. Girls play with barbies and guys play with trucks. Then I was looking around my house for fun, trying to match the expected gender to items. Which altogether sounds a little crazy, I mean what gender gets a couch? Anyway, I was thinking of things more clothing related. Such as flip-flops are usually "girly" and cargo pants are usually guy oriented. But, when I thought about my most favorite footwear in the world, the Converse sneaker, I couldn't come to a conclusion. Both men and woman wear these and even the product's website displays both genders equally. I found this interesting, so my question is what other items have a gender, either unexpected or expected? And which items can swing both ways?
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In my experience, I've found that women wearing men's clothes are much more common and socially acceptable than vice versa. I mean, nobody really will look twice at a girl in a suit (uncommon but not "unusual") but a man in a skirt is just weird (except in Scotland). I do remember controversy about a high school girl who may or may not have been a lesbian (I don't remember) but was banned from wearing a tuxedo for her school picture.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 20th century and onward, clothing roles became slightly more androgynous as jeans became the standard, as well as the t-shirt. Not sure on the timeline of shoes, however.
Another good question: why are women always depicted as singling out SHOES as their shopping item of choice? It does seem that many (but not all) women own at least 8 pairs of shoes.