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In almost every species where there's a difference it's the male who is more colourful, showy, attractive. Think a lot of birds and some mammals too. So no, I don't think there's a biological basis behind it. In some cultures men dress just as showy or even more than women. It's purely cultural.
I don't think that's true for primates. With monkeys, apes, etc. In these groups, the females have physical features that are attractive to the males. And the dominant males have their choice of females. That's similar to humans. Think of rich men and trophy wives. It gives both what they want, but it's advantageous to the woman.
Fashion, jewelry, makeup are merely weapons in the attractiveness race.
It is sort of unfortunate that people get so locked into stereotypes. It starts early, too. I gave our 3 year old grandson some goofy sunglasses and he wouldn't take them because "purple is for girls!"
It may sound simplistic and yes, there are exceptions, but women tend to like shopping for clothing a lot more than men do. This is why the women's clothing sections of department stores are often larger than all other departments put together. This is even more pronounced in shoe stores, where 80-90% of the store can be women's shoes, with only a token half-aisle each for kids and men's shoes (if at all--many shoe stores only sell women's shoes). It seems like men can be happy with anything that's clean, and not obsessing on having a lot of different types of clothing in many colors. It stands to reason that if women have such a larger, more varied wardrobe, then they will want to wear the stuff--why else would they buy it?--and as times changed and "casual Friday" became more of a week-long affair, the ladies simply got to show more variety and colors of clothes. Most men were okay with wearing the same stuff they'd always worn, not emotionally invested in what they were wearing that day or probably even thinking about it. In my own experience, I know I wear work clothes like a uniform--as in, this is what I should wear, not what I "want" to wear. I don't consider pushing the envelope on what to wear to work because...well, it just doesn't seem important to me.
It may sound simplistic and yes, there are exceptions, but women tend to like shopping for clothing a lot more than men do. This is why the women's clothing sections of department stores are often larger than all other departments put together. This is even more pronounced in shoe stores, where 80-90% of the store can be women's shoes, with only a token half-aisle each for kids and men's shoes (if at all--many shoe stores only sell women's shoes). It seems like men can be happy with anything that's clean, and not obsessing on having a lot of different types of clothing in many colors. It stands to reason that if women have such a larger, more varied wardrobe, then they will want to wear the stuff--why else would they buy it?--and as times changed and "casual Friday" became more of a week-long affair, the ladies simply got to show more variety and colors of clothes. Most men were okay with wearing the same stuff they'd always worn, not emotionally invested in what they were wearing that day or probably even thinking about it. In my own experience, I know I wear work clothes like a uniform--as in, this is what I should wear, not what I "want" to wear. I don't consider pushing the envelope on what to wear to work because...well, it just doesn't seem important to me.
I think you can see that easily enough even in what most men and women choose to wear even casually. My daughter and I commented on a show on HGTV called "Flips and Flops." The show is about a young married couple that flips houses.
But if you pay attention to their wardrobe through each show and from show to show, the man wears nothing but a drab tee-shirt, drab shorts, and flip-flops day in, day out. The woman, OTOH, is almost always dressees chic, if not sometimes quite sexy. Many times the real question is, "Why is she dressed up to examine a ratty foreclosed house?"
But you go out on the street, spend some time people-watching in a mall or downtown Saturday night and you see the same thing. Given their own free choices, men will still dress like crap with women who dress up.
I think the real double standard is that the women still aren't seen as true power contenders in the same way that men are in that environment.
In my observation, women who see themselves as true power contenders tend to get much more conservative in their own dress and appearance, and seldom very far away from however the male power contenders in that same environment.
Maybe. The power struggle has gotten stale for me. I just don't care anymore. It's an insular, fraudulent circle.
I see it a little differently. I see the SVP I mentioned as a bit of a sock puppet stuck in a loop and a delusional game of fakery. And I see the ones who ape him as some sort of modern domesticated beta males cowering to authority and desperate for recognition of something so devoid of any truth or meaning. Women are about 11% freer by virtue of existing just outside of this facade at least where clothing is concerned.
My friend & I were shopping for sunglasses the other day & he mentioned how it was a little unfair that men have very little variety in shoe choices. I have to agree. Women do have more variety in shoes & clothing & women's clothing is also more expensive. This same friend wears a kilt a couple times a year, at certain festivals. Let me tell you, he gets hit on constantly when he wears that. The ladies love it. I actually like utilikilts. I've seen a couple guys in them & it's pretty hot!
1. Yeah, given the unfortunate fact that there was historically a (very) large amount of misogyny in this country, this isn't too surprising. Thanks for sharing this info here, though.
2. Yeah, I previously read something along those lines, and Yes, this does appear to make sense.
3. What about if a man believes that these outfits are better looking, more comfortable, more pleasant, and/or et cetera than stereotypical "men's clothes" are?
Also, as for your last sentence, the "on his own time" part strikes me as especially notable. Yes, technically a male can do this on his own time, though if actually does this, then he, unlike women who wear pants nowadays (in developed Western countries), might (frequently) get criticized, shamed, ridiculed, and/or et cetera. In addition, while females can (at least often/generally) wear pants at work, at school, at college, et cetera without any problems, as far as I know, the same will not be true for a male wearing a skirt, dress, et cetera.
Move to London. I saw men wearing skirts and they did it quite well. (Ok, it was a wedding).
I do agree - women have much more freedom to express themselves with regard to clothing.
A little girl can have shiny red shoes AND tomboy sneakers. A little boy can only have the tomboy sneakers.
It may sound simplistic and yes, there are exceptions, but women tend to like shopping for clothing a lot more than men do. This is why the women's clothing sections of department stores are often larger than all other departments put together. This is even more pronounced in shoe stores, where 80-90% of the store can be women's shoes, with only a token half-aisle each for kids and men's shoes (if at all--many shoe stores only sell women's shoes)....
Quote:
Originally Posted by thefragile
My friend & I were shopping for sunglasses the other day & he mentioned how it was a little unfair that men have very little variety in shoe choices. I have to agree. Women do have more variety in shoes & clothing & women's clothing is also more expensive....
I owned an upscale family shoe store for several years (too many). This was in a small city with 15K population at that time.
I tried to push men's shoes, especially dress and casual shoes. I carried four major brands of dress and casual (Morgan Quinn - similar to but cheaper than Rockport; Rockport; Florsheim; Allen Edmunds) plus high quality work boots, cowboy boots and athletic shoes. In certain styles of Florsheims I stocked every size they made. (That's 65 different sizes per style of each color!)
I did the same with children's shoes -- mostly Striderite, a high quality shoe, plus athletic shoes.
But a full 80 percent of our sales were women's shoes. Ten percent were men's shoes and 10 percent were children's shoes. Year in, year out.
I had a close working relationship with the owner of a mall shoe store 150 miles away. We carried mostly the same brands. I carried a wider size selection and my prices were 5-8 percent lower. He kept records of where his customers lived and what they bought. He sold as many shoes to customers from my town as I did! Apparently men were "forced" into taking their wives to the "big city" mall for a day of shopping, and while they were waiting for the wives to do their shopping, they'd stop in the shoe store and look at shoes.
In my store, most of my male customers needed "a black pair of dress shoes for a wedding" type thing. They didn't want anything fashionable, just "a plain black dress shoe that fits."
Women get a new dress and need a pair of shoes to go with it. And maybe a purse. My ex-wife bought a new dress each week from one of the dress shops down the street from where she worked, and she probably bought as many during shopping trips. I'd replace a pair of slacks when one wore out. (I now have a wife more like I am!)
You guys are whinging about a very solvable problem - dress how you want!
Now those are cool!
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