Clothing, social class and misogyny

I wanted to share some more thoughts about personal presentation and women's place in society. This will touch on the ways which we signal our social class as well as our self-worth - two separate concepts which may overlap, or may not. A caveat: I will be making generalisations here, and my attempts are not to cast judgement on women - rather to highlight women's relationship between financial position, clothing and men.

I have grown up amongst people from both low and high socio-economic positions.

Whilst not uniform, it is observable that women from high socio-economic backgrounds tend to dress more conservatively - by this, in my culture, you will see them wearing a dress which may be just above the knee, modest cleavage, usually shoulders covered, although not always; or jeans/slacks and a blouse for more casual look. There are variations and it isn't strict, but typically the rule of "showing one area" and covering the rest is followed. The other observation is that these women can afford higher quality, well designed pieces - the key here is that there is lining to the fabric so it is never sheer to the point of showing the private areas, and there is usually more fabric in general to cover the body.

Comparatively, in lower socio-economic circles, I regularly see women and teenaged girls wearing thin, see-through clothing, lower quality materials which aren't flattering on the body, and the pieces are smaller - it costs less to produce, so we have the singlet tops and crop tops which are akin to bras. I've even seen actual bras quite frequently lately... Alongside tracksuit style short-shorts which are then flipped over to make them even smaller.

There are also differences such as lower class women tend to pay for expensive fake nails and bleached hair, whereas higher will have plain or even bare nails and hair. This "beauty standard" really frustrates me as it is economically disempowering for women to "invest" in their looks when their financial situation is not secure; I would love nothing more than for these women to save their money.

My point is not to judge women for their clothing choices, but to interrogate how the male gaze plays into this.

When I was a student and unsure of my career prospects, I was deeply concerned that I would never be able to have my own house without a man. I was worried that I couldn't pay the bills. I genuinely believed that I needed a man for my financial security, and given that women earn 70% to the man's dollar, alongside all of the other reasons we know, it is a genuine fear that most women will experience. Women who have grown up in poverty or low socioeconomic families will feel this fear immensely.

This has me thinking about how women's presentation through clothing signals social class, but it also signals an important message to men:

When a woman is dressed to reveal as much of her body as possible, particularly when her clothes are of poor quality and fit, my impression is that she sends a signal that she is for sale. This would attract "LVM" but repel HVM.

By contrast, when a woman is dressed properly - that is, according to her culture, and not necessarily conservatively, but with decorum - a man sees that she is not looking to be dependent on a male financially. She is sufficient, she knows her worth, and she will gain the respect and attention of men we deem "HVM".

I hope that this post won't be controversial - I don't intend to judge women at all, and I think women should do as we please and dress how we like. My intent here is to try and uncover the relationship between our position in society as women, and the message we send about our self-worth through our clothing.

The way I always try to untangle this in my head is by reminding myself that men, generally, do not wear revealing clothes to make themselves "sexy" to women - it's almost like they are systematically at a financial advantage to us.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!