My fellow feminists,
Obviously the whole Reddit/"nice guy"/euphoria/fedora thing isn't particularly new, and I'm not here to talk about that specifically. However, what I have been seeing more of (and not just on the Escapist, or even the internet) is, for lack of a better term "fedora shaming", whereby people are judged or mocked for wearing said headgear, actively discouraged from purchasing or wearing them, or, in the best case scenario, have to qualify and defend their choice of hat.
With that in mind, join me in a little thought experiment:
Imagine some item of women's clothing, let's say, I don't know, the miniskirt, was associated with some pretty unpalatable behaviours. In this scenario there's a stereotype that girls and young women who wear miniskirts are "bitches" who deliberately use their sex appeal to get what they want, are shallow, and bully others who don't match up to their ideas of beauty and popularity.
This isn't just some entirely baseless stereotype, though. In fact, if you search the right corners of the right social networks you will find evidence that such creatures do actually exist. Now, you know as well as I do that not all miniskirt wearers in this theoretical world are like this, and that people had been wearing miniskirts long before this stereotype emerged, but due to their time in those specific parts of the internet, some people can't help but make the mental connection - when someone says "miniskirt", they think "*****."
Now imagine that because of this groups of people (predominantly, but by no means exclusively male) start to transfer the problems they have with the stereotypical women we discussed earlier onto the item of clothing itself. They start to judge everyone who wears a miniskirt purely on the basis of their skirt; they act as if it's physically impossible to wear a miniskirt and not be a "cock-tease *****" or a replica of the girls who bullied them in high school. They start authoritatively telling their friends not to wear miniskirts, because that's not what nice girls do.
Actually sounds quite familiar, right? It's body policing. It completely overlooks all the other reasons why someone might want to wear a miniskirt, and it's totally unfair to make (sometimes incredibly detailed) assumptions about a woman's lifestyle, beliefs and behaviours based on the fact that she's wearing a short skirt. It's ridiculous. And it's not the kind of thing we stand for. In fact, it's exactly the sort of thing we feminists rail against on a daily basis.
... Oh. Right. Think about it.
TL;DR: My belief is this: if you're against shaming women for their choice of clothing, quit shaming men for wearing hats. Do you agree? Or have I completely missed the point somewhere? Discuss!
Peace out xxx
Obviously the whole Reddit/"nice guy"/euphoria/fedora thing isn't particularly new, and I'm not here to talk about that specifically. However, what I have been seeing more of (and not just on the Escapist, or even the internet) is, for lack of a better term "fedora shaming", whereby people are judged or mocked for wearing said headgear, actively discouraged from purchasing or wearing them, or, in the best case scenario, have to qualify and defend their choice of hat.
With that in mind, join me in a little thought experiment:
Imagine some item of women's clothing, let's say, I don't know, the miniskirt, was associated with some pretty unpalatable behaviours. In this scenario there's a stereotype that girls and young women who wear miniskirts are "bitches" who deliberately use their sex appeal to get what they want, are shallow, and bully others who don't match up to their ideas of beauty and popularity.
This isn't just some entirely baseless stereotype, though. In fact, if you search the right corners of the right social networks you will find evidence that such creatures do actually exist. Now, you know as well as I do that not all miniskirt wearers in this theoretical world are like this, and that people had been wearing miniskirts long before this stereotype emerged, but due to their time in those specific parts of the internet, some people can't help but make the mental connection - when someone says "miniskirt", they think "*****."
Now imagine that because of this groups of people (predominantly, but by no means exclusively male) start to transfer the problems they have with the stereotypical women we discussed earlier onto the item of clothing itself. They start to judge everyone who wears a miniskirt purely on the basis of their skirt; they act as if it's physically impossible to wear a miniskirt and not be a "cock-tease *****" or a replica of the girls who bullied them in high school. They start authoritatively telling their friends not to wear miniskirts, because that's not what nice girls do.
Actually sounds quite familiar, right? It's body policing. It completely overlooks all the other reasons why someone might want to wear a miniskirt, and it's totally unfair to make (sometimes incredibly detailed) assumptions about a woman's lifestyle, beliefs and behaviours based on the fact that she's wearing a short skirt. It's ridiculous. And it's not the kind of thing we stand for. In fact, it's exactly the sort of thing we feminists rail against on a daily basis.
... Oh. Right. Think about it.
TL;DR: My belief is this: if you're against shaming women for their choice of clothing, quit shaming men for wearing hats. Do you agree? Or have I completely missed the point somewhere? Discuss!
Peace out xxx
