Mini Skirts and Feminism

[Roger Duke]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.
Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around. If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering. If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise. Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be. The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

 

[Rogue Valley]

Women breastfeeding their babies is a natural act.

I haven't noticed what you are complaining about. You should break out of your conservative bubble every now and then.

 

[mrjurrs]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.
Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around. If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering. If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise. Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be. The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

Women should wear what they want. Here's a hint. You are male, you'll never know what it's like to be a woman. Don't worry about feminism, worry about yourself.

 

[AmNat]

How did this 180 degree change happen?

Anything that can be described as a civil rights or discrimination issue automatically wins in our system. Since dress codes and the like can be construed as a form of discrimination, whereas women voluntarily dressing immodestly can't, pro-immodesty feminism has a competitive advantage over anti-immodesty feminism.

Also, liberals have a general bias for ideas that don't make sense, as such ideas can serve as status symbols more easily than coherent ones (anyone can believe a woman degrades herself by taking off her clothes in public, only a true believer can think it uplifting).

 

[Luce]

I don't understand feminism.

That's really all you needed to say.

 

[Chomsky]

Anything that can be described as a civil rights or discrimination issue automatically wins in our system. Since dress codes and the like can be construed as a form of discrimination, whereas women voluntarily dressing immodestly can't, pro-immodesty feminism has a competitive advantage over anti-immodesty feminism.

Also, liberals have a general bias for ideas that don't make sense, as such ideas can serve as status symbols more easily than coherent ones (anyone can believe a woman degrades herself by taking off her clothes in public, only a true believer can think it uplifting).

I think you're trying to hard to project your personal POV on others, presenting it as factual - when it is opinion.

But hey, this is an opinion section - so carry on!

 

[AmNat]

I think you're trying to hard to project your personal POV on others, presenting it as factual - when it is opinion.

But hey, this is an opinion section - so carry on!

One struggles to think of any issue where the pattern I observed doesn't hold.

 

[Chomsky]

That's really all you needed to say.

Yep. His initial premise pretty much did him in. I very much agree with his initial premise.

 

[Mr Person]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.
Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around. If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering. If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise. Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be. The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

And you're, what, bravely riding to the rescue of these "girls" who supposedly have been told that "dressing like a hooker is empowering"?

You'll save them from themselves and their feminist overlords?

You're even going to go on about how mini skirts ruined women? And of all things, you're going to try to reframe the problem as mini-skirts justifying beliefs of 'sexist' men?

As in....you're sitting there thinking you just struck a blow against sexism by railing against breastfeeding?







Sounds like just about exactly what the whole feminism thing is aimed at. And to think I just came from a thread where white people are saying that a white man was completely justified in calling a black person the n-word because, get this, the black person had previously used the n-word in regard to .....another black person.

All I need to do now is stumble into a transphobic thread and I'll have hit the trifecta before lunchtime.

 

[Aunt Antifa]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.
Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around. If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering. If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise. Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be. The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

Women are so emotional and flighty, their taste in clothing changes like every generation or so.

 

[swing_voter]

I think if you ask women, they'll tell you that it's their right to dress how they want.

Within some limits. (You can't scare the kiddies.)

.

 

[Chomsky]

One struggles to think of any issue where the pattern I observed doesn't hold.

Well, you kind of lost it with the bolded below. If it was factual rather than opinion, you would have posted this in Breaking News.

Anything that can be described as a civil rights or discrimination issue automatically wins in our system. Since dress codes and the like can be construed as a form of discrimination, whereas women voluntarily dressing immodestly can't, pro-immodesty feminism has a competitive advantage over anti-immodesty feminism.

Also, liberals have a general bias for ideas that don't make sense, as such ideas can serve as status symbols more easily than coherent ones (anyone can believe a woman degrades herself by taking off her clothes in public, only a true believer can think it uplifting).

 

[American]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.
Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around. If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering. If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise. Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be. The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

And you forgot male transsexuals in women's sports.

 

[americanwoman]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.
Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around. If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering. If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise. Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be. The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

The problem is not only do you not understand feminism you want to rewrite history and think no one will call out that BS.

From Twiggy to Paris Hilton to Bella Hadid, Miniskirts Are Back In Fashion Once Again

A look back at the trend that has symbolized women's liberation since the 1960s.

www.wmagazine.com

Power Clothes: The Unabashedly Feminist History of the Miniskirt

In 2015, a city in Alabama proposed that the miniskirt be banned. Council members argued that it was really all about respect. They argued that God just wouldn't be a fan. "I prayed about this," one of them said. Just months later, a Kansas state…

www.mic.com

Why We Need Mary Quant's Feminist Legacy More Than Ever — Graduate Fashion Foundation

To celebrate the launch of our competition to win tickets to the V&A’s retrospective of the life and works of Mary Quant, GFW contributor Faith Richardson gives us a brief history of one of Britain’s iconic designers, whose feminist influence can still be seen almost 70 years later. Head to

www.graduatefashionfoundation.com

there are very few sartorial moments that did as much for women’s liberation as the rising hemlines of the 60s.

 

[Mr Person]

Pro-tip for the men: I'm not sure why you would want to watch a woman breastfeed a baby, and I'm not sure I want to know. Whatever it is, it has to be some sort of prurient interest motivating you, since you're the one staring hard enough to make yourself uncomfortable.

For the rest of us, that's a baby eating. It registers about as much as the fact that some guy in the back is wearing a red shirt. It's not a *THING* to *LOOK AT*.




If you are offended, it is because you find yourself wanting to gawp but being unable to look away. Because you recognize the creepy aspects of this, you feel guilt. And what's a great way to externalize that guilt, to make it someone else's?

Why, blame the woman for breastfeeding her child of course. It's clearly her fault you're looking!




JFC, people....

 

[Chomsky]

I think if you ask women, they'll tell you that it's their right to dress how they want.

Within some limits. (You can't scare the kiddies.)

.

I don't know what kind of 'kiddie' you were. But this kiddie would have been thrilled to see a naked women in real life!

 

[Mr Person]

And you're, what, bravely riding to the rescue of these "girls" who supposedly have been told that "dressing like a hooker is empowering"?

You'll save them from themselves and their feminist overlords?

You're even going to go on about how mini skirts ruined women? And of all things, you're going to try to reframe the problem as mini-skirts justifying beliefs of 'sexist' men?

As in....you're sitting there thinking you just struck a blow against sexism by railing against breastfeeding?



Sounds like just about exactly what the whole feminism thing is aimed at. And to think I just came from a thread where white people are saying that a white man was completely justified in calling a black person the n-word because, get this, the black person had previously used the n-word in regard to .....another black person.

All I need to do now is stumble into a transphobic thread and I'll have hit the trifecta before lunchtime.

.
.
.
.
.

All I need to do now is stumble into a transphobic thread and I'll have hit the trifecta before lunchtime.

And you forgot male transsexuals in women's sports.

Awww, thanks. Now I don't even need another thread.

 

[MamboDervish]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.

More than a little faux-stalgia in this paragraph. I lived through all of this, and can't recall any feminists being critical of how women dressed - only of how men objectified and exploited them! Big difference. In fact, I seem to recall an entire feminist inspired burn-the-bra movement back then which resulted in far more exposure of women. I guess I wasn't seeing the world through your filters.

Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around.

Apparently not.

If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering.

As it should be.

If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise.

This is just ignorance.

Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be.

No. Showing skin is not "good for feminism". Having the choice to show skin or not show skin is good for feminism. Again, big difference.

The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

Once again, it never happened.

 

[tres borrachos]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.
Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around. If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering. If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise. Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be. The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

Wearing a mini-skirt isn't "dressing like a hooker" especially if you're young and have great legs. It isn't about sex. I wore mini-skirts until I turned 40.

1947 called and they want you back.

 

[tres borrachos]

Pro-tip for the men: I'm not sure why you would want to watch a woman breastfeed a baby, and I'm not sure I want to know. Whatever it is, it has to be some sort of prurient interest motivating you, since you're the one staring hard enough to make yourself uncomfortable.

For the rest of us, that's a baby eating. It registers about as much as the fact that some guy in the back is wearing a red shirt. It's not a *THING* to *LOOK AT*.




If you are offended, it is because you find yourself wanting to gawp but being unable to look away. Because you recognize the creepy aspects of this, you feel guilt. And what's a great way to externalize that guilt, to make it someone else's?

Why, blame the woman for breastfeeding her child of course. It's clearly her fault you're looking!




JFC, people....

This reminds me of the Quiverfulls and other religious freaks (like the Duggars) who say a woman shouldn't show her knees and shoulders in public because it tempts a man, and it's her fault, not his, if he rapes her.

 

[American]

Wearing a mini-skirt isn't "dressing like a hooker" especially if you're young and have great legs. It isn't about sex. I wore mini-skirts until I turned 40.

1947 called and they want you back.

Sure, you're just trying to keep cool.

 

[notquiteright]

One struggles to think of any issue where the pattern I observed doesn't hold.

In your mind, and all manner of twisting and cherry picking is allowed, hell encouraged...

 

[Lisa]

I don't understand feminism. I'm old enough to remember when mini skirts first came out. The feminists of the time were highly critical of them. Feminists were happy with all the progress that women had made in their early struggles for equality and they thought mini skirts were a step backwards. They told young women that the message that should be sent to society is that women were strong, capable, intelligent and could do anything a man could. Mini skirts were a step in the wrong direction and gave sexist men exactly what they wanted: justification for their belief that women are only good for sex.
Flash forward 50 years and feminists have done a complete turn around. If a woman wants to pose naked, that's her right. If she wants to be a stripper, that's empowering. If she wants to breast feed her baby and show her boobs in a restaurant, no man can tell her otherwise. Showing skin is good for feminism, not bad like it used to be. The worst thing is when we see controversies over dress codes, especially in public schools. Instead of telling girls that they should be striving to send society a different message, feminists are the first to defend the girl, telling school boards that dressing like a hooker is empowering and they should not take that right away.
How did this 180 degree change happen?

I'm wearing a tan skirt slightly above my knee right now and I am a feminist. I do not have to dress in a burka to have the right to make my own decisions, have equal rights, and not be treated as a sex object. It is hot in the summer and skirts are far more comfortable.

 

[notquiteright]

Sure, you're just trying to keep cool.

just like guys wearing muscle shirts, or no shirt at all....

 

[tres borrachos]

Sure, you're just trying to keep cool.

Stupid comment, but just what I expect from you. If it was about being "cool" I would have worn shorts. Mini-skirts are a fashion, no different than any other female fashion, as the smart people know. Or the ones who aren't stuck in 1951.