Are Blue Jeans a Feminist & Lesbian Uniform?

[Inertia]

And even if they are... who cares? It's absurd to think that all women are one thing, or another, based on what they wear... just as absurd as it is to think that being a feminist is "bad", or being a lesbian is "bad", or being a heterosexual is "bad", or being a man who wears skirts is "bad". The columnist isn't just judging people's inclinations by what they wear... he's condemning them for what he judges them to be. Nuts to him, I say.

Cheers,

Inertia

[AMM]

... According to this theory, nearly all women... must be, a priori, lesbian feminists.

You say that like it's a bad thing!

[Skirt Chaser]

I learned a little more about those kind of ironclad gender roles this week when I encountered the dress codes for Bob Jones University located in South Carolina, United States. http://www.bju.edu/prospective/expect/dress.html I thought it would be useful to present here to have an example of a worldview very different from our goals here but which influences the gender expectations the men here bump up against. Suffice it to say the women who attend BJU don't call themselves feminists.

[Peter v]

Thanks, skirt chaser, it is one way to keep a hand on overall neatness and respectability. Not forgetting that if you are yourself a respectable person, you don't need such regulations, but not all people are so at the age it is directed at, and it does keep people from straying. It is unfortunately neccessary, even though I myself do not agree fully on all the regulations.

Just like here, where the teachers are / were named by their first name. Ok if you yourself are respectable, then that will not be used in a wrong, degradating way, but that si just the point, there are under the learning students many who will use that to undermine any authority of the teachers involved. Not a good thing.

Allowing upgrowing young people to learn who they are and have their own identity is one thing, but keeping them from wandering too far on the wrong path is a responsibility, which in turn needs some form of discipline, which is then found in regulations which again can be pointed to when opinions differ. If you let students free in clothing choice and how they behave, then that can only be done if you have a constant hands on situation to be able to intervene when found neccessary.

In all that does make it difficult for young men in particular who may in a early stadium wish to be different, in a friendly and positive way, like wanting to wear skirts instead of pants. ( I am sure that schools have enough on their hands than to have to watch and protect young men in skirts from being attacked, by word or fysically ) It must depend on how much controll you have over the students and what sort of / what mentality they have. Responsibility for freedom of thought and responsibility for safety and a good stable balance in the school is not an easy task.

Only if the students could bear the responsibility as mature respectful adults, then giving more clothing freedom would be no great issue. So on one hand I say give room to men ( students as is the case here ) who want to wear skirts, but on the other hand I understand the complications of not having an overseeable ruling.

[Departed Member]

I learned a little more about those kind of ironclad gender roles this week when I encountered the dress codes for Bob Jones University located in South Carolina, United States. http://www.bju.edu/prospective/expect/dress.html I thought it would be useful to present here to have an example of a worldview very different from our goals here but which influences the gender expectations the men here bump up against. Suffice it to say the women who attend BJU don't call themselves feminists.

Thanks for showing us that! Goodness! Imagine trying to impose that nonsense in the UK! They'd be in court in no time!

Hope Abercrombie & whoever sue, by the way.

[Stevie D]

I learned a little more about those kind of ironclad gender roles this week when I encountered the dress codes for Bob Jones University located in South Carolina, United States. http://www.bju.edu/prospective/expect/dress.html I thought it would be useful to present here to have an example of a worldview very different from our goals here but which influences the gender expectations the men here bump up against. Suffice it to say the women who attend BJU don't call themselves feminists.

What do you expect from so-called educated academics who still insist the earth is "only 6 to 10 thousand years old"?
http://www.bju.edu/academics/cas/underg ... n/gap.html
These people would have us all back in the Dark Ages.

[Since1982]

Stevie D said: These people would have us all back in the Dark Ages.

Umm Stevie, IF we WERE in the Dark Ages, we'd all be wearing skirts for men. I think it was the fashion of the time. Of course they weren't CALLED skirts, but they definitely WERE MUG's. hehehe

[Sasquatch]

Bob Jones U, is the Christian version of the Taliban!
Sasq

[crfriend]

Bob Jones U, is the Christian version of the Taliban!

As I've been saying for years, "There is precisely one difference between 'our' Taleban and 'their' Taleban: ours wear ties." Neither one has much of anything to do with faith -- they're all about power and control.

[Milfmog]

As I've been saying for years, "There is precisely one difference between 'our' Taleban and 'their' Taleban: ours wear ties." Neither one has much of anything to do with faith -- they're all about power and control.

Amen to that...

(Sorry, couldn't resist it)

Have fun,


Ian.

[Inertia]

What a strange and gruesome dress code! I'm surprised they don't tell you what underwear you can wear.

In fact, they don't actually say *anything* about wearing underwear, do they? Say... I wonder how many of their students go commando, under all that moral rectitude?

Cheers,

Inertia

[Since1982]

Inertia said: commando, under all that moral rectitude?

What, terpitude under rectitude?

[Inertia]

(laughing) Does turpitude beat rectitude? Does Smith and Wesson beat four aces?

Anyway, with all that rectitude on top, you'd hardly even be able to *find* the turpitude...

Inertia

[Skirt Chaser]

Thanks, skirt chaser, it is one way to keep a hand on overall neatness and respectability. Not forgetting that if you are yourself a respectable person, you don't need such regulations, but not all people are so at the age it is directed at, and it does keep people from straying. It is unfortunately neccessary, even though I myself do not agree fully on all the regulations.

Actually I should have mentioned that these grooming rules are far from what is standard for universities in the United States. Some business schools make students dress up but mostly students in American public colleges wear street clothes. The University of California, Berkeley even had a naked guy attending classes so rules about what to wear are not typical, especially not abstaining from a brand because of "wickedness in advertising". Bob Jones University is all about grooming men to be leaders and women to be subservient mothers. That's why clothing is so important, there should be no confusion for them about who is male and who is female because there are very different roles for each in their culture even to what courses they may take at Bob Jones University.