29.9.07

H.D.i.L.

This is so over the top. I'm watching this really wretched show called "How Do I Look?" The intro to this episode was "cops" and "bad boys" style - the femmey fashion police in uniform busts into someone's living room weilding a hair dryer like a gun to "arrest" the fashion criminal.

Come to find out, the so called "criminal" is a cop, and really very cute - really. The cop uniform, I have to say. g'damn! But she likes to wear sweaties and and slippers at home. Can someone please tell me what is wrong with this?!!

At the end of the last show, the girl started off a little bit on the "librarian" side (Jennie, forgive me!) and ended the show in a flowy, soft pink baby doll dress with butterflies. When she walked out to show everyone how the hosts had transformed her from a fashion transgressor, into a fashion plate, everyone cheered and applauded and had tears in their eyes, saying "oh, you're so beautiful!"

As if she wasn't beautiful before. It's not that she didn't like her clothes before, or that she doesn't like all the new clothes. It isn't about wearing clothes that match. I think it has something to do with men wanting women to be attractive to them, and women, as a group, policing ourselves for believing that feminine beauty is our highest calling as females.

I feel sick.

3 comments:

DJ Jazzy Jen said...

I hate shows like that too, there's nothing wrong with showing someone how to be stylish but don't insult a working woman for wanting to be comfortable when she's at home. And if you are going to give her a makeover, then put her in clothes that suit her. If she normally wears sweats and slippers, then is she really ever going to wear a pink flow-y dress?

Really though, I think nowadays women are so judgmental about each other period. This is a dilemma that is occurring separate from what men actually find attractive- or what men think altogether. There's a whole slew of men out there that don't give a damn what chicks wear and wouldn't even necessarily notice. But you can believe that if a high school girl shows up at school in a silly outfit all the girls are going to blabber on about it. And again, there's a ton of women that fall completely outside of this generalization I'm making. But I would say over the course of my life, 90% of the criticism or praise I've received on my looks or style has been from women. Also women tend to be much more specific- saying things like "I like the shoes you picked to match that skirt." Whereas men tend to say thing like, "That looks pretty, or "that looks cool." I think men are more inclined to view the entire picture whereas women are more detail oriented. Or else we're just accustomed to the media objectifying us- so in our social lives we turn that critical gaze on one another.

I know I can barely pass by another women without assessing her appearance in my mind. This is something I'm really trying to work on because I think it contributes to my eating disorders and depression, etc. But that reaction has been bred into me from years of public schooling surrounded by catty, petty (and bored) women.

Of course this is just my perception, but I think this is why I greatly prefer hanging out with lesbians. Not that there aren't gossipy, judgmental lesbians. But on the whole my lesbian friends are much more supportive of each other and take their friends at face value in a way that straight women don't.

tongue-tied said...

not sure if it's a straight thing or a man thing or what. i think maybe just a shallow thing, with various gender flavors? "makeover" shows, to me, seem so disrespectful, esp. if the makeoveree did not invite this "help." i'd much rather someone present themselves honestly the way they feel about them self, than glossed over and homogenized into some clone celebrity wannabe. ick.

brett said...

amen!

me and some friends totally just spent a night watching these sorts of things (and i have to admit they're kinda cute and fun, along with irritating and mean). we watched this one "what not to wear" episode, and the girl on it was totally hot "before" when she dressed just a little bit boyish, so it was kinda disapointing when they dolled her up. but maybe just to me =)