Ladies and Impatiens: How the length of the skirt became the main argument in disputes
margarita virova
We have already told how stereotypes about looks able to cause significant damage - for example, they indirectly affect the difference in salaries and often interfere with career and social life. Briefly, the problem can be described as a skirt length dilemma: if “too short” is “slut” and “guilty”, if “too long” is “frigid” and “no one wants you”. Female appearance turned into a tool of control and manipulation, which can moderate our behavior. With it, it is easy to shift the blame in any situation just to the owner of the notorious skirt.
The way around the beauty formed a whole ideology, described in detail more Naomi Wulf in "The Myth of Beauty" - in the moderately distant 80s. The significance of the main work of the writer for feminist theory is so great that it is studied and put into practice to this day. The point is not only in the fundamental nature of research, but also in the fact that inequality simply does not become less. And at the very first glance, harmless discrimination in appearance does not diminish influence in public discussions and legal proceedings - a revolution in perception never happened.
In particular, in the section on the professional qualification of beauty, Wulf reviews in detail a number of high-profile judicial precedents of the 70s: one of the first was the case of Margarita St. Cross vs Playboy Club, in which the waitress dismissed for "inconsistency with the bunny standards", of course, lost. Further, the writer discovers a whole stream of similar cases: TV presenter Christine Kraft accused large company Metromedia of discrimination, a big scandal arose around the process of “Michelle Vinson against Meritor Savings Bank” (the woman accused the boss not only of obstructing work, but literally of harassment and rape). Court decisions absurdly contradict each other: women were allowed to be terrorized for both “excessive” and “insufficient beauty”, and discrimination on the basis of appearance was not generally recognized as a category that required the protection of the law.
Throughout the past century, women have been brought down not just by the standards of beauty, but also by types and categories, which include external distinctive features, attributes, style of behavior, and lifestyle. Could be a "lady", "femme fatale" or, say, "touchy" - do not fall into any of them. Each of the stereotypes has a story: for example, the roots of the "femme fatale" are found in the medical and philosophical interest in hysteria and psychoanalysis. Boldness, activity and unpredictability turn out to be companions of mental disorder in this image - and with them the interpretation of the traditionally sexual elements of appearance as "vicious" and "aggressive" appears.
Blond hair and puffy skirts in early cinema, on the contrary, are associated with innocence and virtue. An interesting reflection of such sharp oppositions is found in the complex of the Madonna and the Whore, pushing people in pairs to look for partners with different “roles”. In the story you can find many examples of the division of clothes according to the same principle, mixed with other discriminatory ideas: Jill Fields writes that in the US white women wore black underwear, as if trying on an image of a “depraved” African American in accordance with the ideas prevailing at that time.
Appearance is taken for the currency and instrument by which women demonstrate their sexuality
Today, while an “inadequate” well-groomed appearance becomes an argument when an employer refuses, “excessive” beauty continues to be one of the key arguments in accusing women. The most extreme examples are victimization, especially obvious and ubiquitous in the era of confessions of victims of sexual harassment, and cyberbullying, which can be a victim in a variety of circumstances.
The level of ideas in Russia is amazing. Diana Shurygina’s rape victim is accused and lying for “misbehavior” and professional styling, the court rejects the suit of Aeroflot’s four hundred stewardess who accused the company of discrimination based on appearance, and State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin proposes journalists subjected to harassment Leonidy Leeds work in the Duma. Colleagues and friends of Slutsky call the behavior of the deputy manifestations of gallantry: “Maybe he made a compliment to a beautiful girl,” Kadyrov argues. One way or another, in all these cases, the appearance is taken as the currency and instrument by which women demonstrate their sexuality — and the unprofessional behavior of the accused is called a logical reaction, which is not surprising and should be tolerated.
Alas, the focus on the female appearance is strong enough for the uniform, office dress code or skirt to toe to solve the harassment problem. Women politicians are still supposed to keep a symbolic wardrobe, neckline or incision associated with "low" personality traits, and the conventional appearance may well play against its owner. An American student in 2011 was sincerely confident that a conventionally sexy woman could not work well in IT, and besides, she would distract men from their computers. Today, specialists in this highly paid (and permeated with sexism) sphere are becoming more no matter what. In other areas, too, it is time for slow changes - and perhaps, times when professionalism will attract more attention than heel height and quality of laying, is not far off.
Photo: Coucou suzette