*Article by Elizabeth Woods
Last week, an opinion blog showed up on this website that caused quite a stir among the women—and some men—of the Wake Forest community. The article, which was written by an anonymous male author and titled “Her Guy Friend: The 4 Fashion Trends that Guys Don’t Understand,” seemed innocent enough on the surface. But upon reading the blog, I realized that what could have been an entertaining take on the “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” concept was actually an extremely sexist critique of popular women’s fashions.
The article turned out to be a tirade complaining about the ways in which women dress themselves in “unappealing” fashions (“Why do girls enjoy wearing shorts that make their thighs look bigger?”) and the ways in which women fail to expose as much skin as possible to please males (“[Floor length dresses] add about three feet of completely unnecessary and restricting fabric with the sole purpose of ensuring that not a single bit of skin is left exposed”). Perhaps the most appalling section of the article was the comment on women’s blazers, which the author discourages by claiming that “when we see a blazer, we immediately assume that any conversation we might have with you will be interpreted as somehow offensive and sexist, which is probably the biggest turn-off out there” (This comment was later removed from the article, thankfully).
What troubles me about the blog is that the author clearly doesn’t realize that his way of thinking is laden with sexism. It was obviously written in the name of humor, and perhaps the author thought he was being funny when he expressed his confusion at fashions that “make [women’s] hips look twice as wide,” but this type of humor is no better than making a racist joke or judging someone based on the price of his or her clothing. The underlying premise of the article is that women should dress in accordance to the tastes and preferences of men. From this, the author’s point of view about women’s roles in society is clear: they are meant to be physically attractive to the standards of the average male, and if they don’t fit that mold, they can and will be deemed “unattractive.” Who cares if that blazer and maxi-dress make you feel confident and beautiful? Men think that outfit makes you look shapeless and masculine, so you’d better cut it out of your wardrobe.
In short, the article completely ignores the fact that – newsflash – women dress in accordance to what they like, not what they think will please the men around them. A woman’s worth is not based on the clothes she wears or the size of her thighs, but rather on her character and intellect.
I think it’s important to start constructive dialogue about viewpoints like these, mainly because if they go unnoticed, they will continue to thrive. If no one had called out the author of this blog for posting a sexist viewpoint, he and many other males probably wouldn’t have even realized that this way of thinking is sexist. I hope that the negative reaction to this blog serves to draw attention to the little things we say and do on a daily basis that are based on prejudiced ideas.
I applaud my fellow Wake Forest peers for recognizing the sexism in this article and for speaking out against it. To anyone who doesn’t understand why the article is offensive or who thinks that feminism is code for “man-hating,” I invite you to take a class from Wake Forest’s amazing Department of Women’s and Gender Studies or talk to any of your female peers. And to the author of the now-infamous “Her Guy Friend” blog, I hope you continue to write humorous blogs for HerCampus without tearing down the confident, intelligent, and fashion-forward women of Wake Forest.
Note: To see Her Guy Friend’s response, view here.