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Women's Clothes and Women's Rights
... The forms of dress that women wore were consciously designed to prevent them from earning an income and/or becoming successful, except through marriage. Furthermore, women spent most of their time attempting to attract an economically desirable husband through the way they dressed, among other behaviour and activities (Fischer, 2001:5; Riegel, 1963:391). Accordingly, the high-heels and corsets, worn by Western women during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were forms of dress that reduced women to mere objects for the male gaze (Wendy, 1996:6; White, 2003:149). ...
... The 'Bloomer' costume – that is, consisted of full Turkish trousers that were gathered at the ankles and a short overskirt that came below the knees. Proponents of the dress reform movement, who introduced the 'Bloomer' costume, wanted to change the highly restrictive clothing worn by women such as the heavily uncomfortable petticoats, long skirts and constraining corsets (Kesselman, 1991:496; Riegel, 1963:390; Saul, 2003:151). This costume allowed for better movement compared to the tight corsets that women wore. ...
... Unfortunately, the 'Bloomer' costume was deemed a failure since not every woman embraced it as a form of liberation. The costume was in use only for a little over five years (Riegel, 1963:393-7; Volo and Dorothy, 2004:154). Kesselman (1991:496) argues that there were three other movements that challenged the conventional feminine types of dress during the period in which patriarchy was deemed to be a 'dominant' social system. ...
... The woman, whose soul is capable of casting from her person the absurd and degrading dress, in which fashion has bound it, can aid the cause. No other woman can." 143 This quote from Gerrit Smith was repeated throughout the last part of the century in an attempt to warn off women from wearing corsets and tightlacing (Riegel 1963). In the book 'The Young wife, or, duties of women in the marriage relation' written by William A. ...
... (University of California Press). Page 37.143 Riegel, Robert E. (1963) Women's Clothes and Women's Rights (American Quarterly). Vol. 15. ...
For the past centuries underwear and lingerie has signified much more for women than just being a functional piece of undergarment designed to keep the bearer warm and clean. Throughout history underwear and lingerie has changed function to become instrumental in visual female gender-construction. It has played a part in the patriarchal need for objectification of women and been a way to define and experiment with a sense of self. When it comes to underwear and lingerie, which historically has been hidden underneath the visible, external clothing, do we still conform to these gender roles that we associate with our biological sex? Underwear and lingerie play an important a role in the visual, social construction of gender distinction. An instrument that emphasizes the gender-specific bodily differences between men and women by shaping the female body to fit into what is considered a ‘feminine’ ideal. A garment that establishes the roles of spectator and object.
In this thesis we are going to deconstruct sexual and social dominance of one gender over another, the effect of mass media’s representation of gender and how that has an impact on women’s consumption of commercial goods, with a case in focus being on underwear and lingerie. We will also look at the proximity of this particular clothing item to the body of the female, which puts it under the category of being something intimate and private - hence the title of this thesis ‘The Unmentionables’ - it is all part of something bigger.
... 4 Tomo en cuenta estas dos historiografías por el ca-El análisis de las primeras décadas del siglo XX ha sido una preocupación constante entre estudiosas y estudiosos de la historia de las mujeres y de género. El abordaje de las transformaciones que se generaron durante este periodo ha sido analizado desde la historia del consumo al develar la reconfiguración, por ejemplo, de los espacios públicos urbanos debido al surgimiento de tiendas departamentales y salones de té, así como restaurantes para mujeres (Sewell, 2011); lo mismo ocurre con las investigaciones sobre los cambios en los patrones de la vestimenta y la moda femenina, acompañados de un fuerte movimiento de reforma durante las últimas décadas del siglo XIX (Riegel, 1963;Shaffer, 1976). Asimismo, la historia del trabajo ha aportado conocimiento sustancial para identificar, por un lado, la presencia de las mujeres en el mundo obrero campesino (Hernández, 2021;Fowler-Salamini, 2013;Ramos Escandón, 2004;Chassen-López, 1994;Fernández-Aceves, 2003) y, por el otro, los nuevos espacios y puestos de trabajo a los que se incorporaron las mujeres en el contexto de la revolución industrial que no sólo engrosaron las filas de la clase obrera femenina, sino también la de la clase media en el sector de servicios profesionales (Porter, 2020). ...
Este artículo identifica y analiza los cambios generacionales que experimentaron las mujeres en su relación con el espacio público y privado en el contexto del posicionamiento del feminismo como un movimiento político e ideológico durante las primeras décadas del siglo XX. A través de la trayectoria de la escritora socialista estadounidense Ethel Duffy Turner, identificamos diferentes ámbitos de transformación que podemos enmarcar dentro del movimiento de emancipación femenina. Mediante el análisis de hemerografía, memorias y a partir de una contextualización histórica e historiográfica, se proponen elementos que permitan identificar el perfil y conformación de las mujeres modernas y sus características.
... The burqa and niqab are part of the diverse ways by which women express themselves. Many feminists criticize the enslavement of women to fashion (De Beauvoir, 2010;Negrin, 2008;Riegel, 1963). They reject that there is one ideal of beauty. ...
... Along with doctors, emerging feminist activists, especially suffragists, enthusiastically railed against the use of corsets. Feminists on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean claimed that female shapewear was the product of male patriarchal efforts to restrain female activity (Riegel 1963), connecting the compressive nature of the object with the impossibility of women's participation in outdoor activities and public life. The dress reform movement, gathering various activists who designed, wore, and promoted clothing considered more practical and comfortable than the fashions of the time, brought many feminists to oppose the corset, including writer and North American women's rights advocate Amelia Bloomer. ...
This article presents the marketplace icon of shapewear—clothing that changes the shape of the human body by compressing or enhancing it. The trajectory of shapewear from the highly structured corset of the sixteenth century to the elastic Spanx of the 2000s evidences how this marketplace icon has come into being. Shapewear has materialized many evolving forms of beauty standards and gender roles as it participates in body-centered market assemblages. Market actors, such as manufacturers, designers, media, celebrities, activists, physicians, and consumers, translate shapewear to materialize intentions in the female body, shaping it accordingly. Whether promoting female autonomy or oppression, shapewear stands as a marketplace icon because it has maintained stable market appeal across time and body-centered market assemblages: it shapes the female body while symbolically articulating women’s roles.
... shorter shoes instead of high boots; flexible, less restricting corsets (including options not made of whalebone); less fabric overall (typically weighed in pounds, women cyclists would advocate for the total dress weight to be under a specific poundage); elastic inlets to keep the dress from catching in the wheel; use of a belt for accessories; and for more radical women, some sort of knickerbockers or divided skirt underneath a shortened dress (Hargreaves 1994, Riegel 1963, Fischer 2001. A minority of women did propose and in fact wore cycling costumes with only a bifurcated skirt and no dress covering it. ...
... Detta var dock tydligt klassrelaterat, eftersom några av de första kvinnor som långt tidigare bar byxor offentligt var kvinnliga gruvarbetare, bönder och fiskare (Smith & Grieg 2003). Byxan (först kallad bloomers) som kvinnligt klädesplagg kom att bli en av de stora materiella symbolerna under kampanjerna för kvinnans rösträtt (Luck 1996; Riegel 1963). Som syns på skämtteckningen kom " bloomeristerna " , som de kallades i Sverige, att associeras inte minst med cykeln, den tidens moderna fortskaffningsmedel som gav kvinnor en helt ny rörelsefrihet i det offentliga (Bergman 1988:40). ...
This article concerns the gendered history of women's police uniforms. Tracing the historic symbolism of "phallic trousers" as belonging only to men, and how they slowly become introduced as a garment also for women, it is argued that trousers can be used as a material and visual point of reference, through which it is possible to analyse some important social changes regarding gender throughout the 20 th century. Overall, the article purports the idea that when trousers were introduced as an item of clothing to (most) women, this was implicitly accompanied by an increased attention to the body as marker of gender. In Sweden, the first police women "on the beat" in the 1950s had to wear culottes instead of proper trousers, while today all police uniforms are gender neutral. The article suggests that the resilient discussions of the presumed incompetence of the female body for some police work, serves the overriding purpose of maintaining naturalized gender differences in light of "trousers belonging to all". Policing is still maintained as a profession where men can be both caretaking and violent, while women are construed as non-violent and thus only as caretaking, leading to an asymmetrical logic, here captured as "the man contains the woman", but "the woman does not contain the man", profoundly affecting the range of possibilities in the two gendered positions.
The study explores the relationship between fashion and feminism. Throughout history, fashion has been considered as a mechanism of oppression, focusing on the historical role of restrictive garments such as corsets in the objectification of women due to patriarchal influence and societal norms. In the context of corsetry, the paper traces the origins of these garments and their role in physically and metaphorically constraining women to fit into the narrow and idealized standards of beauty dictated by patriarchal societies. It delves into how these oppressive clothing items have been portrayed in literary texts, highlighting the struggles of female protagonists against societal constraints. The study further examines how the feminist movement has actively challenged and rejected these restrictive garments, defying norms and advocating for women's autonomy in clothing choices. The analysis of literary works from various eras reveals how authors have captured and critiqued the oppressive nature of these garments, exposing the damaging effects on women's physical well-being. The study further explores the performative aspects of fashion within the context of patriarchy, drawing upon Judith Butler's theory of performativity to critically analyze the ways in which gender is constructed and reinforced through clothing. The study then delves into the contemporary portrayal of clothing as a means of empowerment and autonomy for women, with focus on chick lit genre. It discusses how authors within this genre have utilized fashion as a form of self-expression, empowerment, and agency.
This chapter analyses the ban of the burqa and niqab. On October 11, 2010, France became the first European country to ban the full-face Islamic veil, the burqa and the niqab, in public places. These Muslim garments have attracted disproportionate attention in French politics and public deliberations. The controversy around women’s dress exemplify how during recent years, in the process of the construction, deconstruction and reconstruction process of society, the original principles of the French motto—liberté, égalité, fraternité—have been eroded. Liberty of religion is restricted. The meaning of equality has changed. National solidarity has been constricted: fraternité means supporting each other as long as the French way of life is accepted. Consequently, fraternité has been replaced with division and fragmentation. The Muslim minority in France at large feels discriminated against and marginalized. Muslim women who wear the niqab report a disturbing level of verbal abuse and sometimes physical abuse. I refute one for one the arguments that support the burqa and niqab ban, arguing that the arguments are neither just nor reasonable.
In France, secularism is celebrated in the public sphere. The paper makes general arguments about France’s changing identity and specific arguments about the burqa and niqab ban. It explains how French history shaped the ideology of secularism and of public civil religion, and how colonial legacy, immigration, fear of terrorism and security needs have led France to adopt the trinity of indivisibilité, sécurité, laïcité while paying homage to the traditional trinity of liberté, égalité, fraternité. While the motto of the French Revolution is still symbolically and politically important, its practical significance as it has been translated to policy implementation has been eroded. The emergence of the new trinity at the expense of the old one is evident when analyzing the debates concerning cultural policies in France in the face of the Islamic garb, the burqa and the niqab, which are perceived as a challenge to France’s national secular raison d'être. The French Republic has attempted to keep public space secular. Is the burqa and niqab ban socially just? Does it reasonably balance the preservation of societal values and freedom of conscience? It is argued that the burqa and niqab ban is neither just nor reasonable in the eyes of the women and girls who wish to wear the Muslim garb, their families and community, and that paternalism that holds that the ban is for the women’s own good is a poor, coercive excuse. Claims for paternalistic coercion to protect adult women from their own culture when they do not ask for protection are not sufficiently reasonable to receive vindication.
Gender in American Literature and Culture introduces readers to key developments in gender studies and American literary criticism. It offers nuanced readings of literary conventions and genres from early American writings to the present and moves beyond inflexible categories of masculinity and femininity that have reinforced misleading assumptions about public and private spaces, domesticity, individualism, and community. The book also demonstrates how rigid inscriptions of gender have perpetuated a legacy of violence and exclusion in the United States. Responding to a sense of 21st century cultural and political crisis, it illuminates the literary histories and cultural imaginaries that have set the stage for urgent contemporary debates.
Japan’s underground economy trades female athletic apparels. Examining this economy reveals how men continue to dominate social norms in Japan and turn women into a sexualized object of consumption.
In 1886, Judge Wallis, summing up in the ‘Pimlico Case’, castigated the writings of a witness, the Catholic doctor, Thomas Low Nichols, as shocking and as tending to ‘unsex’ women. For Nichols’
Esoteric Anthropology
had been found in the home of Mrs. Adelaide Bartlett, a French Catholic, accused of murdering her husband with the assistance of the Reverend George Dyson, a Wesleyan minister of Putney. Even though he had written in the preface that ‘this is no book for the centre table, the library shelf or the counter of a bookseller’, Nichols was outraged by what he considered the judge’s libel upon him and his work. In the event Mrs. Bartlett was acquitted amid the most tumultuous applause ever heard in the Old Bailey and retired to a Belgian convent. It was but one more colourful episode in the extraordinary career of the Catholic health reformer, Dr. Nichols.
This paper offers new perspectives on the reception of the women’s dress reform movement in Britain and North America. Focusing on a central case study of a satirical letter and accompanying illustration parodying Bloomerism, which was published on both sides of the Atlantic, periodical editorials are analyzed in light of contemporary social and political attitudes. In contrast to commonly held assumptions about Bloomerism having failed because of deeply entrenched gender norms, it is instead asserted that the eventual backlash against the Bloomer fashion was a result of the British association with America’s poor showing at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, and not necessarily because of inherent objections to its sartorial aesthetics.
This article examines feminists’ use of fashion in the 1910s, arguing that fashion and appearance became an important factor in the construction of the New Woman image and an integral part of feminist ideology in that period. It explores how adopting and adapting the Oriental style, which came to dominate women’s fashion at the time, enabled feminists to construct a modern and political identity, while simultaneously situating themselves as fashionable and trendy. Analyzing the different ways in which feminists employed fashion to express their political views and identities furthers the understanding of the connections between consumer culture and feminism—New Women did not see fashion as opposing feminist ideas, but as a useful way to achieve them. In considering the role of fashion in constructing feminist identities, this article thus rethinks and broadens the meanings of early-twentieth-century feminist politics to include a wider range of issues beyond struggles for suffrage.
Although largely overlooked by scholars, “Our Girls” (1872) was Elizabeth Cady Stanton ‘s most popular lyceum lecture and one of her most radical public speeches. Simultaneously appropriating and subverting both prevailing conceptions of femininity and the rhetorical conventions of the lyceum, Stanton disguised a radical critique of traditional gender roles as an entertaining primer on child‐rearing. In “Our Girls,” Stanton assumed a motherly persona, yet she addressed the most fundamental causes of women's oppression: artificial standards of fashion and feminine beauty. In the process, she supplied an alternative to traditional notions of femininity: an emancipatory vision of the “coming girl,” whose intelligence, strength, and independence would define her beauty.
This article examines the meaning of an `alternative' style of dress for women in the nineteenth century that incorporated items of men's clothing in combination with items of fashionable women's clothing. Components of the alternative style included ties, men's hats, and suit jackets. This alternative style was primarily adopted by unmarried women who were increasingly working outside the home. It can be interpreted as a set of signs that constituted a symbolic statement concerning women's status, as embodied in fashionable clothing, and a form of non-verbal resistance to the dominant culture. The alternative style can be distinguished from proposals for dress reform that advocated the adoption of trousers and other changes that were too radical for general use during the period. In contrast to changes in fashionable styles, changes in clothing and physical appearance that represented modifications of upper- and middle-class norms were occurring in marginal settings, such as resorts, women's schools and colleges, and women's sports, such as riding, swimming, and bicycling. These changes were incorporated into fashionable styles in the twentieth century. The alternative dress style in the nineteenth century represents an example of the power of nonverbal symbols to express social tensions and to change people's attitudes in advance of structural changes.
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