Blog Debate with Louise Mensch and Glosswitch: can you dress for men, and still be a feminist?

[KateMumsnet]

Hello

Can you dress for men, and still be a feminist? In today's guest blog, two forthright MN bloggers debate the question.

Louise Mensch is the novelist and outspoken former Tory MP for Corby, who resigned her seat last August in order to move to New York, where her husband is based. She recently launched her blog Unfashionista (subtitled "the lazy girl's guide to gloss"), in which she has written controversially about feminism, fashion - and why women should dress in a way that their male partner finds attractive.

Challenging her position is Mumsnet blogger and contributor to the New Statesman and the Guardian, Glosswitch. She writes about feminism, family and pretty much anything else you care to mention over on her blog, Glosswatch (subtitled "humourless mummy, cuddly feminist").

Read the debate, and tell us where you stand here on the thread - and don't forget to post your URL if you blog on this issue.

PS if you enjoy it, do share it via the FB/Twittter buttons at the top of the page!

[BristolBanshee]

I know that, but it's spiteful. As a confirmed lefty I have issues with much she says about, well, everything! But she wrote a blog not a handbook and coming on here was ill advised, at best, but the charge of a "nest of vipers" has never rang more true.

Scornful posts and nasty personal attacks.
How childish.

[BristolBanshee]

No anger here, at all. In comparison to your passive aggressive whining I am a sea of tranquility.

Intellectual and Bonnie? I'll have to take your word for it as clearly there's no evidence of either.

[scottishmummy]

you're content to cast aspersions on mn posters but get all. twitchy mn opine on lm
I see you've no problem deciding who may/may not be munter to support your pov
but you're all het up at mn for daring to opine on lm blog,that invited opinion

[BristolBanshee]

ScotMum, is this your USP? Silencing people by accusing them of being angry.


Funny.

[BristolBanshee]

Nope, still not het up.

Surely we all know the world is not full of universally beautiful people, thankfully we have different tastes. BUT if you've spent your life being told your beautiful then it probably carries more weight.

[scottishmummy]

lm has done what she always does,use media to maintain her profile
she knew her bog would generate comments.it feeds the ego,maintains her
naturally mn et al will have a counter opinion and make it as vociferously as lm

[RippingYarns]

i see quite a lot of personal attacks in your posts, Bristol

[BristolBanshee]

Clearly.... pfft.

[Xenia]

LM (like Samantha Brick for that matter) will be read because she annoys - she is the non feminist who claims to be feminist, the Stepford wife who sacrificed all for her much older rich husband and yet likes to suggest she espouses some kind of feminist cause. All most of us would prefer to hear about is her children and why they have been moved and perhaps have been put last by all the adults involved.

[scottishmummy]

indeed she's poster girl for the mummy martyrs,gies it all up for her man
boak

[TheCrackFox]

I would describe Mensch as a disappointment at best and she has badly let down her constituents who expected her to serve them for at least 4yrs not until she got bored.

I dress for myself and sometimes DH likes what I am wearing.

[BristolBanshee]

Ah you're the "mummy martyrs" woman! Totally makes sense now.

What are mummy martyrs? As I figure it noone is altruistic, we all do things that ultimately please ourselves (and I mean everything) so LM must have got a massive trade off for her actions. I'm not sure she's a poster girl for anything really, she's not that relevant to most people.

I had no idea she had children.

[scottishmummy]

I afraid I think you've exhibited complete lack of sense
in fact nonsense on this thread
mn grubby hands made me laugh though

[carovioletfizz]

I think the way LM has been treated on this thread is vile, too - is it not possible for people to express their disagreement with her without slating her looks, her work and her husband? Really horrible.

[peteypiranha]

Can you honestly say you would pick an unattractive man to marry? I dont get it when people say looks dont matter to women of course they do. If you read threads on here many women stop having sex if their husbands/partners have let themselves go. I think its only natural for either gender obviously some ageing is inevitable but most people dont want their dhs to change much physically.

[peteypiranha]

Having read this I agree with xenia I am not attracted to old men, bald men, overweight men, men that have untamed eyebrows, men with beards/tashs, or hairy chested men.Physcical attraction is very important to me and I dont think its shallow if your having sex with one man for the rest of your life that you want them to look good.

[Xenia]

Yes, petey, it is fairness that mattesr. When a woman says - men can look how they like and get fat (presumably because they are rich and keep women) but women have to please that we have the feminist issue coming out. Instead it should be gender neutral.

LM put herself out there presumably to earn a bit of money by writing articles which provoke and will not be surprised if she is then talked back to. It is just how things work. If you don't want comment and debate you don't offer views.

On her chidlren yes it was all over the press and she wrote about it. I think 3 children. What I had not worked out was whether by moving them from the UK to the US she moved them closer to her ex husband and their father or further away. If the former then that is not too bad although even so their whole life has been turned around and moved countries just to satisfy a mother's lust. If the latter it is utterly unexcusable and why cannot all these men move to where LM's career is? Plenty of men move for women's careers these days in fair equal marriages.

[BristolBanshee]

Well ScotMum, I have to say you've come across exactly as I expected, nothing less and certainly nothing more.

x

[scottishmummy]

oh pack it in faux musings
hong king phooey makes more sense than you
try Ponder and deliberate before you make a move

[Hunn1e]

Wanting to look good for your partner is nothing to do with feminism, it's about sexual confidence and how we feel about ourselves.

I also think that half the time women don't get dressed up to please their man - they try to look good because at heart we are a competative lot and we don't like the idea of other women looking at us and thinking we look a mess!

[Snorbs]

they try to look good because at heart we are a competative lot and we don't like the idea of other women looking at us and thinking we look a mess!

Is women's competitiveness over their appearance not a feminist issue then? What drives that competition? Could it be society's general pressure to believe that what women most have to offer are their looks?

[Xenia]

Not all women are like this despite what the press like to suggest. I have no problems with couples who each try to look good for each other to please their partner. I have problems when people produce sexist views that women have to look good and men simply have to earn money to keep them as that is tantamount to prostitution except less honest.

[kawamura]

As an 80-year-old male, I'm sticking my neck out when i say that women should make an effort with their appearance when out with their husbands, and so should the husbands!. This demonstrates self-respect for the woman and flatters the man. It's a 2-way thing!.