To be fed up of female pop stars always performing in pants/leotards?

[AlansBigPlate]

Ok I know a woman can wear whatever she wants, but why does it seem mandatory for female artists to wear nothing but pants/variations thereof on their bottom half?!

[TheEmmaDilemma]

Ugh! Thank you! I just watched Taylor and was ranting about why the need for every fucking pop person to apparently need to show off their V waxing. Yes, you have a vagina and arse. Can you sing? Could you sing in a tshirt and jeans? I know stage presence and all that, but this is starting to take the piss.

[AngeloMysterioso]

Taylor performed in regular girl next door type outfits for years. Now she’s a 28 year old woman and has decided that it’s actually ok to be sexy on stage. Her music isn’t marketed at young girls, it just happens to be young girls that make up a large portion of her fan base.

[ALittleAubergine]

I'm more annoyed about that everyone feels they have to wear high heels when at a posh fancy do or an awards show. Flats are so much comfier and practical and imo look just as nice.

[starzig]

It's the people that get up in arms then are the first to slap on make up, heels, nails and hair done etc.. when they go out. Guess that is different eh?

[Imapudding]

I agree with you OP I find it depressing. I wouldn’t even call myself a feminist as such, but why don’t you ever see woman in normal casual clothes singing and playing their guitar? I guess because they aren’t talented enough so have to be half naked and dancing like a stripper??

It’s ridiculous. I think Madonna is different, that was pushing boundaries, being provocative, challenging views.

Little mix and TS are just dancing around in their underwear like strippers. Singing badly as well.

[SheGotBetteDavisEyes]

It's the people that get up in arms then are the first to slap on make up, heels, nails and hair done etc.. when they go out

Who's that then? .

Are you talking about the people commenting on this thread? How on earth do you know?

[Helicobactercopter]

I mean, they can wear what they like. It's just a shame that it's allthey ever really seem to wear

[kmc1111]

A lot of male pop and hip hop stars spend A LOT of time shirtless on stage. Bieber, Zayn, Nick Jonas, Donald Glover, Travis Scott, many K-Pop stars...a ton of male back-up dancers dance topless too. Taylor Swift had dozens of shirtless men on-stage in her last tour, not sure about this one.

Body suits, shorts and crop tops etc. are comfortable during movement, and easy and fast to change into/out of. They don’t get boiling hot under the lights (male pop stars who dance and wear layers end their shows absolutely drenched in sweat). These outfits highlight the legs, which are the most obvious part of most singers choreography since they have to hold a mic, but and make it easier to see the dance moves on a stadium/festival setting. Most of the current male pop stars focus more on footwork when they dance, so the focus is more on the shoes.

I find it funny that people are talking about the 80’s. The 80’s had Madonna making bras and briefs outerwear (and in the 90’s she skipped the bra portion of that quite often), hair bands all performing shirtless and oiled up, Prince being Prince...Taylor Swift has nothing at all on the 80’s.

[lljkk]

easier to dance in heels than flats. I imagine with training a lot of these dancers and singers are the same.

That's why all the blokes wear high heels. Everywhere you look. So much easier to walk and dance in.

Oh wait...

[ImperfectPirouette]

As far as ballet dancers go, there is a bit of a trend for vests+pants as costumes in modern works (attached pictures = Olivia Cowley & Edward Watson in Wayne McGregor's Carbon Life & Sarah Lamb & Federico Bonelli in the same choreographer's Infra)... in terms of them not getting sweaty, however... just being under stage lights is enough to make most people pretty warm, even if you're, say, hunting party in Swan Lake. All of ballet is hugely controlled & precise, of course, but as for slow... There are things where just the counts would be enough to make most people break a sweat (looking at you, Rite of Spring, but I think it's Les Noces that's got some totally impossible bits); & some things the corps de ballet dance are so brutal they're known to make people vomit on the regular (snowflakes... actual buckets in the wings during Nutcracker season... nice...). Lots of cynets in Swan Lake is speedy (as well as requiring precision & being perfectly in synch with 3 other dancers) & of course if you're going to whip out sorry not sorry 32 fouettés in the black swan coda you need to be going some. Kitri in Don Quixote, Canary Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, Spring Fairy in Cinderella, 1st Odalisque in Le Corsaire, & Zhanna in Flames of Paris - all examples of ballet variations that are anything but slow, however much precision & control they demand. The costuming varies, sometimes it's closer to a classical tutu, but usually it is a dress (as you might see in Giselle or Fille, for example) & tights for Zhanna - am resisting temptation to put in links for other variations, but the artistry here is just too beautiful not to.

Er yes. Slightly confusingly, my point, there, pretty much:

• Ballet dancers do sometimes essentially perform in their scanties (& of course have been pushing boundaries on this for over a century; Nijinsky's costume for Faune was Pretty Scandalous [though obviously it was basically humping the set that really set people off... & yet it was Rite of Spring that caused the riots - the music for it at that: people are weird ]).
  
• It is ridiculous to assert ballet dancers will neither be dancing quickly nor getting hot&sweaty.
  
• It is perfectly possible to perform incredibly complex, precise & physically demanding moves with decidedly more cover than the people being discussed in the OP: in Le Jeune Homme et La Morte the male protagonist wears dungarees; & in The Judas Tree the men wear jeans. One (female) former Royal Ballet dancer I used to do class with wore jeans to class pretty regularly - if you get the right ones you can still do the splits/hit a six o'clock penchée/get your grand battement à la seconde up to your ear (etc etc). Costumes can be designed to look like street clothes but enable extra movement.
  
  
  
  As to whether YABU... On balance, I don't think you are.
  
  Yes, women should be free to dress as they wish, purely to please themselves, & without being judged by others. However, what should be & reality are all too frequently some distance apart; & when it comes to women's clothing (displayed, of course, on women's bodies) things are nowhere near as simple as they should be. Clearly one can choose to ignore all the messy socio-cultural stuff, but that doesn't stop it existing & being problematic.
  
  There are massive ongoing issues around sex & consent & "well if you were dressed like that you were asking for it...". There is stuff around the expectation that women should make themselves available to men to be gawped at - & that they've a right to do so (& to take pictures/make lewd comments/provide other hugely unwanted attention) if you "show too much flesh" because you must be seeking attention rather than, say, wearing a vest-top & shorts in 28C heat. Women also police each other hugely aggressively; & certain sections of the media are only too happy to help.
  
  What matters most here, I think, is that the performers concerned are role models to lots of girls & young women. The celebrities themselves may face negative press, but there is potential for their young fans to face more immediate consequences if they try to emulate them. Obviously "you must be ashamed of your body & never show it" is not a good or healthy message to send girls & young women; but I don't think "you have to [be willing to] strut about wearing very little if you want to succeed" is, either.
  
  Of course nobody should feel entitled to any kind of control over another person's body or choices, be that having some weird "right" to ogle; or the notion that we should be keeping each other in line in an almost cult-like fashion with our policing of behaviour. Those things need challenging until they change. While they still exist, though, arguably performing artists have a responsibility towards their fan base - especially people like Taylor Swift & Little Mix, whose following will include HUGE numbers of [pre-]pubescent girls. They can't afford to be caught doing drugs or getting blackout drunk or having a sweary slanging match over a parking space - yet their clothing doesn't reflect a similar set of values/brand. Presumably it's about broadening their appeal - only a limited number of households will actually ban them outright for the costumes/dances; & they'll be outnumbered by the interest they gain from people who LIKE the costumes/dances.
  
  
  
  
  Ach. I've not slept at all & am in too much pain to properly articulate what I mean. But it's taken so long to write I'm going to post it anyway & face potential I'll get internet-yelled-at by posters thinking I'm blaming Taylor Swift for children being sexually assaulted, because I've not managed to be coherent-cogent. It's just such a big tangly thing: yes, lovely, wear what you like; um, role models & responsibility; ugh, people basically suck; we should challenge the crapness of people/awfulness of people will never change if accept status quo or simply aren't super-aggressive in tackling it/nobody is responsible for people being crap bar individual who is being crap/but you can't view anything in isolation; once again, humans are awful. (But ballet. Ignoring the Awful Humans over there, obviously.)
  As I said, no sleep, much pain, total thoughtjumble.

[SerenDippitty]

Why do gymnasts aways wear leotards?

I don’t understand why female gymnasts don’t wear footless tights though. The men don’t perform in bare legs, why do the women have to? I would be very uncomfortable having to do some of the positions they have to do without tights on.

[Joey7t8]

I’m laughing at the posters that are saying it’s just the female singers dressing sexily and dancing provocatively for the benefit of the male gaze. Where have you been for the last 30 years?

Since NKOTB in early 90s, boy bands have been prancing about shirtless (and body-hairless) in music videos and on stage for the benefit of 10s of thousands of screaming teenage girls.

[lljkk]

Very first Google images, for "girl band" and "boy band"

Who is showing more skin? hmmm

[ForalltheSaints]

Maybe if people watched and listened to real music, where the artists write some of their songs and play their own instruments. As opposed to poor karaoke.

The OP has a valid point, and the bare shirts of groups of young men too (I refuse to use the word 'band' where instruments are not played by the performers).

[TacoLover]

I wouldn't say that Taylor Swift and Little Mix are marketed at young girls. They both sing about sex and their videos also reflect that. Obviously their fan bases are made up a lot of that age group but that isn't their fault, is it? They didn't ask to have younger fans so why should they have to change how they present themselves? If parents think it's too inappropriate or sexual for their kids then they should restrict their access. It's not the popstar's responsibility to be child-friendly.

[YouAreNotImportant]

Bananarama wore dungarees and still managed to have their posters on teenage boys walls and were lusted after by adult men too.

[TacoLover]

And what do people actually want to do about It? You don't like it. Would you prefer that the ladies of Little Mix were told that they HAD to cover up because some of their audience are preteens? What kind of message is that sending out? Surely the better solution is to just switch the telly off.

[schnubbins]

Well if sex sells who are they selling to.I have two boys aged 18 and 20 and im not sure if they even know who Taylor Swift or Little Mix and Co are let alone listen to their music. That type of music is put into the category what I might listen to , so totally out. So basically they are targeting young girls. Most of the young men I know including my own DS's prefer to see a girl in a pair of jeans and a t shirt and not in that sort of get up.

[HulaMelody]

It’s a big thing for Beyonce and Gaga (and Britney) as elaborate dance routines are part of their act so they wear them (also for costume changes im guessing it’s slightly simpler). And Little Mix are followers in that respect - although their costumes at the Manchester event just jarred with the tone of the day and the fact no other acts were so full on.
Taylor Swift bless her is not a dancer; she’s probably just following Beyonce etc too despite no real need for a leotard.

[SerenDippitty]

Back in the 70s bands like the Osmonds and the Bay City Rollers caused mass hysteria without revealing anything much more than a suggestion of chest hair or a glimpse of midriff!

[TacoLover]

I thought that they were lovely at Manchester and they did what they came to do - want an empowering song(wings) and raised the spirits of the crowd. It actually kind if disgusts me that people watch a concert in tribute of dead people and complain that one of the performers is ' jarring' because they showed skin.

[IfyouseeRitaMoreno]

It's the people that get up in arms then are the first to slap on make up, heels, nails and hair done etc.. when they go out.

Apart from the fact that this is quite blatantly untrue, no one is actually “up in arms”. We’re analysing on an Internet forum why it always seems to be women not men who -despite all the freedom of choice you believe they have- all miraculously seem to choose to be naked and sexy as part of their routine.

And whether or not it’s a good thing for the young girls watching them, many of whom face pressures elsewhere to be slim and sexy as their bodies develop.

I hope that’s ok with you

[TacoLover]

But the problem is that the way most people are talking about it on here is very derogatory; people may be criticising the industry for pressuring women but they don't say this. They just call LM and TS strippers.

[Dobbythesockelf]

I see my point about dancing in heels has been completely misinterpreted. Actually in ballroom dancing etc you will find that men do dance in a low heel. I was just pointing out that in some forms of dance heels are the norm so therefore you get used to dancing in them so you may find it easier. If you do all the training for a dance in heels you will find it easier to dance in heels. I have danced for 20+ years in heels. I was just pointing out that if it's what you are used to it has nothing to do with being sexy and more just the norm.

[SoupDragon]

I think that dance routines is a red herring. Look in any scenario and women will be wearing far less clothing than their male counterparts. Clubs for example.