To ask... why do men and women wear different clothes?

[BogstandardBelle]

I was shopping in town today and since the summer holidays have started where I am, it’s mobbed ! I wasn’t in a rush. So I was people watching as I mooched around. And it struck me just how differently men and women dress. Why is this? Why do women and girls wear strappy sandals and high heels? While men wear trainers? Why do men wear T-shirts and women wear tight or crop tops? Why are women’s T-shirt’s tighter than men’s? Why do women wear make up - and men generally don’t?

I think this is on my mind atm as I have two sons and my best friend has a daughter. My son has never asked to wear a crop top - yet her daughter has: why?

You might enjoy reading "The Beauty Myth" by Naomi Wolf. It's really just an extension of this; women need to be kept in their places by faffing about in high heels and obsessing about how they look, whilst men get to wear plain, practical clothes as they've got lots of important things to do like running the world.

You only have to look at the range of underwear available to women when compared to me to find the answer and it has been touched on by many already.

Why do even fairly bland underwear sets have bows on for example? Why do they have lace edging?

Men not me

But I was in a shopping century this morning - not in the 1500s.

Love this typo OP

It's also interesting how the conditioning and manipulation by manufacturers and retailers has affected women's behaviour when buying clothes. Just look at so-called "vanity" sizing. Someone who is actually a size 16 in reality could buy clothes which are labelled size 10-14 depending on the shop.

Does this surprise you? In Male dominance hierarchies it's all about belonging to the same tribe. It is a short hand message to other men to say "I'm not a threat to you. You can trust me" even if this isn't true.

No it doesn't surprise me of course, it was meant tongue in cheek. And when I worked in the city I also wore the uniform, quite often a dark trouser suit, and a shirt (minus the tie) for precisely those reasons - because as a young woman in a very male dominated industry I was trying to kind of assimilate in the sense that I didn't want to be looked at differently because I was female. Of course I still was. And I used to quite enjoy wearing heels at the time because it enabled me to look down on the men who I was competing with. Totally over that now, thankfully!

It was actually quite difficult to strike the "right" balance. At the time I would have been found arguing for equal pay and standing up for myself - but a lot of it was pure bravado and I lacked the confidence to experiment with clothes. I did not try to dress as a man - I believed I was equal to men without having to try to be one, but also did not want to be objectified or to encourage people to see me as overtly feminine. I wanted to be appreciated and paid for what I could do, not for how I looked. Who knows, it may have been better to play the system. Really, it's pretty shit that this thought has ever entered my head and that I ever had to think about clothing as a disguise for being a woman. I hope things have changed a bit 20 years on.

Before the industrial revolution men's clothes were very fancy, think dandy and cod pieces fir when effect. The bland lot of conventional make clothing was a reflection of industrialization and work.

Before the industrial revolution men's clothes were very fancy, think dandy and cod pieces fir when effect

It was always about demonstrating position in a dominance hierarchy though.

do they?
I wear the same as dh.
trousers and tshirts.

Clothing has become more gendered since the 80s/ 90s with women's clothing becoming more fitted in style.

I got some dungarees a couple of years ago and they are amazing. Loose and comfy without falling down and the pockets are so capacious. I've gone right off skinny jeans in comparison!

Why are prepubescent children's clothes cut differently? DS only wears shorts which tends to lead to end of season panic buying so he can get through the autumn and winter before summer stocks return. From an outdoors shop, I've bought the "same" shorts in boys/ girls. I know which are the girls because of the subtle bits of pink detailing and being several inches shorter than the same size of "boys". There is no practical reason for girls shorts to be cut much shorter!

I can't wear mens clothes, I'm too small, pear shaped and short.

"Small" "unisex" race t-shirts usually swamp me and are only fit to be used as a warm up layer as they are too saggy to wear directly.

I know which are the girls because of the subtle bits of pink detailing and being several inches shorter than the same size of "boys". There is no practical reason for girls shorts to be cut much shorter!

Like I said, i have an 11 yr old DS and my best friend has an 12yr old DD. Shorts are a great example. Her shorts are way shorter and tighter than his - why? At that age they are still doing more or less the same thing in the playground - playing tig etc. But the focus is just starting to shift - she’s starting to (want to) dress in a way that is more feminine/sexy/grown up., while he’s all about comfort and looking a bit cool, I guess. I don’t know how to describe the difference without referring to sexuality, which feels wrong when talking about 11 yr olds - but that’s what it is.

Why do women and girls wear strappy sandals and high heels
They probably wear strappy sandals because it's summer and they feel cool and comfortable in them. I hardly ever see women in high heels now, at least not in the daytime. Many women wear trainers now, I do because I walk a lot .
Plenty of women dress for comfort now. Lots of us wear trainers, loose tops, go without makeup, I don't see this as a problem unless it's a dress code that's imposed by an employer.

I’m in my mid forties and was not allowed to wear trousers to the office when I first started working.
You don’t have to go too far back to a time when there were strict gender-based expectations on what we wore.