Oscars dresses and female sexualisation

More importantly to them, I'd have zero interest in watching if they were all in a tux

I saw this and it doesn't look hypersexualised at all. Yes of course it's very feminine and it would be good if someone did wear something that strikes out from that limitation, but it's a pretty normal line up of (gorgeous) glam frocks, multiple long sleeves there! www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64935067

You are right, nothing wrong on liking a frock.

I agree, very notable this year, particularly at the

It used to be that a few reality show, Kardassian types would wear hyper revealing dresses, but it's very mainstream now, the dresses cut up to the hip which were on so many women are teasing that they can't have any pants on - how can that be comfortable? What if they sneeze?

Why would they make a stance though when it’s the women choosing to dress like this? I honestly don’t believe anyone is bring forced to come to an awards show wearing a trawl net.

I think it's the vulgarity of it. I get wanting to show off your fabulous hourglass figure but you could do so with a classy dress rather than a netbag and nipple pasties.

I find it telling that all of the photos and discussion of the outfits is in women's magazines (see Marie Claire link above).
Are women wearing these revealing clothes for men (who probably have a quick leer then forget about it) or for the countless women who buy the magazines, click on the websites and discuss them at work and on the internet).
As someone said, they do it for exposure. Everyone remembers Liz Hurley because of her safety pin dress.

There’s nothing wrong with girls wanting to distinguish themselves as girls and deliberately wear colours or hairstyles that boys tend not to wear. Unlike many on mumsnet, people in the real world know that men and women are not the same.

I do have a problem with girls feeling pressure to oversexualise themselves, as if that is their main value. Anyone can have sex so it’s not a skill. I’d like to see them putting other aspects of themselves forward.

Oh yay another thread on the "feminism" board that instead of celebrating that women can do and wear whatever the hell they choose without judgement (as feminism was intended to be) women are being ripped apart by "feminists" for "hypersexualising" themselves. Maybe they just liked the dresses?

A woman's choice to wear what she wants is her own choice. You don't have to agree with it but as a "feminist" you should support it.

A lot of the dresses are ridiculous, they are there to be noticed, which is why the younger and more in need of exposure are the ones who wear the most ridiculous dresses.

Assuming that JLC, who is getting old and saggy now, wore covering clothes to hide that? But the amount of too tight, cutting into breast tissue, and frankly badly fitting dresses was astounding this year. I always have a good snigger at the ridiculous poses some of the women have to do to show they have a thigh-high split in the skirt though. Daft. (Although, one of the daft-leg-posing-ones had a flipping pocket in her dress so yaayyy for that)

Having said that, i often love to look at the dresses. I was annoyed that this year the "theme" was supposed to be sustainable fashion, one or two did indeed dig out vintage/old dresses, others, not so much.

I watched a you-tube video of them doing the carpet walk, it is literally a parade of women walking about 20 metres, being screamed and shouted at to look here, look there, do the overshoulder look, show us your leg, etc etc. One after the other after the other. And it struck me that this is the big issue for me, not the dressing up and being "sexy" or whatever.

It is that in order to get gigs in the acting world, a lot of these women (particularly at the start of their career) have to go along with this charade to get exposure so people will take a punt on putting them in a film based on "someone has seen them, they know who they are". Whereas there isn't a parade of tux-wearing men having to do the same thing to get exposure.

@ForTheLoveOfSleep

You are missing the point
Yes women should be allowed to wear whatever they want without comment

But whilst there are such stark male:female divides in how people chose to dress , and when only one group is wearing very sex related /body highlighting clothes one has to ask why

Is that really what those women want to wear or have they been brainwashed /educated in some way to think that's what they want/ what is expected of them
?
I don't believe that if all those women had grown up blind and then just before the Oscar's their sight was restored and they were shown a set of outfits they would all have chosen what they wore on the night

It's so common - little girls look pretty , little boys are so strong or clever - these throw away comments train boys and girls as to what society thinks is important for them to succeed

Until we have Oscar's where men's dress is as likely to be highly revealing as women we know we are still in a highly sexist society

One where how a woman looks matters more than their acting capability

I won’t interfere with anyone’s dress choice but I don’t need to support or promote what I don’t agree with.

The point you are missing is that women's choices are not made in a vacuum. They are made from within the context of the society we live in. A woman's choices are clouded, if not outright determined, by how she sees herself within her society.

Why do you think women make the choice to wear these clothes?
What is it about our society that makes women choose one type of look and men choose another?

I agree about girls at school (and lots of young women) seemingly conforming to some sort of standard hairstyle and clothing. I work in a school, it goes from 3-18. It’s long hair all the way for the girls. I don’t even see any “bobs” never mind short hair. And outside of school it’s all cropped tops, mini skirts etc

I was a child in the 70s, teenager
in the 80s. There was much more of a mix of styles, hair and clothes. Short hair, mid length, long. Clothes came in primary colours and other neutral colours. Certainly not the sea of pink you see now. I often wore my brothers jumpers and even jeans, no one would have noticed because they were the same colours and styles as the girls!

The photo of Ciara and her dress, posted by@Grimbelina, and some of the dresses worn at Vanity Fair's Oscars after-party, invoke a great deal of unease and confusion in me.
I speak as a woman now in my 60's who, to be frank, dressed very provocatively in my teens and early 20's, with the sole aim of attracting boys/men. Sad, yes, but not in the least uncommon.
I still like to wear make up, have clean, styled hair, and dress well, (no longer provocatively you will be relieved to know), but now I do it for ME.
I look at the afore-mentioned dresses and, on the one hand, think "good on them/women empowered/wearing what they want/if you've got it, flaunt it".....etc, etc.
But on the other hand, I feel they are sexualising themselves and saying "look at me" and, you could make the assumption that these women are "up for it", when they are presumably just wanting to present themselves in the way that they wish to.
But why would they dress so that hardly anything is left to the imagination? And it seems so incredibly narcissistic and competitive. These women are obviously talented.
But then I feel guilty, because as a woman I want to support other women, and I feel like a traitor to the "sisterhood" by being uncomfortable with what I'm seeing. But I am very uncomfortable, and admitting this leaves me fearful of being called out for lack of solidarity with my fellow women.
As I said, I feel very confused and uneasy.

They all look fine to me except Hunter whoever, who is not a woman and is perpetuating a hypersexualized image of womanhood, which is harmful to real women.

It's not a gender thing. Everyone at the Oscars wears clothes that make them look "hot".

Women wear somewhat revealing evening dresses. Men wear suits/DJs which are generally considered among the sexiest outfit a man can wear.

www.eviemagazine.com/post/the-14-hottest-outfits-a-man-can-wear-ranked-from-worst-to-best

www.muscleandfitness.com/women/dating-advice/we-asked-20-women-whats-sexiest-thing-guy-can-wear/

No suits look "hot" because they speak of power, a man making his way in the world - they speak to his whole being . They can hide much physical imperfections

The women look "hot " because she is showing a body off

It's not just the Oscars. Some of the changes in women's clothing I think are designed to get you to spend more money. So if a dress has no sleeves, you might spend more on a jacket, for example.

It comes back to the question of what women want to portray. For me they can do whatever they like, it is their choice. And at the same time lets not demonise men for ogling women when they actively get their breasts out in a public space. (BTW I'd say that if it was a woman ogling a man's er chest/abs etc too).

I really do not care who wears what to any award thing.

I do think that the prudish judgements which are running rampant on this thread aren’t taking into account the serious erosion of womens rights in the US - the US seems to be in the grip of some old patriarchal religious right misogyny the way abortions and morning after pills are being outlawed in state after state.

Perhaps in a country where women are losing control over their reproductive rights, it makes a kind of sense to overtly display that women can be sexual and have the right to be sexual.

No what they are doing is reinforcing the narrative that women are only good for fucking and cleaning

I see this the other way round.

Women expressing themselves in a wide variety of beautiful gowns - they have the choice to be modest, immodest, sexy, powerful, artistic, colourful, monochrome etc. Some of them are wearing clothing that is downright experimental. Some are wearing almost sculptures. If they want to, they can wear a suit or tux and I don't actually think that would be frowned upon - saw more than one wearing a large tailored jacket over a dress just scrolling through the first couple of dozen.

The men seem bound by a rule that they wear a suit or tux. They're nearly uniform. Few are expressing any real individuality or style. If they want to push the boat out they can maybe go shirtless or wear a sash, or a colourful suit? Yawn.

When it comes to fashion for professional/formal attire, men haven't moved far beyond the Victorian period and I think women generally have a much better deal and more fun (for once eh).