Why is slut dressing cool?

[Hullygully]

I don't get this.

I get that everyone should dress as they like/not be judged on appearance/not be victim blamed etc

I get all that

What I don't get is why women dressing in a way MEN deem sexually attractive: short skirt, tits hanging out, monster unwalkable in heels = empowering.

It's nonsense.

yy Nice

But there is no real male equivalent as we know

Oh yeah, the Chippendales...

Boys aren't sex objects in our society, and women aren't prone to rape them, so I suppose there doesn't have to be any victim-blaming, because they aren't likely to be victimised in the first place.

Maybe it's because society still won't let females especially young ones, be honest about their sexuality. So they dress in a "peacock" way, but have to pretend that it isn't because they aren't supposed to want sex?

Yougotbale

The ancient greeks were religious. Also the romans.

I am given to understand that they had a different take on modes of dress and sexual behaviour to what we are used to.

It's not religion, it's men/women. Babies, who's is it. All mainstream religions I can think of adopted rules around what was the cultural norm at the time where they started. Hence many of them having bizarre rules which have been overturned or ignored or dropped as time goes on. the ones about food and women seem to stick, for some reason!

For why the UK has the current social mores it does, some reading on the Victorians might prove interesting.

Bof - it's well on topic. Religion is man made and misogynistic. It is given too much Credence. It is the main route behind how flesh is perceived today or do you let religion off the hook?

My latest idea makes the most sense to me.

If women weren't shoehorned into a pretended virginal, ethereal, only within a committed meaningful relationship bollocks, but could do it with whom when and where they pleased, they wouldn't be subjected to the weird doublethink that currently clothes their clothes.

They wouldn't need to dress in a way that signalled yes, shout no, and be called allsorts.

I'm going back to my Mao pjs for all stance

Nobody is saying that religions aren't patriarchal. But religion reflects the agenda of the patriarchy rather than the other way round. This country is more secular than ever, but women's oppression isn't going anywhere fast.

Which is fine, do have some pjs tho.

Nice - all early civilisations were religious or at least spiritual. I think climate plays a part in it. Greeks and Romans were not so god fearing.
Consider the mainstream religions. Uk for example. It is forbidden. More akin to the Amish way of dress. Look at no sex before marriage, no wonder this has become an issue. Fashion has developed quicker than we can wash off religion and it's influences.

That's it isn't it Hully? Signal yes, shout no. Because god forbid they might actually be free to decide.

I have to go, but I will just say I think this is all a bit of a red herring

You can't separate out religion/culture/climate etc they are all deeply interwoven and interdependent.

Pjs are the answer.

I think so Murder. At least that's where I'm at at the mo.

I don't understand why people would deliberately make themselves look so ugly. Do they all suffer from some kind of dysmorphia? (sp)

Well I think Fabulous, that the obvious answer is they don't think that they do look ugly...

BOF - religious scarring is deep. People lived in fear. These values were pushed on people like a dictator in the sky. This is deep routed. It has skewed our views of sex, flesh, relationships more than anything in recent history.
I believe it will take years of non religious society to make nudity normal

I agree yougotbale, except that an awful lot of those pushing the religion didn't actually believe, but found it a useful tool of control, even from the earliest times.

Fabulous - what makes it ugly?

Religion is just one tactic adopted by patriarchal societies. There are plenty of others.

Probably totally off topic, but wasn't the mini skirt first introduced because children's clothes didn't have VAT added, and any skirt shorter than a certain length was defined as for children?

Filthy lucre Martyr - always behind everything.

Religion definitely plays a large part (how could it not?) but it's not the be all and end all. There are too many factors at play.

Take what BOF said about promiscuity for example, men want to know that any babies are theirs (this isn't limited to humans, believe some animals will actually clean previous ejaculate out of partners before having sex), so by discouraging women from being promiscuous/sexy they are doing something to increase their chances. It's very base and from way before religion.

Very sexual clothing for women is a display of sexual power, both to men, and to other women.

Among some social groups and sub-cultures there are not many forms of power that it's acceptable for a woman to exert - other than erotic power.

In groups where women do have other forms of power - particularly amongst educated and professional people, there is less need for women to dress provocatively.

thanks for the PJs
we are all a bit nudey in this house though
so am eminently qualified to talk about expansive "flesh", as it were
skin is skin, i think
obviously some people - faces, bodies are more attractive than others and always have been. fashions for what is deemed attractive change though - for women. For men the changes are not nearly so marked.
and of course in our society body parts of females are fetishised and that's never going to be good.