Why dress like this?

[Spidergirl8]

I feel very depressed that more and more female celebrities decide to dress like this. These celebrities, like it or not, are role models for many girls and I feel it sets a very scary tone for what young girls may aspire too.

I do believe everyone has freedom of choice and can wear what they want, but I think that more often than not, this type of outfit is done as a publicity stunt.

Am I being too harsh, or does anyone agree?

or maybe they just think it's fun? god since when has feminism got so much hard work

It is possible to like fashion and music and celebrity and also despair of the inbuilt sexism and inequality in those industries. Come the feminist revolution I hope we all, men and women, enjoy dressing up in some bondage gear and going for a dance with Tom Ford. He does fabulous perfume.

I like the guy's outfit in Frau's second post.

i don't think there is inequalities just ignorance of what is out there

people are happy to judge their feminist beliefs based on the national press

They can wear whatever they like what boils my piss is that they are required to wear revealing stuff to get the column inches and to elevate their profile

Required by whom? I don't have any doubt the 2 women themselves chose their dresses to make an impact.

There are many, many successful and talented women in the music and film industry who don't flash flesh around. I'm not prepared to buy into this idea these 2 have to wear that sort of dresses if they don't want to.

I personally don't like either dress because they are ugly not because of the amount of skin on show (think of that fabulous dress Princess Diana wore the night Charles was wittering on about Camilla- very short and lots of cleavage and absolutely stunning)

So far as their music I've no idea if it's any good or not. I've never knowingly heard either of them.

I cannot find it within me to care about what these 2 young women choose to wear. I question a media that finds it important.

Fair play to them. I'm pleased and proud that they fell like they can show off their bodies if they so desire without fear of physical attack or slut shaming (yes I'm looking at you!)

I hope one day the menz can feel empowered to wear bondage gear in public too (although personally less enjoyable for me I'm all for equality.)

Let's face it, none of us know wether they felt pressured into wearing those outfits or wether they felt fucking hot either way pitying and slut shaming them is not a feminist act IMO!

Men don't wear bondage gear in public because they are not empowered?

In what way does wearing bondage gear in public bestow power?

Given that men actually do have power (of the type that runs the government etc rather than the type achieved from choosing shampoo), why do you think men are currently not wearing bondage gear in public?

Just to highlight- at no point have I 'slut shamed' the two women in the picture, I merely pointed out that it is unfortunate that celebrities feel the need to dress like this to meet media demand/social pressures. I do not think they look like 'sluts', I do think they look posed and not completely comfortable IMO. Bare in mind Miley Cyrus felt the need to create a provocative image to move her career on, her girl next door image did not seem to work for her once she hit her teenage years.....why?

It is correct, we do not know whether they were happy to wear the dresses. However I am confident in the assumption that their PR crew would have certainly encouraged the outfits. Which brings the question, is it their choice or are they now deciding based on what is expected/no longer have an idea of self?

I go back to my original point, this is what some young women aspire to be. Is that a huge plus for feminism? I'm not sure they feel empowered and free, that's not to say they are unhappy of course.

I don't think you were slut shaming OP. It is is unfortunate that for most females in the music industry posed with no clothes at all or as a teeny bopper ultra virgin are the only ways you can get any air play at all.

I also think it's interesting that those dresses are OK but I get dirty looks when out breastfeeding. It just shows you what women's bodies are really for in this society.

Men don't wear bondage gear in public because they are not empowered?

Bill gates has to content him self with all his money instead. Poor fucker :(

I don't think you were slut-shaming Spidergirl8. That's a fairly standard put down for anyone who questions why women are expected to put their bodies on display in a way that men aren't.

Surely the empowerment comment wasn't serious?

I wish there was a different word people would use instead of sl*tshaming.
That term disturbs me since it contains a slur.

Women aren't sl*ts...

Yes, I do not like that phrase at all, is there a male equivalent phrase??

The picture in the OP reminded me of the Clothed Male Naked Female type of art. The Wikipedia page says
"Some feminist scholars argue that images of one-sided female nudity contribute to the objectification of women, by reducing a woman's worth or role in society to that of an instrument for the sexual pleasure that she can produce in the mind of another.[1][2] Kathleen Barry argues that such images contribute to female sexual slavery, by contributing to the psychological basis of male dominance.[1]"

Interesting noble, because I'm more familiar with CFNM, Clothed Female Naked Man.

I don't think they need to, OP, I think they choose to.

Beyoncé is more successful than both of them, while she wears figure hugging clothes, and revealing stuff in performances and videos, at events like this you wouldn't see her in such an edgy and risqué outfit. I googled her name and tom ford just now - the most remarkable outfit was a tight dress and thigh high boots, but not as revealing as the two dresses you have posted.

Taylor Swift, who is definitely more successful than Miley (and probably Rihanna, certainly will be through writing credits) has changed her image from country music teen but still dresses quite modestly. Sure she sometimes shows off her endless legs but it's nothing shocking for a woman in her early 20s. If you Google her name with Tom Ford you see her in smart tuxedos, elegant gowns...

I think it's a choice. The same as how I choose to not wear some of the more edgy high street fashion but other women do.

This one is a classic.

Woman as object in first picture, not unlike photograph in my original post, male clothed women not.

In second and third picture, woman empowered and partially clothed. Not young and pleasing the male gaze.

All pictures are celebrated art works, however one illustrates woman and object, others as an empowerment of woman.

"Interesting noble, because I'm more familiar with CFNM, Clothed Female Naked Man."

FrauHelga- really? Surely you read the same newspapers, watch the same films, look at the same art, and see the same advertising as vanilla people?

I don't read newspapers.

I don't watch films.

I rarely look or pay attention to advertising.

And I would seriously doubt I look at the same art.

Wow! So basically you only know about the bdsm community? Isn't that a bit limiting?

KateeGee don't you think the choice is shaped by expectations? I think very few of our choices are the product only of our free will. Women in the music industry in particular are required to please the male gaze in the way they dress, dance etc. Of course they were not forced to wear these dresses but their choices are not unconstrained. There's a difference between saying that choices are constrained and that women are unable to make their own decisions.

Limiting in what way Hak?

I view it like asking you if you watch German films in German or how familiar you were with Argentinian art from the 1740's - and I know I'm not explaining it very well.

I seriously doubt anyone on this online website here hasn't come across any mainstream images.