Stepping on transgender territory? Or just defying gender stereotypes?

[femfortheday]

This article on Jayden Smith in the independent just cropped up in my news feed. Is it satire? Because if I think my eyes might fall out from rolling too hard.
Man defies gender stereotypes and is accused of making life harder for transwomen? Because without the props of gender clothing, how will they express their womanhood? It's almost like gender is utter nonsense

Link: www.independent.co.uk/voices/will-smiths-son-as-the-new-face-of-louis-vuitton-womenswear-might-seem-progressive-but-its-a6797461.html

A couple of things...

Firstly, it is entirely possible to have long hair and a 'skirt' and be very stereotypically male .

Secondly, what occurred to me with Smith is that he is encroaching on one of the very few jobs that women get paid more for than men. I wonder if he was paid significantly more than the women modelling with him?

Thirdly, WTAF? That article. Women and men all have to wear a uniform so TG people can wear it too? WHAT?

WTAF? There is so much wrong with this on so many levels.

The idea that a young adult male can't wear a skirt because they are on 'trans territory' is ridiculous. Trans people are looking for inclusion and acceptance but apparently a boy in a skirt who doesn't (to our knowledge) want to be a woman is too far? Nope, sorry. That's not how freedom of expression or acceptance works.

On the other hand my bigger problem with the ad is that by using a male, pubescent, physique, the female ideal gets further and further from the female average. I think that is far more worthy of note than any insult to the trans community.

I say this as a 5', hourglass, who is increasingly not catered for despite being closer to the average woman (despite being short) than most models and certainly a 17 year old boy.

That article reveals the regressive trans agenda in a nutshell. I bet the author thinks 'being a woman' means simpering, shopping and 'girl talk' too

I like driving, shouting, swearing and drinking beer. And I'm currently wearing trousers. Am I a man? Shit, better bugger off out of Feminism Chat then.

Actually Buggers - the original dress models for "high fashion" clothes were teenage boys with 4" added to the bust and apparently a load of fashion houses still use those original bodice blockers as templates. Which explains why they hang so well on... a teenage boy.

Anyway, that article is clearly absurd - and yes to PP who pointed out that Jayden has been wearing skirts & dresses for a long time. What a nasty TERF he is.

The article is an advert. It's not a real article. It was submitted as a press release.

I had a great grey pinstripe trouser suit I used to wear a lot to work. Strangely, no one thought I was a man. It never occurred to me that I should be wearing a skirt and tights to work so colleagues could tell I was a woman. Good grief, a lightbulb moment

lass I find him annoying,for other reasons.

how selfish of you
how confused your colleagues must have been
I trust you have at least reproduced?

So men are not allowed to wear dresses so that we can all tell that men who wear dresses are women?

So men are not allowed to wear dresses so that we can all tell that men who wear dresses are women? Yes. Seems fair enough. It's like Mr Ben, but with gender.

I have read some shit in my life but this article takes all the biscuits.

Perhaps I have trouble getting pregnant because my fugly work uniform is too masculine and doesn't broadcast my gender and desire to reproduce?

Surely having a boy model clothes purportedly designed for women means Smith is encroaching on "women's territory", not transwomen's territory? It is more of an issue that women aren't good enough to model 'women's clothing.'

But yeah. Load of old shite.

I rarely wear a dress or skirt because tights are a pain. I also have a pelvis that doesn't give a thigh gap so trousers help avoid thigh chafing.

The most important thing in the article seems to be making sure that only women wear dresses/skirts. Therefore anyone wearing a dress must, ipso facto, be a woman - because the essential definition of a woman is "a person who wears a dress".

Are trousers uncomfortable for a transwoman in an equivalent the way a skirt or dress is for a thigh rubbing Woman?

That is the silliest article I've read in a long time- surely to dog no-one could straight-faced write an article that says "boys shouldn't wear skirts because skirts are for transwomen"?

I thought that the answer must have been that some sort of technological glitch had sent me to The Onion rather than The Independent, but a quick squizz online for the author, Katie Glover, informs me that they are trans. Quelle surprise. It's not satire, and the author is indeed that hard of thinking.

.

So men are not allowed to wear dresses so that we can all tell that men who wear dresses are women?

flora has nutshelled it.

The author of the piece is trans, SeoulSista, so unless they are some kind of mind-bending double agent fake trans-agent-provacateur (an intriguing thought), then I think we have to accept that they mean what they're writing to be taken literally...

Jaden Smith laughs in the face of gender stereotypes in Louis Vuitton ad

gu.com/p/4fgqv?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

This is The Guardian's take on it by a trans man.

Just googled Katie glover. Definitely not satire.

Love some of those comments on the guardian article. It seems as if common sense is finally starting to prevail.

I was just about to say that. The article is still irritating in the endless conflation and confusion of sex and gender but the comments are spot on.

"The danger for trans women is that if wearing what are traditionally women’s clothes becomes the norm for men too, then trans women will no longer be able to rely on these props to help them display a female gender identity - and for many, that could be a serious problem."

So, basically the same way it is for trans men?

The following paragraph, however, seems to be about how the world sees us, not the identity we're intending to project

"When you get out of bed in the morning the most important thing you have to do all day is tell the world what your gender is, because from that, everything else flows. You may think that your job is to be an office supervisor or a stockbroker or police officer but these are all human constructs. Deep down your real job is to reproduce, and showing other humans your gender is the first step on that path."