My eyebrow arched with considerable alacrity while reading the title of this opinion piece from The Independent
(‘Jaden Smith as a new face of womenswear might seem progressive – but he’s on transgender territory.’) While reading and fighting the loss of my irony meter (boundaries not being respected…) said brow remained frozen in place at how amazingly silly the authors points are. Let’s get started.
“So, it’s been announced that 17-year-old Jaden Smith, son of American actor Will Smith, is to be the new face of Louis Vuitton clothes. To be more specific, the womenswear section. And I didn’t even know they had an old face – clearly I’m out of the fashion loop.”
[…]
“Jaden seems to be up for this gender-neutral, equal clothing rights thing which allows men to wear women’s clothes without any fear of ridicule. But there is another, more important issue afoot.”
Another important issue? Hmmm… Considering that a major fashion label is promoting gender non-conforming behaviour, this issue must be very important indeed.
“There’s a reason why men wear men’s clothes and women wear women’s clothes, and why they are generally so different. OK, I know women have been wearing trousers for decades but they’re usually a femme version of the male equivalent – and I’m not talking about unisex clothes like jeans and t-shirts.
I’m talking about basic clothes norms that depict which gender is wearing them, even in the modern world. Stereotypically, men wear trousers and women wear dresses and skirts. That’s the ‘norm’ and it’s more than that – it’s a uniform.”
The argument for why gender norms are good for you is about to be made. Please keep in mind that gender is a hierarchy designed to distinguish the dominant class from the submissive class and that said gender hierarchy is toxic for both women and men.
So the author states that clothes have a normative value in distinguishing between the two biological sexes.
“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.”
Really? I thought the most important thing in the world is my first cup of coffee. Coffee addiction aside, I might suggest that the most important thing in the world is agreeing to be kind to those around you, and trying to a creative, productive member of society. Following a codified notion of gender would seem to be in sync with the sexist stereotyping feminists have fought against (and continue to fight against) for decades.
“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.”
Wow. Gender essentialism for $500 please Alex. Reproduction takes place on the idea of sexual attraction – specifically heterosexual attraction. We invented this thing we call gender on this basis and from this sprang the constructed societal norms we expect women and men to perform. These constructed roles are not written in stone, nor are they necessarily correct.
“So, to help make it plain for anyone to see which gender you are, you put on a uniform. Men put on trousers and have men’s haircuts, and women put on dresses and skirts, feminine tops and tights and women’s shoes to show their femininity and declare to the world that they are female.”
None of these ‘declarations’ are necessary. Society, as a whole, can generally identify male bodies and female bodies without the gendered stereotypes mentioned here. Again, the author sounds as if perpetuating these stereotypes is somehow beneficial to society.
“They have women’s hair-dos and they put use cosmetics to make themselves look nicer and more presentable and to reinforce the female uniform a bit more.”
Really? Compulsory femininity for the winz? I can’t even…
“Male-to-female transgender people rely on props like clothes, shoes, make-up and hairstyles to create the gender identity they want to portray to the world because most of the time their bodies alone are unable to do that. There are a few lucky ones who don’t have to do a thing to put across a female persona, but most trans women have to work hard at it.
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.”
Read those two paragraphs carefully. The author is defending the harmful hierarchical system of gender and gender roles. Quite the conservative stance, no? Gender non-conforming behaviour (going against the system that is bad for all of us) is being portrayed as a threat to those rely on traditional gendered roles to express themselves.
If your inner rad-fem isn’t blowing a lobe by now, then Huston, we have a problem. But wait, it gets better.
“But trans people should be aware that well-known faces like Jaden Smith are starting to encroach on our territory. They’re starting to wear the trans uniform without actually stating that they are transgender, and they’re claiming it for themselves under the guise of gender-neutral fashion.”
Yep, Jaden Smith is encroaching on trans territory because he’s not conforming to the gender hierarchy. His gender non-conforming behaviour challenges the socially constructed norms of what is for men, and what is for women a.k.a actions that subvert the norm as opposed to the author’s defence of supporting the toxic gender hierarchy.
“All of which begs the question: where does that leave us?”
Reading further that question is quite clearly answered in the article from the ‘other side’ of the story:
“Jaden Smith isn’t wearing a dress because he wants to identify as female; he’s wearing a dress because he rejects strict gender norms. And if someone identifies as something other than ‘male’ or ‘female’, and they feel comfortable and happy in doing so, then I struggle to see why we should support that sort of expression being stifled.”
26 comments
June 21, 2016 at 5:51 am
Miep
After watching all those assholes abuse those women at the Tacoma presentation, I do not care. I do not care. I am done.
https://gendertrender.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/explosive-footage-of-the-women-speak-out-press-conference-and-qa/
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June 21, 2016 at 6:00 am
roughseasinthemed
Gah. I need to read this again. Brain hurtz.
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June 21, 2016 at 6:01 am
roughseasinthemed
@ Miep. I haven’t finished eatching that yet :(
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June 21, 2016 at 6:03 am
roughseasinthemed
Watching. Not eatching. Although an interesting word …
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June 21, 2016 at 6:22 am
bleatmop
Ug. It would be so much better if it wasn’t a such a self-aggrandizing narcissist as Jaden Smith. He literally believes he’s one of the smartest and most revolutionary persons of all time and I think this has more to do with him trying to get attention than it does with trying to create progressive change in the world. I would be very wary about having an ally such as he because he is sure to go off the deep end at any time and sink whatever ship he is captaining at that particular moment.
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June 21, 2016 at 7:46 am
Sylvie
“But we aren’t conforming, we’re breaking stereotypes”
Oh really?
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June 21, 2016 at 8:32 am
Sha'Tara
Everybody go naked and all this becomes a non-issue.
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June 21, 2016 at 10:30 am
The Arbourist
@Miep
I watched the ‘highlight video’. The amount of disrespect shown was off the charts. :/
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June 21, 2016 at 11:35 am
donesoverydone
Reblogged this on things I've read or intend to and commented:
Man who identifies as a woman states he is for socially enforced gender conformity cause if more men start wearing dresses without claiming that frocks make the women, chances of the author being seen as just a man with odd tits greatly increases
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June 21, 2016 at 11:47 am
syrbal-labrys
I must be the only grouchy old bitch around — who recalls being told it was wrong for women to wear “the pants” because it infringed on male prerogatives. Frankly, (my dears and undears?) I don’t really give a rat’s ass who wears what. I’d very much love to see fashion become both more egalitarian and practical; in one of my favorite sci-fi epics, everyone wore basically the same two or three outfits w/o regard to gender. Of course, that can get a bit ‘bonfire of vanities’ like in and of itself.
I’m getting grouchily old enough to be tired of ANYone defining themselves by what they can afford (or not) to drape their bodies in by day and night.
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June 21, 2016 at 11:52 am
genderwipesthefingerprints
Reblogged this on stop trans chauvinism.
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June 21, 2016 at 12:39 pm
elfkat
Reblogged this on Adventures and Musings of an Arch Druidess.
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June 21, 2016 at 1:06 pm
VR Kaine
So now women and transgender activists are scrapping? Wow. Look at ’em go.
As for the clothes thing, I’m with syrbal -labrys: I don’t really give a rat’s ass who wears what.
“gender is a hierarchy designed to distinguish the dominant class from the submissive class…”
I had a really snarky comment prepared in response to yours, Arb, but then I stopped myself to ask – are we talking “gender” here (social), or “sex” (biological)? Because if you’re going all, “We distinguish men from women only because the Patriarchy requires keeping its powerbases entrenched” and all that bullshit that’s one thing. Otherwise, it may just be that gender is there to help the rest of us guess more accurately right off the bat who’s likely to be more capable of lifting something heavy. :)
Think about it – if a couple men are present vs. a couple women, would any smart person ever say, “Hey, ladies, go move that piano?” They’d be picking the dudes for sure. So is that a discriminating by gender thing, or a discriminating by sex thing?
That’s why I like the Estie vs. Testie thing. Chaz Bono could probably out-benchpress a bunch of guys, so why not just say, “Hey, Testies! Move that f##king piano!”? That way, whether “male” or “female”, the “Testies” – i.e. those with high testosterone – would all just be like (deep voice), “Yeah, cool let’s do this” and they could put those hormones to use the way nature intended them to be. If we look at it that way, who would even care what they’re wearing? As long as that piano’s getting moved, they could lift the thing wearing a dress. I wouldn’t care. What’s awesome, though, is that I could just pay people to move it.
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June 21, 2016 at 1:57 pm
Carmen
Gee, Vern, good thing you thought better of it and didn’t write the snarky comment . . .
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June 21, 2016 at 4:59 pm
Francois Tremblay
Hmmmm. A Scientologist asshole versus a transgender asshole. That gives me an idea… can we somehow get these two groups to fight each other? It would be at least entertaining.
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June 22, 2016 at 9:38 am
Dogtowner
What a pathetic life, thinking about gender presentation first thing in the morning or ever. Is this the only thing The Independent can find to publish? All I could think of was Jaden Smith wearing a suitcase.
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June 22, 2016 at 8:20 pm
sarineal
“OK, I know women have been wearing trousers for decades but they’re usually a femme version of the male equivalent…”
No, they are cut for women’s figures. I’m wondering didn’t these people take any art at school at is usual, they cover the different proportions for men, women and children, and they are very different. I can’t really wear men’s pants, although I’m sure there will be some women that they will sort of fit. Tops are better, but really unless you are going super baggy, you need a few darts in appropriate places because women have breasts, not just a chest.
Then even worse they seem to assume that clothing is what depicts gender, not the person wearing them. They are very ethnocentric with this, as it does depend on culture and country whether it is in fact ‘stereotypical’ for men to wear trousers and women skirts or dresses, try the Irish or Scottish kilt, or Fijian sulu or Samoan lavalava or the many middle-eastern or African countries that often use robes. It’s all so skewed from the start, with a incredibly narrow view.
The fact is women don’t need props, they are women regardless.
Part of the issue here is that it’s ahistorical, it doesn’t recognise the much maligned ‘bra burners’ and those that protested beauty contests who challenged the stereotypes and beauty mandates imposed on women. Gender, the harmful social construct is based on what sex we are and the two concepts can’t be neatly ring fenced, the fact is if a man wears a skirt we’ll still recognise them as male. And hey, look who has the power there, even if for some reason we didn’t, we are told that and it is ensured that we all know it is a male we are looking at. We aren’t just looking at dress to tell which is which, it’s not really a display but a marker of who is inferior and who is superior (out of interest, there is a bit out there as to how women are ‘marked’ and men as a default are ‘unmarked’).
Which leads into what is really problematic about this, women in the fashion industry are already highly selected for an unnatural body type for women, very tall, lean, slim hipped that many women just don’t have. Now, with the push to replace women with men, that makes the model for women the male one, and something completely unachievable. I’m rejecting that, not that I buy any fashion brands, but if they are doing that and putting men there to sell cosmetics and clothing and telling me that’s who I should aspire to be they can shove it.
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June 22, 2016 at 8:35 pm
juno
As someone stated above, Smith is a scientologist. Scientologists have this “what’s true for you is true for you’ philosophy to begin with, and their dislike of homosexuality likely as much potential to shunt GNC people into trans lala as any other homophobic belief system.
Slightly OT, but L.Ron used to wear women’s clothes while he lived in Rhodesia, an attempt to channel the energies of that infamous cross dresser, Cecil Rhodes.
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June 22, 2016 at 9:10 pm
Francois Tremblay
“As someone stated above, Smith is a scientologist. Scientologists have this “what’s true for you is true for you’ philosophy to begin with”
That’s just a propaganda line. No Scientologist seriously believes that “what’s true” is anything but what Hubbard wrote.
“and their dislike of homosexuality likely as much potential to shunt GNC people into trans lala as any other homophobic belief system.”
They are very explicitly into homophobia. Hubbard himself declared that all homosexuals were “covertly hostile,” 1.1. on their emotional tone scale. Anyone who’s below 2.0 is basically vermin.
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June 22, 2016 at 11:59 pm
ketzel
I support Jaden wearing what he wants to wear, but this is part of a trend of men replacing women in public. Men modeling women’s clothing, putting female models out of work. Men playing women’s sports. Male counter-tenors replacing female mezzo-sopranos in baroque opera. And so on.
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June 23, 2016 at 7:23 am
The Arbourist
@Vern
Let me tighten that up for you. Arbitrary social distinctions are made to keep the existence of the gendered hierarchy in place. The constructed stereotypes are then used to justify the division of humanity into people (men) and objects (women).
Nothing wrong with making rough approximations based on socially constructed ideas, but… not realizing why the ‘rules’ are they way they are is problematic.
Precisely. People would be free to be people and not have to act/dress/conform to certain standards. This is partially the idea behind what the gender non-conforming platform is about – feel like looking a certain way – great – go out there and be you.
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June 23, 2016 at 7:25 am
The Arbourist
@sarineal
Well said. :)
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June 23, 2016 at 10:50 am
VR Kaine
Mr. Tremblay,
The kid’s a victim of a cult so I wouldn’t be calling him an asshole, but while we’re at it I’d put $5 on the trannies and happily watch the Scientology assholes get their butts kicked – especially that David Miscabagge guy (or whatever his name is.)
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June 23, 2016 at 3:20 pm
MaryMacha
Oh how they moan and groan when they think someone is encroaching on their territory! The very things the T have been doing to women for years now might be starting to catch up with them. I’m going to laugh hard when that weapon backfires in their surgically altered faces.
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June 23, 2016 at 4:25 pm
Francois Tremblay
Hey dudebro asshole,
Yes, he is a cult victim, but he is also an asshole. One does not preclude the other. Just like how you’re literate but you’re also an asshole, so there’s no contradictions in calling you a literate asshole.
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June 24, 2016 at 8:35 am
VR Kaine
“Hey dudebro asshole,
Yes, he is a cult victim, but he is also an asshole. One does not preclude the other. Just like how you’re literate but you’re also an asshole, so there’s no contradictions in calling you a literate asshole.”
Aww, Francis. Are you wearing your superhero shirt again and trying to be a big boy? Be careful… you know how excited you can get! :)
Here’s the funny thing: it’s only a far-left liberal loser thinks that insults are actually insulting. You and your kind get so hung up on your labels, and yet in the end they mean nothing and therefore do nothing to anyone with even an ounce of success. If you only had a sense of what our world was like you’d see that we call ourselves far worse over a good laugh!
And yet on the other hand, all it takes for you is some label like “social libertarian” or whiny dipshit and you’re owned – especially when there’s some coddle-group around you to support you. Is that why you try and throw labels around as weapons, because they mean so much to you?
Waste of time. It doesn’t make you a tough guy (except to you), but it is good comedy so please – and I mean this – keep “dudebro”ing and “asshole”ing as much as possible. For one, it proves my point but better yet, it gives me (and everyone here in my office, actually) a good laugh. For me, I also take extra pleasuring in knowing that we could all buy your life 3x over and all you can do about it is pout while you’re trying to determine your next “I’m a feminist suck-up” comeback.
Perhaps you need a little more “asshole”? If you had it, then perhaps people wouldn’t treat you like such a doormat, your life wouldn’t be so miserable, and you could finally get off social assistance for the first time ever? I’d say none of that would matter if you are happy, but clearly you’re not. That’s sad.
Oh well – my $5 is still on the trannies, Withdrawing your bet? :)
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