filed in Daily Life, Fashion Forward
Skirting the Issue
When you find a burden in belief or apparel, cast it off. — Amelia Jenks Bloomer, 1851
Last week, I overheard a friend trying to convince her 9th-grade, tomboy daughter to wear a skirt to school. Not wanting to get in the middle of family politics, I kept my mouth shut. But inside, I was screaming. SEXIST! It seems unfashionably retro to insist a girl put on a skirt, given all the brave women who came before us, risking ridicule and even arrest, for the right to go through life in trousers. Sure, I wore a skirt to my mother’s funeral. But that’s because I wanted to. Can you name an occasion when only a skirt will do?
Image: Girl Pulling Skirt Up, Geoff McFetridge. See his work at Half Gallery through October 15.
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