Clothes

In Article 3 of Part One, we explore other cultures and how women are represented in them. One particular topic stood out to me. Cynthia Fuchs Epstein writes, "Although men, with some exceptions, wear Western dress in much of the world, women's clothing is used to symbolize their cultures' confrontations with modernity, in addition to clothing's symbolic roles". I've seen this before. Don't images just rush to minds-- bits and pieces of things you've seen on Discovery Channel. Do you instantly think of women in saris beside men in jeans and t-shirts, or again in Africa men in t-shirts and women bright wraps with tall head wraps, and the same for any other culture. In performance, we dress women in time-period clothes, but men are looked down upon in time period clothes that aren't armor. As if it makes them seem more feminine... is costume a feminine tradition? There's so much emphasis on the way women look! A woman has to represent her heritage on top of her flesh, while a man can hold his within. Why? Why is this rule in place? Is it that whole "seen and not heard" rule. Is that rule universal?