If women dressed for the stereotypical generalization of men’s desires, we would just wear tight jeans and low-cut tank tops. Or, to paraphrase fashion designer Betsey Johnson, we would just go around naked.
Articles such as “What Guys REALLY Think About Your Trendy Clothes” by the Huffington Post make my eyes glaze over with boredom. Pieces like this try to advise a whole sex of humans how to dress based on the contrived opinions of another whole sex of humans, and that is ridiculous. Not only are these pieces unfair to women, but they are demeaning to men.
Some men like women with a personal sense of style and individuality, and articles like this do not give them enough credit. So here is a novel idea: Why don’t we dress however we want and find a partner who loves us for who we are, even if that includes beanie hats and wedge sneakers?
Also, condescending articles like this assume that the only reason a woman would dress the way she does is to attract a male gaze, when the reality is that women dress up for many individual reasons.
Some dress to assert their identity and express themselves. Different outfits evoke different personalities, and seeing how one of the main journeys in life is discovering oneself, how we carry ourselves is a valuable part of that.
Moreover, women may put on makeup and trendy outfits in order to make themselves feel good. We like to look in the mirror and greet other people with an appearance that makes us feel confident and presentable. Plus, some women just find fashion fun, and shopping and dressing could be like any other hobby for them.
Not to mention, not all women are even sexually or romantically inclined toward men. Some women are already in a committed relationship and are not looking for a man, and some women are perfectly happy single.
What’s equally frustrating is that women instill the idea in each other that men's opinions on women’s personal choices matter. In high school, I was really into rocker-style clothing and wore cat-eye liner and dark eye shadow practically every day. My mom asked me, “Do guys like that dark-eye look?”
Honestly, that thought hadn’t been configured into my morning routine. I was dressing that way because it was my style in that phase of my life, and I’m glad I didn’t try to conform to any other way.
Articles like the one mentioned above also socialize men to believe that their opinions matter a lot to women. Men may believe the highest compliment they can give a woman is based on her looks.
They also popularize the idea that if a woman is wearing a sexy, revealing outfit, it is for a man’s benefit, and that if they see her walking along the street, they have the right to loudly comment on her appearance. Maybe the men who catcall are not malicious, but rather ignorant. They think they are paying the woman a compliment; in reality, the woman may have just wanted to dress comfortably — and finds the unwanted attention uncomfortable. So men, please think twice before yelling at women based on their looks.
And women, please refrain from passing on this idea to your friends, future daughters, sisters, etc., that they should be dressing for anyone other than themselves.
As for all of the listicles out there on the Internet announcing what men love or hate about women’s personal style choices: I say they are good for one thing, a handy outfit guide to weed out basic-minded men.
[Lauren Adamson is a UF journalism junior. Her columns appear on Tuesdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 1/28/2014 under the headline "HuffPost, stop telling women how to dress"]
