According to Kate Bornstein in “My New Gender Workbook,” when presented with the main characters of the movie WALL-E, “we consciously or unconsciously switch the gender mix to what delights us the most.” Although the makers of the movie don’t directly state the gender of either character, WALL-E and EVE, we rely on basic appearance cues to determine the gender we believe most fits them. The same is true for nonmetallic beings, humans, who construct intricate methods of yielding desired identities by means of clothing. While the gender of fictional characters, such as those in WALL-E, is determined by the properties of their metallic shells, humans have the tendency to assume the gender of other humans on the basis of their appearance carried
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Most recently, through the fashion industry and the entertainment industry, society has further increased the guidelines. For example, a recent pattern in clothing set by various shopping locations and advertising, dictates that females wear small shorts and shirts that cover little of their bodies. Although they vary in length, shorts may be as long as the side pockets allow and shirts drop to only a few inches above their belly buttons. On the other hand, men are undergoing the hipster movement, meaning they have short hair combed to the side, a plain tee shirt layered underneath a dress shirt overlaid with various patterns, and a pair of sneakers on their feet. Because these patterns are gender specific and society is frequently exposed to such standards, most individuals would be confused if they witnessed a cross-dressing individual of the opposite sex. In Ancient Rome, “deviation from the male vestimentary code at Rome could bring social censure.” The Roman’s believed clothing allowed individuals to identify with a specific gender and its allowed role in society, but most importantly identified men with their clothes, who wore a woolen cloth tunic girded with a cord and a toga atop.3 These basic orders of clothing styles for men were omnipresent among the majority of men and those who wished to deviate from the norm were ridiculed. The fear of ridicule …show more content…
Unisex clothing would further diminish the boundaries between male and female, allowing individuals to freely dress in ways that are not out of the norm by societal standards. If unisex clothing became the societal norm, gender would require getting to know the individual rather than informal visual cures provided by their choice of clothing. For example, the first day new undergrads moved into the sixth college dorms, we received a sixth college shirt, equal in appearance for both sexes but varying in size for different body shapes and sizes. On a daily basis I see a great number of males and females wearing the same shirt; however, because the shirt is unisex, I must observe several other visual cues apart from clothing to predict their gender. By disassociating colors from genders, individuals would be far freer to express themselves, ultimately leading to individualization and balance among
Most recently, through the fashion industry and the entertainment industry, society has further increased the guidelines. For example, a recent pattern in clothing set by various shopping locations and advertising, dictates that females wear small shorts and shirts that cover little of their bodies. Although they vary in length, shorts may be as long as the side pockets allow and shirts drop to only a few inches above their belly buttons. On the other hand, men are undergoing the hipster movement, meaning they have short hair combed to the side, a plain tee shirt layered underneath a dress shirt overlaid with various patterns, and a pair of sneakers on their feet. Because these patterns are gender specific and society is frequently exposed to such standards, most individuals would be confused if they witnessed a cross-dressing individual of the opposite sex. In Ancient Rome, “deviation from the male vestimentary code at Rome could bring social censure.” The Roman’s believed clothing allowed individuals to identify with a specific gender and its allowed role in society, but most importantly identified men with their clothes, who wore a woolen cloth tunic girded with a cord and a toga atop.3 These basic orders of clothing styles for men were omnipresent among the majority of men and those who wished to deviate from the norm were ridiculed. The fear of ridicule …show more content…
Unisex clothing would further diminish the boundaries between male and female, allowing individuals to freely dress in ways that are not out of the norm by societal standards. If unisex clothing became the societal norm, gender would require getting to know the individual rather than informal visual cures provided by their choice of clothing. For example, the first day new undergrads moved into the sixth college dorms, we received a sixth college shirt, equal in appearance for both sexes but varying in size for different body shapes and sizes. On a daily basis I see a great number of males and females wearing the same shirt; however, because the shirt is unisex, I must observe several other visual cues apart from clothing to predict their gender. By disassociating colors from genders, individuals would be far freer to express themselves, ultimately leading to individualization and balance among