Serving the campus of the University of Alabama since 1894

The Crimson White


Serving the campus of the University of Alabama since 1894

The Crimson White

Serving the campus of the University of Alabama since 1894

The Crimson White

Men should not dictate women’s fashion

Peplum tops and dresses. High-waisted shorts. Dark lipstick. These are all topical fashion trends for women, yes, but more importantly, these are all fashion trends that men apparently hate. According to the Huffington Post article “23 Trends Guys Hate (But Women Love),” every single recent movement in the women’s fashion industry is one toward a society where males dictate everything females wear. Thankfully, I only saw the article shared by those criticizing its points, but it still angers me that it was even written.

I wasn’t sure if this needed to be said, but I see now it obviously does: Women should not care about what clothes men say we should wear. What the random boy in my anthropology class thinks of my wearing dark red lipstick should not have any bearing over whether or not I put it on in the morning. To suggest so is counterintuitive and offensive, and I resent the implication that I, as a woman, would give their opinion of my outfit a second (or even a first) thought.

It’s almost comical how hypocritical their attacks on clothing are. Men don’t like skinny jeans because “they leave nothing to the imagination,” but men also don’t like drop-crotch pants because they’re not form-fitting enough. Don’t you dare bite your fingernails too short, but covering them up with fake acrylic nails is out of the question. It’s all straw man arguments and attempts to assert dominance, and it’s tiresome.

These unrealistic and childish expectations for women, if allowed to continue, will only contribute to a more oppressive, boring and unfashionable society. You know what I want? I wish men wouldn’t wear basketball shorts in 40-degree weather just to prove that they can. I wish they would start paying attention to the color of the clothes they put on so that they could maybe match. I wish Adidas flip-flops were outlawed.

See? Doesn’t it feel awesome when someone else thinks they can decide what you should wear? Don’t you love having one of your most basic rights, your bodily autonomy, robbed from you? I know I do.

Here is a newsflash: When I choose an outfit in the morning, I ask myself two questions. The first is, “What is the weather going to be like today?” The second is, “Does this match, and is it cute?” Shockingly enough, I do not consult the countless articles about fashion trends to see if my outfit is male-approved, and in fact, I don’t take male opinion into the process at all. What I wear, I wear for me, and if you don’t like it, you can take your complaints to the Huffington Post. I’m sure they’ll hear you out.

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