Gender Androgyny In Our Society
Fashion and gender have always been closely linked, in many cultures fashion and dress is used to identify gender and can be a powerful indicator of ones political, gender and sexual identity . A common misconception is that our gender and our sex are the same thing however our gender refers to the socially and culturally constructed differences between a male or female and fashion is a means to reject, alter, express, define or confirm ones gender.
Sexuality is a big part of gender, people often assume if you are a female you are automatically feminine, this isn't the case. Some males identify as women and therefore they dress and behave as what society identifies as a woman, however many see gender binary as being very fluid, and your anatomical …show more content…
These are regulations that most of us abide by, for example men ‘don't' wear skirts. This gives power to the man that does wear a skirt as he is making a statement, he is expressing deviation from the social norm and maybe even expressing his deeper connection to the female gender . However for some reason in our society, androgyny is more commonly accepted in women dressing more like men, rather than the opposite way. This may be down to the more common portrayal of androgyny in men. From the drag queens we see on television, and the pantomime dame, a man dressing in a more feminine way is often portrayed in a comedic sense. whereas some men adopt transvestism as they feel that they were supposed to be born as a woman and some just appreciate the feminine form more than their own masculine …show more content…
Terence Turner points out that in every culture known to us they all have one thing in common wether its clothes or just painting the body, there are certain expectations when it comes to dressing to fit the cultural norms and to go against them would be ‘embarrassing’ in any culture.
For example western culture is defined by socially constructed ideals of how society should be, which is predominantly built on stereotypes that are closely linked to appearance so that we feel the need to buy certain things to fit into certain lifestyles. Turner calls this our ‘social skin’. its clear that turner believes that its some form of protection, a need to fit in with the normalities of
Sexuality is a big part of gender, people often assume if you are a female you are automatically feminine, this isn't the case. Some males identify as women and therefore they dress and behave as what society identifies as a woman, however many see gender binary as being very fluid, and your anatomical …show more content…
These are regulations that most of us abide by, for example men ‘don't' wear skirts. This gives power to the man that does wear a skirt as he is making a statement, he is expressing deviation from the social norm and maybe even expressing his deeper connection to the female gender . However for some reason in our society, androgyny is more commonly accepted in women dressing more like men, rather than the opposite way. This may be down to the more common portrayal of androgyny in men. From the drag queens we see on television, and the pantomime dame, a man dressing in a more feminine way is often portrayed in a comedic sense. whereas some men adopt transvestism as they feel that they were supposed to be born as a woman and some just appreciate the feminine form more than their own masculine …show more content…
Terence Turner points out that in every culture known to us they all have one thing in common wether its clothes or just painting the body, there are certain expectations when it comes to dressing to fit the cultural norms and to go against them would be ‘embarrassing’ in any culture.
For example western culture is defined by socially constructed ideals of how society should be, which is predominantly built on stereotypes that are closely linked to appearance so that we feel the need to buy certain things to fit into certain lifestyles. Turner calls this our ‘social skin’. its clear that turner believes that its some form of protection, a need to fit in with the normalities of