13 Mar 2008, Written by Elaina Ramer in society, 3 Comments

Take Back the Mini-Skirt

This is my prognosis for Spring/Summer ‘08. But, it’s also a radical feminist directive. As we head into March, crowned International Women’s Month by the UN sometime in the 1970’s, it’s appropriate to take stock of our situation, where we’ve been and how far we’ve come. By the statistics, women still earn 80 cents to the man’s dollar (see here) (normalizing for all variables), thousands of American women are killed in domestic violence each year, and we spend nearly twice as much time and money shopping for clothing compared with the average dude. So, we’re still earning less, still getting beat up, and self-medicating with consumerism. Things don’t look so good.

Do not fear! Take Back the Night marches will be popping up all over the country this weekend and throughout the month, giving women and their male allies the opportunity to symbolically battle violence against women. Cool. Sounds good. But, then what? Shouldn’t we do something to combat violence against women throughout the rest of the year. Oddly, I’m going to argue that clothing and fashion have a role to play. Try this on for size:

“Women are often told to be extra careful and take precautions when going out at night. In some parts of the world, even today, women are not allowed out at night. So when women struggle for freedom, we must start at the beginning by fighting for freedom of movement, which we have not had and we do not have. We must recognize that freedom is a precondition for anything else. It comes before freedom of speech in importance because without it freedom of speech cannot exist.”
–Andrea Dworkin, radical feminist activist and Take Back the Night

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement–not to imply that I agree with the entire body of Dworkin’s writings. Rights are not to be received but to be taken. Just as the “Night” must be taken, so must the mini skirt be worn. I suggest something high-waisted and not too tight. Also, avoid those hideous cut-off denim minis with raw edges; they don’t look good on anyone. If we lack the option to safely wear a mini skirt, women of the Western world are little better off than women in present-day Afghanistan, wearing their oppression in burqa form. Yeah, I said it and it’s not an exaggeration. Let’s do a little Compare-And-Contrast.

The dirty little secret of sexist thinking is that clothing has very little do do with the causes of violence against women or misogyny in general. In fact, it’s a tool, a justification for abuse, and something of a cattle prod to keep us in line. Through the lens of Judeo-Christian culture, the conditions of women in some Muslim countries are extreme, degrading, and intolerable. Through the same lens, the self-imposed conditions of Muslim women in some European countries is similarly unacceptable, but that’s a different story. (Netherlands , France). However, both the woman in the mini shirt and the woman in the burqa earn a certain type of treatment and a specific perception (read: stereotype) from their native society and the global community. Neither is particularly posi. We typically perceive the first as too empowered for her own good and the other as strictly oppressed and imprisoned within her own garments.

Anyone who suffered through Catholic school knows the tragedy of a dress code. The required wearing of a confining garment enforced by violence is infinitely more despicable. But think about that. Which society is forcing a dress code on women by threat of violence? It is certainly the society in which a woman might be beaten for revealing her hair or her face, but isn’t it also our own in which rape and other violence are justified by the victim’s outfit? The most well publicized case was the rape of a young woman in Italy in the late 1990’s which was successfully justified because the perp could not possibly have forced her out of her tight jeans if she were struggling against him. Unfortunately, this is not a unique incident. Numerous sexual harassment and assault cases have been settled in favor of the violator because the victim was wearing one of those trashy, overtly sexual t-shirts that say “slut” or something. I obviously don’t support the wearing of these garments on aesthetic grounds, but poor taste should not be punishable by groping.

We have several options before us. There’s the “boys will be boys” approach: we can take responsibility for the possibility that someone else will violate us and dress as asexually as possible. Or we can do the “faith in humanity” thing in which we challenge the people around us to act right despite their uncontrollable urges for non-consensual sexual activity. As for the femme feminists of the world, we can start by taking our freedom. Walking by ourselves at night will not become safe if we always take a male chaperon with us. Neither will we overcome the perverse concept of deserved violence by toeing the line of so-called appropriate dress and behavior. It might seem like I’m suggesting the use of mini skirts to combat violence and verbal abuse of women. Actually, I am. But I’m not talking about whatever-wave feminism and the empowerment-through-sexiness model. No, I think mini-shirt wearing occupies the same roll as beautiful women with armpit or leg hair. When a feminist makes an aesthetic choice that bucks conformity, it’s a big “fuck you”. To who? To everyone. To my mother who fears the response my outfit might elicit. To the dudes who think we’re asking for it. To the majority of mini skirt wearers who fear to call themselves feminists. And so on.

Plus, they’re hot.

Elaina Ramer is a fashionista, bike messenger and radical economist living in Santa Cruz, CA. She completed most of a degree in Global Economics before she dropped out of college to pursue enjoying her youth. Elaina blogs about fashion and global politics at frugal and hep dot com.

View all articles by Elaina Ramer.

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