Sexism: Men and Women Clothing Critiques

This is not a complaint, really, just an interesting indication of how women and men are seen differently by society.

An anchorman in Australia wore the same suit every day for a year to see what people would say and no one even noticed. People had plenty to say about his female co-anchor's clothes, however.

Source

He told Australia's Fairfax Media that while no one asked about his suit, people regularly commented about and criticized the outfits worn by co-host Lisa Wilkinson.

Stefanovic says, "I'm judged on my interviews, my appalling sense of humor - on how I do my job, basically. Whereas women are quite often judged on what they're wearing or how their hair is."

Thoughts?

Their harshest critics are probably other women. I have worked with the ladies and they always had tension with each other. Men get pissed and forget about it in a few days.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

I thought the same thing. When it comes to physical appearance and clothing choice I'd say women are far and away the most ruthless in their opinions. This doesn't apply to all women but do I really need to clarify that?

Stereotypes exist for a reason.

I'm not claiming men are the only ones making the critiques. Women can be sexist, too. Without regard to who is criticizing, why didn't ANYONE even notice the man's suit?

Is it sexism when women complain about other women? I have a hard time believing men would take the time to write and complain about a female news anchors hair style?

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
I'm not claiming men are the only ones making the critiques. Women can be sexist, too.

Without regard to who is criticizing, why didn't ANYONE even notice the man's suit?

Well it's pretty typical. At red carpet type events all the men are wearing the same generic tux with maybe a goofy tie.
Everyone talks about what the women are wearing. I guess if women all decide to start wearing the same thing in formal events we wouldn't have the discussion.

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
I'm not claiming men are the only ones making the critiques. Women can be sexist, too.

Without regard to who is criticizing, why didn't ANYONE even notice the man's suit?

Because men's suits all pretty much look alike. The tie is what really catches your attention.

I'm a little confused, did she also wear the same outfit for a year?

Formal wear for men is a suit, whereas for women it could be a whole closet full of items (at least that's what my wife tells me).

And I agree with the above poster that most complainers are probably other women. I personally don't really care what people are wearing.

Women get critiqued on their clothing all the time.

When was the last time a man made news because of a critique about his clothing?

Well, that's actually pretty easy. Anyone remember that Shirt Full of Women that ol' what's his name over at the ESA wore the other day?

First thing in my mind was "heeeeey, why don't they tell us if the female co-host was critized by MALE or FEMALE viewers - this should be easy" - and then I recognized the smell of feminazism.. Sorry, that word got stuck in my mind.

But I doubt that there were many men critizising a woman on tv for her clothes. Why should they?
Same goes for men on tv. Why should male viewers critize them?

What is the point in critizising other people's clothes?

probably because his generic blue suit looks like every other generic suit he has.
not really how it works with dresses...

these guys always wear a suit...mon-fri its a suit.
now if he very clearly would have worn some hawaiian shirt with a loud ass design on it so it was clear he had the same thing on every day, that would have been a good experiment.



ladies wear a dress, then a skirt, then a pants suit.....

flawed experiment it you ask me...

originally posted by: corvuscorrax


Well it's pretty typical. At red carpet type events all the men are wearing the same generic tux with maybe a goofy tie.
Everyone talks about what the women are wearing. I guess if women all decide to start wearing the same thing in formal events we wouldn't have the discussion.

dont know what you watch....
i am a sucker for the oscars and grammys and the red carpet show that leads to it.

of course the difference between the ladies clothes are far more obvious, they devote a lot of time to the guys as well.
they always pull the men aside and ask them who they are wearing and this and that...just like the ladies...

so yeah, it happens. i watch them every year

Not sure why people are surprised women have been raised to believe their worth is dictated by their appearance. Never mind the massive money involved in the fashion industry.
Unfortunately men seem to be increasingly sucked into the fashion industry, but that the power of money and marketing for you.
It's fine to want to look a certain way as long as that's not based on having to tear others down.

what if the man wore a red suit one day, then a lime-green suit the next day, then a kilt with a pink shirt the next, brown leopard stretch-pants with silver shirt and gold tie the next.....he would immediately be thrown off the show for looking ridiculous and not being serious.

originally posted by: jimmyx
what if the man wore a red suit one day, then a lime-green suit the next day, then a kilt with a pink shirt the next, brown leopard stretch-pants with silver shirt and gold tie the next.....he would immediately be thrown off the show for looking ridiculous and not being serious.

but if a lady does something like that she has style.
she would be a fashionista....

that is more like sexism to me

I do not see the need to wear any business suit or any kind of business attire at all. If people are comfortable wearing jeans and a nice shirt to report the news that would be OK by me. A person can be a professional no matter what attire they are wearing.

I'm actually really impressed with the level of discourse here. Usually discussions on gender and sexism are filled with people not getting it over very ignorant concerns. A good portion of you still aren't getting it, but it isn't for the usual reasons, and that's progress in my book.

Is this article discussing a valid sexist observation? Yes, and I think we all agree that it is.

Some people seem to be surprised that women can be sexist, even to each other. Well, it's true, and not only that, it's common. It doesn't make the observation less sexist because they may have come from women, and it is rather sexist to disregard the observation because it might have been made by women.

Like I said before, this is a great discussion, and I'm pretty pleased to see this level of discourse and people actually agreeing with feminist theory, even if they don't realize that they are.

a reply to: Ceeker63

i never understood why people need to wear suits either.

i guess its the image thing....

is a lawyer a better lawyer cause he wears a suit?
all the business office people that have to wear suits and ties to work.
never understood it...

a lot of places have dress down day or casual friday where you dont actually have to wear the monkey suit...that lone day you can dress like a normal human...

makes no sense

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

I don't know about other men, but me personally, most suits look the same to me. I mean if a guy came in every day with an all blue or an all black suit on, I wouldn't be able to tell you if he changed suits on the regular. And thats even if he had worn the blue suit yesterday and is wearing the black one today.

a reply to: Grovit

The thing is though, everyone here is speculating on unknown complainer gender identifier facts, but hey, whatever floats you boat.