allowance for period
Jan. 12th, 2010 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swan_towerIt is not fair of me to want to punch the author of English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century in the throat. After all, one must remember, it was 1937 when he wrote:
That's right, ladies -- you know, deep down, by instinct alone, that your body is Shaped Wrong. Your hips are disproportionate, because of course the right proportion is that of a man. Eve knew that in the Garden, without the benefit a mirror to look in! (Maybe Adam told her she had a fat ass.) And human beings hate top-heavy things, which is why, of course, we find it so unattractive when a man has well-muscled shoulders, right?
It is also not fair of me to want to punch him in the throat for the brief mention, in passing, that all the line drawings of hats and hairstyles, and all the notations for them, were done by his wife -- who doesn't get her name on or in the book, nosirree. He's the only one who did any real work, after all.
1937. This was written in 1937. I have to bear that in mind. <breathes>
The distinctive feature of a woman's shape is the disproportionate width of the hip-line, producing an inward slope to the legs, so that in the erect posture the outline of the body is wide at the middle and tapering toward the extremities. Such a shape imparts to the eye a sense of unbalance. Indeed, if the bias of sex-attraction could be set aside, such a shape would be unpleasing, because we have an instinctive dislike of objects that look top-heavy. Instinctively woman is conscious of this, and from the earliest times has attempted to conceal her hip-line. We are told that her first effort was by an apron of fig leaves, applied, no doubt, for that reason. Since then the main function of woman's dress has been to conceal the bad proportions of her body. (emphasis added)
That's right, ladies -- you know, deep down, by instinct alone, that your body is Shaped Wrong. Your hips are disproportionate, because of course the right proportion is that of a man. Eve knew that in the Garden, without the benefit a mirror to look in! (Maybe Adam told her she had a fat ass.) And human beings hate top-heavy things, which is why, of course, we find it so unattractive when a man has well-muscled shoulders, right?
It is also not fair of me to want to punch him in the throat for the brief mention, in passing, that all the line drawings of hats and hairstyles, and all the notations for them, were done by his wife -- who doesn't get her name on or in the book, nosirree. He's the only one who did any real work, after all.
1937. This was written in 1937. I have to bear that in mind. <breathes>
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Date: 2010-01-13 06:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 08:16 am (UTC)He's right that those silhouettes exist, but I very much doubt his reasoning.
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Date: 2010-01-13 04:10 pm (UTC)I know, I'm preaching to the choir.
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Date: 2010-01-13 09:16 pm (UTC)You know, I'm just going to stop that sentence at the two and a half words I'd already typed, because I don't think there's much point in trying to finish it. I don't want to spend time trying to figure out his major malfunction. :-)
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Date: 2010-01-13 06:25 am (UTC)It was the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Would you Look at That Ass?
And lo, thee Serpent said: She has the form of one of those rap stars' helpmates.
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Date: 2010-01-13 08:17 am (UTC)(Yes, I know it's already been done Victorian.)
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Date: 2010-01-13 09:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 03:12 pm (UTC)Though to that end, just travel around the world now, punching throats. We just some rich benefactors to get this thing started. I'm thinking Dwane "The Rock" Johnson.
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Date: 2010-01-13 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 09:16 am (UTC)That's why I hate reading period stuff. I have a book about Chinese culture, "My Country and My People" by Lin Yutang, which was written, ooh, back in 1938 or thereabouts. When he argues that the natural condition of woman is marriage and that it makes them happier, deep down, than being independent, I also want to punch him in the throat.
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Date: 2010-01-13 09:20 pm (UTC)Normally.
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Date: 2010-01-13 09:48 am (UTC)I'll have to pass this on to my wife... She'll get quite a kick out of it. =)
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Date: 2010-01-13 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-01-13 05:03 pm (UTC)Tony
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Date: 2010-01-13 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 05:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 09:22 pm (UTC). . . nope. Still want to punch him.
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Date: 2010-01-13 07:08 pm (UTC)In all seriousness, I'm a history major and frequently find myself wanting to choke historical figures, John C. Calhoun and Thomas Jefferson being major and frequent candidates. I think John Adams is the only one I've never had problems with.
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Date: 2010-01-13 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 09:45 pm (UTC)P.
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Date: 2010-01-14 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-01-14 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 03:03 am (UTC)That is, humans walk on two feet, in a kind of controlled fall, instead of having four legs and an inherently stable stance. We're *all* top-heavy, women less so than men, whose centers of gravity are higher (on average) up their bodies. If "we" (for this writer presumably shares the disquiet) are disturbed by objects that look top-heavy, it's either humanity fearing the inevitable stumble over misplaced rocks, or humanity gloriously ignoring their feet in favor of better scenery but occasionally stumbling anyway.
This is a classic case of of "I am X" + "I like Y" = "Therefore all X like Y."
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Date: 2010-01-14 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 06:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-15 12:33 pm (UTC)Anyway, I've restarted blogging after letting my old journal go on the slide. In those days I kept my friends list small, to keep track of people more easily. This time I'm expanding the friends list and limiting the communities list. I started the new blog almost two weeks ago, and so far have been posting reviews and mini-articles mostly. Quite a bit will probably be of a feminist nature - writing on women artists and writers, etc, but there will also be more general stuff.
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Date: 2010-01-15 11:05 pm (UTC)