Chapter 20 9/19

In this chapter, the author discusses how important fashion is to some people and how people are always changing their style to keep up with the times. Rubinstein also mentions the idea of “gender scripts”, which help identify social expectations for sex-appropriate behavior. It has been proven that as early as two years old, a child can classify a person’s gender based on what they are wearing. These “gender scripts” create two different social categories involving men and women. Men learn to be more straightforward by manipulating, grasping and holding, while women learn to convey their bodies as being more “delicate and precious”. Rubinstein also includes the ideas of psychologist C.J. Flugel, who argues that people’s fashion is tied to their sexuality. Women’s fashion is meant to display their “suitability for sexual intercourse”, while men’s fashion is meant to elicit sexual excitement in women. The excerpt goes on to include the work of another fashion expert who argues that fashion plays a role in the hierarchy system. Women’s clothing is based on a “seductive principle” and is designed to make women desirable to men, ultimately giving them a secondary status.