The single strangest reaction I’ve seen thus far to the devastation of Sandy comes from Laura Wood, the genteel bigot and feminism-hater who blogs as The Thinking Housewife. After looking through a gallery of photos on the Daily Mail showing some of the damage in New York city, Wood suggested that the real problem is that New Yorkers aren’t wearing cheerful enough clothing:
THESE Daily Mail photos of New York City after the hurricane remind me of just how ugly the streets of Manhattan are, with almost everyone dressed in drab, uninteresting clothes that rival the uniforms of Maoist China for their homogeneity and lifelessness. America is one of the most aesthetically impoverished nations in history. I wonder how many thousands of people are on medication because they are depressed by their own clothes and their ugly, hostile environments, surrounded as they are by impersonal denim, sneakers with tire treads, plastic-covered down jackets, billboards with oppressive smiles, and the austere, chilling cliffs of modern skyscrapers. This is the environment of a people that idolizes equality and sameness. The only way to survive amid such poverty is to possess an interior castle, a place of tapestries and mahogany where denim and sweat jackets are nowhere to be seen.
Just make sure this castle of yours isn’t reduced to rubble by 85 mile-an-hour winds and flying debris.
Speaking of New York, here’s an interesting (if a bit shaky) video of a walk through that city’s dark streets after the hurricane hit.
So apparently the (Un)Thinking Housewife thinks that day glo is good.
It is official, she is evil.
I love how she defends herself against one of the commenters: the people pictured wouldn’t have had their homes destroyed, because they’re in Midtown! ‘Cause no one ever leaves their neighborhoods. Nor would they be worrying about friends and family in other parts of the city/along the east coast.
>.<
Really?
In any case, why are we supposed to care?
Sandy hit at the end of fucking October, people are a lot more interested in staying warm and dry (even before the storm hit) than how festive their clothes are. Cold weather outerwear is generally pretty dark and drab for good reasons: coats are meant to be worn every day and only get cleaned once or twice a year and neutral colors don’t show as much dirt.
Now what you wear under that coat or sweater is a completely different matter and New Yorkers are not exactly known for being unfashionable, it’s the center of the American fashion industry after all.
She really should change her name, thinking seems to be something she isn’t very good at if she doesn’t know how clothing works.
Let me guess: if they’d been dressed up in glitz or bling or whatever, she’d have been whining that they were shallow and materialistic and probably immodest, too.
Priorities? What priorities?
Did she tell us what she thinks people in New York should be wearing? Because I bet it’s hilarious.
Day-glo?
That’s it, preachy church lady. This means war.
I went to NYC once. I can’t say that the words “drab”, “uninteresting”, or “ugly” entered my mind for a moment regarding either the city or its inhabitants. Mrs. Housewife has some pretty dumb opinions, on this and many other topics.
Also, the food there was amazing.
One of my “favorite” articles on the Ladies Against Feminism site (I can’t find it right now, they changed the format and I really don’t feel like going through all the articles to track it down) showed a picture of the “typical” Victorian woman (beautiful painting of a woman in gorgeous dress, peticoats, lace, jewlery, hair all gussied up, all that) and the “typical” modern woman (sad black-and-white pencil drawing of a woman in jeans and a sweater, sneakers, hair pulled back, etc.) and lamented how modern women just aren’t attractive, and we’ve lost all of the beauty of past eras when women knew how to dress, blah blah blah.
And all I could think was, “Really? You really think that if it was suddenly 1812 instead of 2012, you’d be wearing that? Because if I remember my history correctly, only about 5% of the population would have been dressed like that. Statistically, you would probably be wearing plain, probably dirty, probably torn, definitely smelly, dresses that were either covered in soot from the factory where you’d worked 16 hours or soap and scum from all the washing you’d been doing. Maybe, if you were really lucky, it would just have some vomit from the babies you’d been taking care of all day (and sometimes all night) long without breaks and vacations.”
But they really, truly believe that if they were suddenly transported back in time, they would be one of those upper-middle class women with the beautiful dresses and perfect hair. Nothing out of place, of course, because they could afford someone to help them dress, and maids to clean so they never got dirty, cooks so their clothes never got spattered in flour or sauce, and nannies to run around after the children so they never got frazzled or messy. They never, ever picture themselves as that maid or cook or nanny (or factory worker, or farmer’s wife). That level of arrogance is astounding.
Not to mention the sheer racism, because of course they never talk about what the average African-American woman was wearing at the time.
I’m also detecting a distinct note of “unfeminine!”, what with how upset she is about jeans and all.
“People have clinical depression because their houses and clothes aren’t pretty enough.”
OW!
(That was the sound of this lady’s ablebodied/neurotypical privilege slapping me in the face).
Also, um, there was a HURRICANE, and you’re wondering about things not being pretty enough? WAY TO STAY RELEVANT THERE.
Putting aside the sheer stupid of focusing on that after a hurricane, I have a solution to the supposed drab-clothing issue that should please all parties: have everyone dress like 90’s shonen anime characters. I laugh at her pitiful attempts at vibrancy.
Because Laura Wood is well-known for her bright and interesting clothing http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2012/03/hello-reader/ ?
Well, she is wearing yellow earrings. Not what I’d call an attractive use of color, or particularly well suited to the top she’s wearing, but they are colorful.
But but but I’m depressed AND I have a tiny fabulous hat.
Brooklynite here, she can fuck right the hell off as I wear my yoga clothes 24/7 because i would like to be comfortable if i’m suddenly killed by a falling tree.
Also, i’m betting there are no New Yorkers who really give two shits about what she ‘thinks’ [sic].
@Ozy, tip of my metaphorical hat to your tiny fabulous hat and i hope you feel better as you can, soon 🙂
what….the….fuck…
Her defense is equally dumb:
http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2012/11/hurricanes-and-fashion-part-ii/#more-47097
OK, I really try very hard not use this word, but every time I’m confronted by the Unthinking Housewife, all I can think is, “This bitch right here.”
Because REALLY. A giant fricking storm just hit NYC, and all she can think is, “these people look unhappy, must be their drab clothes.” SERIOUSLY?
Someone call Stacy and Clinton, it’s a fashion emergency!
Dang! Such a naked and powerful need she has to feel superior to someone, anyone. I would hate to live in her head. I really feel sorry for her.
As expected, my previous comment is caught in moderation for being link heavy (all safe links, I promise!). David, help?
Oh, lordy, the Thinking Housewife. In her honor, I’m going to change into some yoga pants and then go check out fivethirtyeight blog. A drably (ie, comfortably) dressed woman showing an interest in politics is surely the manifestation of all that is wrong with the U.S. today.
She’d have the vapors over tonight’s outfit–baggy cargo shorts, ratty t-shirt, and no bra.
I like how two men in her comments section are competitively posting pictures and putting each other’s fashion down in their most highfalutin language…
“I am second from the right, with my arm around my friend Bill and my girlfriend Rosie. Bill is the only person I know who wears Oxford-cloth button-down collars to go hiking! I call attention to the variety of color, but also to the smiles.I call attention to the variety of color, but also to the smiles.”
“No credit is to be given to the sartorial pronouncements of a man who does not avoid an untucked shirt.”
“The year was 1977; I was twenty-three years old; it was a holiday; we were on a hike-and-picnic in Big Sycamore Canyon…. I used to go snorkel-diving in the reefs off Pt. Dume, Malibu and guess what, my shirt-tails were not tucked in then, either. Sheesh!”