titianblue, I think you’re right. Kitties have to know All The Things. Mads was sure there was some deep sinister reason I wouldn’t let her go down the hall this morning. My claim that Mum was asleep and could do without cats bashing at her door just didn’t cut it at all.
blahlistic, I’m sure that sign hangs over many a house! Even across the veil, too – Mr K and I have nineteen Furrinati overlords so far, over there, three of ’em blow-ins on that side.
Sometimes humans are cruel and committing grave miscatries by shutting cats away. When I make tuna sandwiches I have to shut Dracarys in the bathroom because she gets too excited. In order for Darrow to eat his share and me to prepare my sandwiches in peace, she has to be contained. She just starts throwing herself at the door. It’s hilarious.
I only figured out I wasn’t exactly woman between the ears about 2010 ish…I just knew I couldn’t wear something girly unless I wore something guyly to compensate, balance.
It’s really interesting how much people’s experiences can vary. I don’t have a problem with girly/womanly clothes, accessories, make-up and all that stuff – I actually like it. I often wear men’s clothes as well, but… There’s like NO particular CLOTHING or ACCESSORY that makes me feel that this is wrong for me because of gender. I can wear anything!
I still have this teensy bit of body dysphoria going on though, where I feel that a feminine bodyshape with thin little tooth pick arms, wasp waist and big boobs is sort of “wrong” for me. I have to be careful with how I express myself here, because if I merely say that I don’t wanna have a feminine-looking body, then people always jump to the conclusion that I’m on a weight-loss diet and try to diet away my curves, whereas I’m rather building my original feminine curves away while putting on more weight.
I have fairly wide hips too… I’m trying to make them look more narrow by comparison by pumping up everything else, particularly shoulders. 🙂
Googled Carpan Tunnel Syndrome since I didn’t know what it was… seems shitty, I’m sorry. 🙁
My sister got all the hips and I got all the chest. If you swapped us at the waist, you’d have one perfectly straight figure and one perfect hourglass figure. The straight figure would be really short and the hourglass would be tall, because the hips go with her long legs and the chest comes with a ridiculously long torso.
I buy lots of guy jeans, because appropriately waisted women’s jeans are really, really baggy at my hips and butt.
I was smallish in bust and hips most of my life. That really only changed with middle-age spread, and mostly with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, NAFLD. It creates a good deal of fat in front and makes a very droopy belly. I don’t like it much, but neither does it bother me – I’ve made all the changes I’m willing to do diet-wise, I can’t do vigorous exercise because asthma/stuffed knee/location, so it’s pretty much “tough shit” in that department. If it cuts years off my time here, fine, I have no wish to hang around for decades more. Getting fatter has given me bigger breasts, which I admit to being quite happy about, and I’ve never wanted to wear clinging clothes anyway, so it’s not a drama there.
pallygirl
10 years ago
I kind of got curves in my late 30s/early 40s, having been pretty much straight up and down (so needing to wear belts to hold on jeans, for example) for most of my life. With some stuff that’s happened over the past almost year, I’ve lost 11 kg and I’m back down to where I was weightwise almost 20 years ago. My father’s side tends to have women who are flat – no bust, hips, or bum. My issue with weighing more is that I always liked having a relatively androgynous figure, and developing a stereotypically woman’s body created body image problems for me. I’m happy where I am now weightwise.
I like hippy/boho/romantic girly clothes, but I could also live in jeans, tshirts and boots. I’ve had dreadlocks. I’m currently in the process of getting a relatively large back tattoo, and I’m stretching my bottom ear piercings.
I do get tired of the idea that there is “woman” clothing and “men” clothing. I just wish society was mature enough that people could wear what they damn well wanted, and that it was available in their size and affordable. But then I pick my friends for their witty repartee and how nice they are, not on how they conform to any societal expectations about what they “should” like or not like. 🙂
tl;dr I hope that all of us are wearing the clothes we want to wear.
Also, in 20-ish years, I am so buying a purple hat.
What I would like to understand is why is female clothing sizes so messed up ?
In the past few years I’ve been buying some stuff from the men’s sections, just to get plain comfy clothing, and it was mindblowing.
All you need to know is waist/leg/chest measurements!!!
No remembering what size you normally are, finding out whether this shop sizes larger or smaller than normal, trying things on and varying +/- 3 sizes between shops on the same day!!!!!
They have measurements for belts for trousers, not just S/M/L !!
You could crochet a purple hat! One with a gorgeous big brim.
pallygirl
10 years ago
I am so jealous about men’s clothing and their sizing logic and consistency. Clearly women have the superior maths skills because we keep having to do mental arithmetic between different brands – and even between seasons in the same bloody brand, because:
– sizing is completely different, e.g. US compared to EU compared to AU/NZ
– not just sizing but also the ratio of bust to waist to hip differs
– and some list clothing as the actual size, whereas others list it as “to fit” people with that sizing
Mere manly man brains cannot logic this type of complexity!
It’s weird, btw, how “curvaceous” tends to be used as a euphemism for “slightly fat”. You can be thin and curvaceous, and slightly fat and have a straight body. And if you’re thin and curvaceous to start with, you might become straighter by building up certain muscles – like the muscles at the side of your waist and your leg muscles, until your thighs and waist matches your hips in width, building up shoulders until they’re bigger than the hips, building up chest muscles might flatten out the boobs a bit and so on.
pallygirl
10 years ago
Oh yes. And women’s clothing manufacturers work with certain preconceived ideas such that if a woman has broad shoulders, she is also a D cup. When I was in my 20s, and buying shirts for work such that I could use my arms in front of me and not be held back by the material being too tight across the back, they just used to billow at the front of me.
Do men just have fewer body variations? Because their sizing seems to work fine.
Not to mention the idea that if you need bigger trousers, you must also be tall. I really do not like the accordion-leg look. Apart from anything else, it reminds me of Little Johnny Howard. ::hurl::
I grew up in the 80s and am a dorkty dork, therefore I decided I shall carry on with cuffing my trousers at the bottom, even though that’s very out of fashion.
Nyaaaah.
Pants need to be loose anyway.
If you can’t kick someone in the head in your pants, your pants are too tight. 😀
Flying Mouse
10 years ago
Those scarves are great, gilshalos. And it turns out the maker ships worldwide from her Etsy store…
Yeah, I haven’t dared check the shipping costs in case it’s only mildly extortionate.
(Uh, comment on distance between Aus and Scotland, not about shipper or artist)
Aitch
10 years ago
Hi everyone, another long time lurker using the personal thread to say hi, hope that’s ok 🙂
I’m 26, from Norway living in Germany, used to identify as a straight cis man (with some gender issues which I preferred to bury in my brain) but really have no idea anymore. Androgyny seems as good as anything else atm, but I’m too scared to change my identification in spaces I’ve already introduced myself in.
I began reading in late 2011 I think – related to getting more insight into the antifeminism of the Norwegian shooter, I felt that got missed among the anti-Muslim angle – and lurked around since. I like reading the feminist arguments, they seem to explain the world much better than any other social belief system I’ve come across, and I feel it’s important to be aware of the hate that less privileged people face.
Re the recent posts about clothes (well they were recent, I dunno when moderation will let through my post 🙂 ); I find white knit sweaters cute right now 🙂 And wish my body would fit them better. I’d throw in a link but don’t want the various monsters to eat me.
Oh, and I don’t really like animals. I hope y’all will be able to forgive this.
The personal misanimalism is fine, so long as you /whispers “pretend to like kitties”
or you could just go and make male penguins sit on hard chairs. 🙂
White knit sweaters are always awesome. 🙂
gillyrosebee
10 years ago
I’m feeling hella triggered today, so I am taking the day to do ALL THE THINGS, primarily those that happen away from the interwebs. Finishing some built-in bookcases, for one, and I went shopping for materials for the Regency-era corset that is part of the two period get-ups I have always wanted to have.
Which brings me to my question for all: Has anyone ever made a corset (specifically Regency or 1880s silhouette but any, really) and do you have suggestions, cautions or advice to offer?
gillyrosebee
10 years ago
Hey, pallygirl, nice to see you, glad you are sticking around!!
We Hunted The Mammoth
working way through article…upsetting but topical to here:
http://www.postandcourier.com/tilldeath/index.html
titianblue, I think you’re right. Kitties have to know All The Things. Mads was sure there was some deep sinister reason I wouldn’t let her go down the hall this morning. My claim that Mum was asleep and could do without cats bashing at her door just didn’t cut it at all.
blahlistic, I’m sure that sign hangs over many a house! Even across the veil, too – Mr K and I have nineteen Furrinati overlords so far, over there, three of ’em blow-ins on that side.
Sometimes humans are cruel and committing grave miscatries by shutting cats away. When I make tuna sandwiches I have to shut Dracarys in the bathroom because she gets too excited. In order for Darrow to eat his share and me to prepare my sandwiches in peace, she has to be contained. She just starts throwing herself at the door. It’s hilarious.
Oooh, you cruel, cruel mother, causing angst and disturbance to a poor little innocent kitty!
I s’pose that’s a miscatriage of justice.
It’s really interesting how much people’s experiences can vary. I don’t have a problem with girly/womanly clothes, accessories, make-up and all that stuff – I actually like it. I often wear men’s clothes as well, but… There’s like NO particular CLOTHING or ACCESSORY that makes me feel that this is wrong for me because of gender. I can wear anything!
I still have this teensy bit of body dysphoria going on though, where I feel that a feminine bodyshape with thin little tooth pick arms, wasp waist and big boobs is sort of “wrong” for me. I have to be careful with how I express myself here, because if I merely say that I don’t wanna have a feminine-looking body, then people always jump to the conclusion that I’m on a weight-loss diet and try to diet away my curves, whereas I’m rather building my original feminine curves away while putting on more weight.
I have a pretty androgynous body, save for the great big hips. I feel better about the body since figuring out I’m third-gender.
Though I also wish for a visit from the Bicep Fairy. :p
Cursed carpal tunnel issue, making me stick to the light weights.
I have fairly wide hips too… I’m trying to make them look more narrow by comparison by pumping up everything else, particularly shoulders. 🙂
Googled Carpan Tunnel Syndrome since I didn’t know what it was… seems shitty, I’m sorry. 🙁
No hips for me!
My sister got all the hips and I got all the chest. If you swapped us at the waist, you’d have one perfectly straight figure and one perfect hourglass figure. The straight figure would be really short and the hourglass would be tall, because the hips go with her long legs and the chest comes with a ridiculously long torso.
I buy lots of guy jeans, because appropriately waisted women’s jeans are really, really baggy at my hips and butt.
I was smallish in bust and hips most of my life. That really only changed with middle-age spread, and mostly with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, NAFLD. It creates a good deal of fat in front and makes a very droopy belly. I don’t like it much, but neither does it bother me – I’ve made all the changes I’m willing to do diet-wise, I can’t do vigorous exercise because asthma/stuffed knee/location, so it’s pretty much “tough shit” in that department. If it cuts years off my time here, fine, I have no wish to hang around for decades more. Getting fatter has given me bigger breasts, which I admit to being quite happy about, and I’ve never wanted to wear clinging clothes anyway, so it’s not a drama there.
I kind of got curves in my late 30s/early 40s, having been pretty much straight up and down (so needing to wear belts to hold on jeans, for example) for most of my life. With some stuff that’s happened over the past almost year, I’ve lost 11 kg and I’m back down to where I was weightwise almost 20 years ago. My father’s side tends to have women who are flat – no bust, hips, or bum. My issue with weighing more is that I always liked having a relatively androgynous figure, and developing a stereotypically woman’s body created body image problems for me. I’m happy where I am now weightwise.
I like hippy/boho/romantic girly clothes, but I could also live in jeans, tshirts and boots. I’ve had dreadlocks. I’m currently in the process of getting a relatively large back tattoo, and I’m stretching my bottom ear piercings.
I do get tired of the idea that there is “woman” clothing and “men” clothing. I just wish society was mature enough that people could wear what they damn well wanted, and that it was available in their size and affordable. But then I pick my friends for their witty repartee and how nice they are, not on how they conform to any societal expectations about what they “should” like or not like. 🙂
tl;dr I hope that all of us are wearing the clothes we want to wear.
Also, in 20-ish years, I am so buying a purple hat.
What I would like to understand is why is female clothing sizes so messed up ?
In the past few years I’ve been buying some stuff from the men’s sections, just to get plain comfy clothing, and it was mindblowing.
All you need to know is waist/leg/chest measurements!!!
No remembering what size you normally are, finding out whether this shop sizes larger or smaller than normal, trying things on and varying +/- 3 sizes between shops on the same day!!!!!
They have measurements for belts for trousers, not just S/M/L !!
You could crochet a purple hat! One with a gorgeous big brim.
I am so jealous about men’s clothing and their sizing logic and consistency. Clearly women have the superior maths skills because we keep having to do mental arithmetic between different brands – and even between seasons in the same bloody brand, because:
– sizing is completely different, e.g. US compared to EU compared to AU/NZ
– not just sizing but also the ratio of bust to waist to hip differs
– and some list clothing as the actual size, whereas others list it as “to fit” people with that sizing
Mere manly man brains cannot logic this type of complexity!
Mmmm crocheted purple hat…..
It’s weird, btw, how “curvaceous” tends to be used as a euphemism for “slightly fat”. You can be thin and curvaceous, and slightly fat and have a straight body. And if you’re thin and curvaceous to start with, you might become straighter by building up certain muscles – like the muscles at the side of your waist and your leg muscles, until your thighs and waist matches your hips in width, building up shoulders until they’re bigger than the hips, building up chest muscles might flatten out the boobs a bit and so on.
Oh yes. And women’s clothing manufacturers work with certain preconceived ideas such that if a woman has broad shoulders, she is also a D cup. When I was in my 20s, and buying shirts for work such that I could use my arms in front of me and not be held back by the material being too tight across the back, they just used to billow at the front of me.
Do men just have fewer body variations? Because their sizing seems to work fine.
Not to mention the idea that if you need bigger trousers, you must also be tall. I really do not like the accordion-leg look. Apart from anything else, it reminds me of Little Johnny Howard. ::hurl::
On a brighter clothing note, have you seen these Kitteh and others down South ?
http://www.boredpanda.com/bird-wing-scarves-shovava-roza-khamitova/
I grew up in the 80s and am a dorkty dork, therefore I decided I shall carry on with cuffing my trousers at the bottom, even though that’s very out of fashion.
Nyaaaah.
Pants need to be loose anyway.
If you can’t kick someone in the head in your pants, your pants are too tight. 😀
Those scarves are great, gilshalos. And it turns out the maker ships worldwide from her Etsy store…
gilshalos ,
Those are gorgeous!
Yeah, I haven’t dared check the shipping costs in case it’s only mildly extortionate.
(Uh, comment on distance between Aus and Scotland, not about shipper or artist)
Hi everyone, another long time lurker using the personal thread to say hi, hope that’s ok 🙂
I’m 26, from Norway living in Germany, used to identify as a straight cis man (with some gender issues which I preferred to bury in my brain) but really have no idea anymore. Androgyny seems as good as anything else atm, but I’m too scared to change my identification in spaces I’ve already introduced myself in.
I began reading in late 2011 I think – related to getting more insight into the antifeminism of the Norwegian shooter, I felt that got missed among the anti-Muslim angle – and lurked around since. I like reading the feminist arguments, they seem to explain the world much better than any other social belief system I’ve come across, and I feel it’s important to be aware of the hate that less privileged people face.
Re the recent posts about clothes (well they were recent, I dunno when moderation will let through my post 🙂 ); I find white knit sweaters cute right now 🙂 And wish my body would fit them better. I’d throw in a link but don’t want the various monsters to eat me.
Oh, and I don’t really like animals. I hope y’all will be able to forgive this.
Hi Aitch, for the first time ever I get to be the one to welcome someone with the welcome package: http://artistryforfeminismandkittens.wordpress.com/the-official-man-boobz-complimentary-welcome-package/
The personal misanimalism is fine, so long as you /whispers “pretend to like kitties”
or you could just go and make male penguins sit on hard chairs. 🙂
White knit sweaters are always awesome. 🙂
I’m feeling hella triggered today, so I am taking the day to do ALL THE THINGS, primarily those that happen away from the interwebs. Finishing some built-in bookcases, for one, and I went shopping for materials for the Regency-era corset that is part of the two period get-ups I have always wanted to have.
Which brings me to my question for all: Has anyone ever made a corset (specifically Regency or 1880s silhouette but any, really) and do you have suggestions, cautions or advice to offer?
Hey, pallygirl, nice to see you, glad you are sticking around!!