Never underestimate the ability of Men’s Rights Activists to get worked up over the most ridiculous nonsense.
I found the meme above on the Men’s Rights Australia Facebook page, accompanied by this explanation:
Women are allowed to wear whatever they like to work, including sleeveless tops, short skirts, and even thongs. Yet if a man were to wear sleeveless tops, shorts, or thongs you can be sure he’d be sent home from work or even fired. In summer men have to suffer in the heat wearing trousers, long sleeve shirts, and tie. Feminists claim they also care about inequalities facing men so why aren’t they fighting against this? -ms
YEAH FEMINISTS WHY AREN’T YOU FIGHTING AGAINST THIS TERRIBLE INJUSTICE, WOMEN NEVER HAVE TO WEAR ANYTHING UNCOMFORTABLE OR AWKWARD AT WORK 0h wait
Note: I should point out that the “thongs” being referenced aren’t the ones that ride up your butt, but rather are the ones you wear on your feet and that are also called flip flops, at least here in the US.
BONUS MEME: This isn’t a Men’s Rights meme, obviously, but it literally made me laugh out loud.
Apparently the best way to fight communism is to do nothing while the oceans rise. I guess the Communists have their secret bases on the Marshall Islands?
I’m reminded of this legendary toilet paper ad.
A spectre is haunting the bathroom — the spectre of really really scratchy toilet paper.
I’m engaged in a continual conversation with my new boss, who’s not an idiot and on the whole is pretty open and progressive, about the fact that his personal idea of what specific items of women’s clothes are ‘businesslike’ and ‘professional’ and what aren’t isn’t a universal standard. I sent him this to help him understand the kinds of things women need to think about when putting on clothes in the morning:
http://www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/driess/Readings_files/Marked%20Women.pdf
Also re office A/C, I only found out last year that it is in fact true that building temperatures are set for ‘normal people’, and guess who those are:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/08/03/your-office-thermostat-is-set-for-mens-comfort-heres-the-scientific-proof/
I should have included this one, too:
http://lechateau.scene7.com/is/image/LeChateau/331113_653_1_469x587.jpg
That’s a short, sleeveless dress that wouldn’t be appropriate for my office. Is it possible, Great Understander of Dress Codes and Reader of Female Minds, that there are concerns other than hemline and sleeve length that might determine what women are permitted to wear in different situations?
I grabbed all of these from Le Chateau, by the way, which is my absolute favourite place in the world to get dresses. I don’t know if they operate outside of Canada…
@ Terrabeau I . .. wow .. . I. I know Australian offices tend to dress more formally than they do in the US, or they did 6 years ago when I lived there, but I can’t imagine any of the guys I worked with spending that on a shirt, with or without sleeves. I mean more power to them if they want to, but using a sample size of my husband he won’t pay more than US$40 for what he calls a “nice” shirt & he’ll only shop at Sams’ Club for them.
EJ, do you tuck your mane into your suit, or fluff it out over the shoulders?
When I was 18 we had a special event at work and my boss asked my to dress nice (it was data wntry so we just wore jeans and stuff). On my mom’s advice, I wore a skirt. I hate skirts, mind you. My boss looked at me and said “women know what they’re doing when you dress like that.” I was so creeped out and mortified.
Im trans, so when I cut my hair and started dreasing like a dude – I found out that it was much harder to get hired that way. So I had to switch back to looking more like someone who is at least trying to pretend to be a cis woman. Because I need to eat. Currently Ove been told not to cut my hair too short specifically because Im female.
If my mom went into work in anything less than make up and heels and all that, people would have a problem with it. If a woman like Hillary Clinton (who I dislike due to her rape apologia but nevermind that) wore what men wore, she would be ridiculed & mistreated. Yet women are still mistreated for wearing what men insist we wear. Its a no-win situation. & for women, the consequence is sexual harassment being excused.
but men are so oppressed.
Yeah, thong thing confuses me until you clarified it. Cultural differences; it’s why you’ll get weird stares over there for calling something a fanny pack.
@guest
that article was great.
“There is no unmarked woman.”
yup. no matter what women wear, they are “marked” as women – as lesser, as different.
@Emmy:
I wear my mane cut quite short so it usually doesn’t get in the way. I used to have it shoulder-length, which was great fun but required too much maintenance.
@kale:
Hugs. Gender binaries and gender conformity can fuck right off, as can asshats policing what women wear.
Kale, you totally reminded me of my mom’s stories of working in a “man’s” corporate job in the 80s, and how important it was to both look feminine, because that’s what women do, but also not too feminine, because then you’re a silly girl and don’t deserve any respect. You don’t want to be mistaken for one of the secretaries, do you??*
Of course, she’s cis, so she didn’t have to deal with that whole element :-/
*As the modern equivalent of a secretary, by the way, here’s a big fuck you to anyone who has ever said anything like that.
@EJ
do you ever wear a marshmellow suit?
(for those who dont get the reference, look up Lafcadio)
Now I want to see a lion in a suit.
@guest, great article. I’ll be thinking about that for a while.
This is just so typical of men’s rights “activists”. They only bring up their issues in order to accuse feminists of being hypocrites for not championing those causes (or not championing them visibly enough).
It’s like, dude, you don’t need feminists to do this advocacy for you. You can absolutely argue for less formal dress codes for men. I encourage you to do activism on this front.
But they don’t really care about that, they care about sticking it to feminists.
If they actually tried to do any activism around changing dress codes for men, they might be surprised at the level of support they’d get from women.
I’m curious now as to what the Australians call the underwear then?
(Reminds me of my similar confusion over the UK and US versions of ‘tank top’)
Wait, does that mean I’m being repressed because I have to wear pants and closed toe shoes to the lab? Damn you OSHA!
Is a UK tank top a top with a picture of a tank on it?
@Viscaria
I invite UK Mammotheers to correct me, but as I understand it, the garment called a vest in the States is called a tank top across the pond, and vice versa.
@Alan
G-string, I assume.
See it sucks that men have to sweat in a full suit in summer, but they also don’t have to buy literally 3 different shirts just to keep warm through the A/C because women’s work clothes are made of gauze and hope.
Also pockets, I don’t care how uncomfortable your tie is, you have pockets and I don’t and you probably have no idea how much of a pain in the ass that can be.
Also I mean, I guess the idea of having more clothing choices is kind of nice, but it also means that I have to go through the effort of building an outfit every morning, rather than being able to get away with wearing literally the same clothes every day if I seriously wanted to.
I am inclined to ask why THEY aren’t doing anything about it, feminists are a little busy pushing back against school dress codes that sexualize underage girls and enforce the idea that boys can’t control themselves in the presence of bra straps.
I seem to recall that feminists and progressives have actively campaigned against oppressive male dress codes in schools. But if adult men in a voluntary situation have an issue, they should be able to self-advocate.
That being said, I live in a desert where the summer temperatures can get pretty extreme. My advice to these guys:
The key to staying cool is keeping the sun off your skin and dressing in light, breathable material and a hat. You are better off with full coverage than nothing. There is a practical reason traditional desert garb usually covers the entire body and head. Exposing skin in the summer will not help you cool down, but it does invite sunburn. Keep those rads away.
http://www.monkeymods.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/You-want-a-harsh-radiation-storm-THIS-is-a-harsh-radiation-storm.-3.jpg
Health PSA:
Seriously, to anyone who exposes a lot of skin in the summer, you need to be covering up with SPF 50. Melanoma is the most common form of cancer under 40 and it has been rising dramatically among young adults, mainly due to tanning beds, but also partly because of kids thinking they’re too cool for sunscreen.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120402093158.htm
@ viscaria
Ooh, it would be so cool if it was.
I wonder if there is some connection with tankers. Not sure why they’d want to wear a sleeveless jumper with a stripey pattern in battle, but they are a weird lot.
(I only recently found out bomber jackets were so called because they were actually worn by bomber crews)
Men suffer wearing jackets in the summer! No mention of women having to wear cocktail dresses to formal events in the evening.
@ dalillama
This is a tank top over here:
http://www.blue17.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/A-lovely-Fair-Isle-tank-top.jpg
@ A Space Alpaca
Oh my yes. Partner has actually made me several skirts with pockets recently, which are very handy.
I’ve seen a couple stories about male politicians wearing the same suit for months on end, to make a point about how the media always hounds female politicians about their clothes.
@ Alan Robertshaw
I used to think so (keeping in mind that in the U.S. the term refers to a sleeveless undershirt), on account of the heat inside of one, but it turns out the term is derived from ‘tank suit’, a one piece swimming suit for swimming in a tank, or a pool as we now say.
ETA:Yes, that’s what we in the States would call a vest, or sweater vest.
This is what Yanks mean
(I don’t know how to post images here apparently)
@Viscaria – I’m an admin asst and had to deal with some cracks about being a secretary, too. I always tell the jokers that the word literally means “keeper of secrets” and they do realize that I’m the one who controls access to the vacation calendar and whether their time cards get into the system, right? The jokes always stop after that.
Never annoy an assistant. All of your business flights will suddenly be routed through active war zones and the thermostat in your office will never work in your favor again (smart admins make strategic alliances with the facitilies crew).
And Le Chateau is still in business? Awesome! As a teenager in 1980’s New England, I loved that store. So they used to operate outside of Canada, but no idea if that’s still the case.
This is a tank top in England:
http://www.jiffypromos.com/assets/galleries/52/tank-top.jpg
This is a tank top in Russia:
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/all_images/Productspotlight/Soviets/SBX30-63.jpg