Getting dressed

Old age doesn’t bring many perks, but there’s one I enjoy every morning: getting dressed. I’m retired and home a lot, so I can wear whatever I like. Sweatshirt, jeans, warm socks, sturdy shoes, and I’m good to go. I’ll be warm and comfortable and can move about easily all day. It seems like such a small thing, dressing for comfort, but for women, it’s actually a hard-won perk. Getting dressed didn’t used to be like this.

I remember what it was like getting dressed as a young girl in the fifties. Scratchy crinolines. Very full gathered or pleated skirts that wrinkled when you sat on them. You couldn’t run or climb in those skirts, and risk flashing your underwear. Blouses that buttoned in the back, so you couldn’t put them on yourself. Garter belts! You had to hook your nylons to straps hanging down from the belt, leaving the tops of your legs bare. Not fun when you were walking home from school in February. We didn’t realize we were just in training for the high heels and miniskirts to come.

Males dress for comfort, and females dress for looks. You’d think we were past this by now, but are we? At least little girls can wear pants these days, but otherwise the gender stereotyping is still ferocious. Boys can wear any colour, but girls have to wear pink. On boys’ T-shirts the images are dinosaurs and superheroes, all about action and power. On girls’ T-shirts it’s kittens and bunnies, all about cuteness and passivity. And what’s waiting for them when they grow up? Take a look at the pictures of celebrities from the Oscars. The men are covered from neck to toe, and the women have body parts falling out all over the place. We haven’t come such a long way, baby.