Monday, August 04, 2008

Who Wears The Trousers ?


"Is that a Sari ?" " No its a Sarong .." " I `m Sari I was Sarong "( Groucho Marx)
Where Newmania leads so Michael Gove shall follow, and sure enough after my post on the dissonance between the Loaded and the Harperson world, there he is blaming Lads mags for the rampaging misogyny . My theory is that lap dancing and the porn pandemic are the reverse side of the coin, to the legal attack on men. Women are positively discriminated for in the workplace while divorce courts continue to assume their pre-eminence as child rearers .They remain determined not to be the bread winner ,however, and ruthlessly control domestic life by means of byzantine formulas applying to proper ironing and vacuuming . There is no greater incidence of house-husbands than 30 years ago and so we have a glaring asymmetry .While women wish to take on certain male roles men will not return the favour and women do not want them to.
Cruising the low sleazy demi-monde of G2 today I came across a sensible season snippet that summed it up. Mesdames et Messieurs meet and greet “Hommes En Jupe”,
“Dominique Moreau is the president of Hommes en Jupe (Men in Skirts), an association of about 30 men in Poitiers, western France, who don skirts to go about their everyday lives. For them, getting dressed in the morning is less about style and more about political substance: they are fighting to reclaim an item of clothing last worn by Frenchmen more than 500 years ago…….We're fighting against prejudice and cliches," says Moreau, a 39-year-old civil servant ,who quotes Virginia Woolf as a gender-bending inspiration. "Women fought for trousers; we're doing the same with the skirt."
Now theres your problem . Women wearing trousers , why not ? Liberating , empowering ,sexy in a new egalitarian way. Men in skirts , I don’t think so , even in effeminate France there are only thirty of them ,and a solitary British member, Tim Stannard,who says he has faced a hostile reaction. No shit Tim.
Personally I don’t care what legislation Hatty the eviscerator passes I am not wearing a dress or a Sarong and especially not a 'Jupe '

22 comments:

Philipa said...

That's because women are pre-eminent as child rearers on the whole.

And... oh you do come out with some rubbish, Newms. I think you'd look peachy in a wrap-around, with heels ;-)

asquith said...

I think there's something to be said for the way some Asians dress. Say what you like, a girl wearing a salwar kameez is a lot more attractive than a chav. I don't think some bint swigging alcopops and shouting abuse at people is what the suffragettes threw themselves under horses for. I know a girl who wears Indian clothes and she does it really well...

What I like best is an independent-minded, intelligent sort of girl who can afford to dress and act modestly because she knows her own worth and feels totally secure in her skin, and she can take total control without me minding or even noticing :)

I can't bear the vapid ones who "read" celebrity magazines, watch Big Brother, and have no intellectual interests, without even being ashamed of it. The ideal woman is into The Independent, Aldous Huxley and Elvis Costello :)

She should also give me a run for my money, if possible being slightly more intelligent than me so that I can really learn from her. And she has to let her hair down, in frequent lovin' and the occasional almighty drinking session.

Sorry to have gone on :D

asquith said...

PS- I don't like veils or headscarves, though. I think there's no need for them. I know a lot of women wear them to avoid unwelcome male attention, but the answer to that is to stop the men being cunts, rather than for women to isolate themselves.

Newmania said...

That's because women are pre-eminent as child rearers on the whole.

I agree with that but can you have it both ways ?

Newmania said...

Yes yes Asquith ... well while you are swapping Guardian articles with an intelligent sober and serious girl who dresses modestly others will be getting all the fun.
My ideal woman is smart , yes , modest? Don`t care , but a bright eye and a saucy look are essential as well.( Big bazoomas don't hurt either)

You Liberals have always had a problem with malesness

Philipa said...

Well of course you can have it both ways, but that is illegal in some southern states.

asquith said: "What I like best is an independent-minded, intelligent sort of girl who can afford to dress and act modestly because she knows her own worth and feels totally secure in her skin"
You are assuming a lot based on clothing. What about the 'sort of girl' who can afford to dress however she wants (like Jordan maybe) yet is an "is an independent-minded, intelligent sort of girl" who "knows her own worth and feels totally secure in her skin" that simply ENJOYS wearing short skirts, showing her midriff etc. laughing a lot and being joyously loud? No doubt you would make negative assumptions of her intelligence and character based on the clothes she wore that day.

Men. The little dears.

PS: I feel it wise to point out, patiently, that Jordon was used as an example to a general point.

Newmania said...

ENJOYS wearing short skirts, showing her midriff etc. laughing a lot and being joyously loud?


I like the way you have caught the sexist assumptions in Asquiths opinions on women Phillipa. he can`t help it( He`s working class you know )

lilith said...

I have to agree with you style instinct that you would not look good in a sarong. Stick to slacks and a beige canvas jacket, perhaps with some blue loafers?

My Elby is a house husband, but not because he's been castrated by me. He is a house husband because he a) can't get part time work and b) he is knackered after bringing up four kids and running a household when interest rates were 15%, and caring for a sick mum for 15 years longer than the doctors predicted he would need to (no sisters to do it for him, you see.)

lilith said...

I know that I consider myself a feminist Newmsy but I have to say that Beckham looked HOT in a sarong, as did all the young waiters in Bali...why do you want all these roles and rules? Surely "do what you will and harm no one" is enough?

Newmania said...

Lillith I have always suspected that you enjoy roles in the right context. My only objection is that the law is being changed on the basis that men will acclimatise to being women. I do not think they will and I doubt women want them to .
Perhaps the law should respect the wishes of the majority and stop forcing women into the workplace by discriminating against men.
Furthermore I am pretty damn cool and dress in 70s retro Jacket from Camden , Army shoes an amber pendant Jeans and a selection of groovy shirts .Think Johny Boy in Mean Streets and I still play a pretty excellent soulful organ.

Cool yes . Girl no.

'My Elby is a house husband, but not because he's been castrated by me...'
Yeah right , he gets them back at the end of term if he behaves himself


ASQUITH I cannot get into your blog and I am curious to know what dreamy nonsense you may have invented . How is it done ? Hope you pick this up I would like to have a look

Elby the Beserk said...

You know, the pompous twat of my youth, in the 50s and early 60s used to wear cavalry twills and a cravat.

And that's how I shall think of you, Newmania, given that you are a throwback to those days.

Sad, men who feel threatened by women, aren't they?

And I am happy to share my balls with Lilith. She makes them feel gorgeous :-)

Newmania said...

Sad, men who feel threatened by women, aren't they?

Ow that was really cruel , I am going to cry all afternoon while I do the ironing now

Elby the Beserk said...

Never mind. Sweet of you to play Judy to my Punch, tho'.

Elby the Beserk said...

Oh, by the way Newmania - any typesetter will tell you that over 60 characters per line and people switch off.

Regardless of content (or lack thereof).

Toodle-pip, that's enough of this voyage into a dim and distant past.

Anonymous said...

What clothes? Who gives a flying fig?

Personally, I prefer tall, leptosomatically skinny men who wear nothing whatsoever when they roll around muddy bluebell woods, sit hunched upon secret hillsides or dive headlong into churchyard nettle patches...

Newmania said...

Toodle-pip, that's enough of this voyage into a dim and distant past.

..and off he goes with happy feeling of superiority to sustain him as his does the dusting .My work is done , poor sod .

Flo does this word " leptosomatically" exist? I would be skinny if I weren`t a little under tall for my weight.

Anonymous said...

Does it exist? Oh, abso-bloody-lutely!

A Leptosomatic somatotype is characterised by loooooooooooooong legs, arms and body (though not head), leptodactylously loooooooong fingers, feet and toes, slim wrists and, typically, no chest, or a sort of caved in chest.

Perfick!

Philipa said...

Ooh not my type at all, Flo. We could share a flat ;-)

Anonymous said...

Philipa said...
Ooh not my type at all, Flo. We could share a flat ;-)



You're on, Philipa! Sex and the city anyone?

I can't tell you why you mentioning a flat is a weird coincidence right now, P, but will in a few days or so.

Newmania said...

Well don`t mind me ,( attractively rounded)

Philipa said...

OK we won't. You wouldn't mind him round would you Flo?

Anonymous said...

I think it is quite wrong to objectify women like you do Mr Newman. You would never catch me doing a thing like that....

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