From "Hefty Sweaters for Heavy Times/Thick, woolly and oversize knitwear has for some become a form of soft armor" (NYT).
Sweaters! This time, they're political.
Last time around, the political knitwear was the pussy hat, and you had to go to a big protest. This time, the knitwear is much larger, and you don't have to go anyplace... other than deeply inside it.
Additional reading: "Goodbye, 'Resistance.' The Era of Hyperpolitics Is Over. Where has the anti-Trump energy gone?" (NYT).
["Hyperpolitics] denotes the period between the mid-2010s and the early 2020s, when politics engorged much of the public discourse.
If you're too engorged, try wearing a oversize sweater.
This was the moment of all-encompassing, high-stakes political stances, in which people looked out to see good always fighting evil — the far right taking up its tiki torches or antifa roving the streets — and culture turned into a perpetual tinderbox. It was, at times, a performance art, and notably mimetic. Its MAGA caps and pussy hats belonged to the same lineage of letting absolute strangers know exactly what your values are....
Now, with a big enough sweater, no one knows anything about you at all.
Democrats do not seem as anguished or animated by this Trump Restoration as they were by his ascension.... Border policies that were decried as fascistic in Trump’s first term are gradually being embraced, or at least no longer resisted. The old discourse around the “normalization” of Trump is dead....
[T]he sense that the political was entirely personal, that performing politics was vital, seems to be fading. We are exiting the era of hyperpolitics....
ADDED: The word "mimetic" jumped out at me. I went wandering, and I stumbled across "Why Your Desires Are Fake":
AND: Are oversize sweaters really so distinctively unsexy? When I think of a big sweater, I think of Ann-Margret:
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75 comments:
"Hefty Sweaters for Heavy Times [and Hefty Boobs]"
>being swaddled in a beautiful knit that completely covers you, not being available as a sex object, makes women feel better,' said Ms. Henning<
Cool! I bet those things come off really easily!
Bodily autonomy is conceived with choice, which is something misunderstood in modern religion with prehistoric roots.
A video camera is given to an African tribe, what papers might be written about the experiment? One guess, from a feminist,
Marie Desséchée: The Male Gaze in Tribal Cinema
Where has the anti-Trump energy gone?
Joe Biden, Karen Bass, and the rest of the Democrats showed us its folly.
Those soft and fuzzy sweaters
Too magical to touch
Go the Martha Argerich route, frumpy.
LOL!
"At a time when women in America have lost rights to their bodily autonomy"
🙄
The trouble with Anti-Trumpism, the assumption that Trump is always wrong, is the corollary that the opposite, no matter how ludicrous, is true.
Weezer’s “Undone (The Sweater Song)” gonna make a comeback
"Wear the mask. Take the shot. Or else." -- Bodily Autonomists.
This is soft porn to protect the naive. Hard porn emphasizes function that devalues dignity. The middle ground provides aesthetic cover.
Nothing sexier than an oversize sweater. Mmm cuddly.
The Sweater as Hairshirt
'It’s about dressing on your own terms. The male gaze is not even a consideration.'
How odd that women don't know they can dress without considering the "male gaze"? But then young women need the male gaze in their competition with other women. They even gave up their cosets in the 1920s for male attention.
"The flappers wore thin dresses, short-sleeved and occasionally (in the evening) sleeveless; some of the wilder young things rolled their stockings below their knees, revealing to the shocked eyes of virtue a fleeting glance of shin-bones and knee-cap; and many of them were visibly using cosmetics. "The intoxication of rouge," earnestly explained Dorothy Speare in Dancers in the Dark, "is an insidious vintage known to more girls than mere man can ever believe." Useless for frantic parents to insist that no lady did such things; the answer was that the daughters of ladies were doing it, and even retouching their masterpieces in public. Some of them, furthermore, were abandoning their corsets. "The men won't dance with you if you wear a corset," they were quoted as saying."
--‘Only Yesterday An Informal History Of The Nineteen Twenties’, Frederick Lewis Allen (1931)
It is the base of dating when it went large:
"In the 1930s, a sociologist gave the competitive system a name: the dating and rating complex. His study of a college campus revealed that the system was based on notions of popularity. To be popular, men needed outward, material signs: an automobile, the right clothing, and money. Women's popularity depended on building and maintaining a reputation for popularity. They had to be seen with many popular men in the right places, indignantly turn down requests for dates made at the "last minute," which could be weeks in advance, and cultivate the impression that they were greatly in demand"
--From Front Porch to Back Seat: A History of the Date, Beth Bailey, 2004, Magazine of History, Vol. 18, No. 4
Madame Tilevitz, the Sex Therapist, had a bad cold
At a time when women in America have lost rights to their bodily autonomy ...
As Charlie Brown would say, "Aaaaaaaarrrgh!"
I did misread the headline as "Mr. Tilevitz, the Sex Therapist said that a certain confidence can be gained by wearing generously sized sneakers," so thanks for the chuckle.
"...sweaters that 'obfuscate the body' can also serve as a sort of armor... The male gaze is not even a consideration."
And I'm giving you a longing look, Everyday I write the book
Don't tell me you don't know what love is
When you're old enough to know better
When you find strange hands in your sweater
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I'm a man with a mission on two or three editions
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday I write the book
Chapter One: We didn't really get along
Chapter Two: I think I fell in love with you
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four
Five and Six.
And I'm giving you a longing look
The way you walk
The way you talk and try to kiss me
And laugh in four or five paragraphs.
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks.
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday I write the book
Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel.
The 'Resistance' has decided to become mushy and cuddly. Rope a dope for feminists. toxic masculinity sends females into hibernation this winter. Summer resistance will be ? large tees?
Difficult to keep up with the changing cultural fads.
Which is the sole pro-choice justification: to have the same autonomy as men, to rectify the unfairness of biology, justifies homicide.
Of course, pregnancy isn't the only way to lose autonomy; e.g. having to care for someone who has suffered a traumatic brain injury is a considerable loss of autonomy that could last decades.
Why doesn't that justify homicide?
Why do women get a special carve-out?
"At a time when women in America have lost rights to their bodily autonomy, "
Community Note: Women in some states have lost the specific right to obtain an abortion within the geographical boundaries of that state during the latter stages of their pregnancies. Women in America have not lost any other rights, and the present age is in no way typified by a loss of bodily autonomy on the part of American women.
Speaking of Karen Bass, if it turns out that if your house burned down but at least you owned a boat you could sleep aboard , not so fast. You need a special permit to spend more than / nights aboard.
'It’s about dressing on your own terms. The male gaze is not even a consideration.'
If you go with the "resting bitch face" approach like the models in the article, it won't matter what you wear.
Just sayin'.
The therapist is a musical instrument that you play without touching it
Male gaze. Laughable. I guess the Angie Dickinson line "I dress for women. I undress for men" doesn't apply.
I am woman hear me roar. Girl power - we need women Presidents and CEOs and Generals. But "oh no, some man might gaze upon me". LOL.
BTW, I love my sweaters. Drives my wife crazy, she gets tired of seeing me wear the same thing. Need to get another Cardigan Wool sweater, the old one is 20 years old.
I thought the problem was that women were invisible.
""Ms. Tilevitz, the sex therapist..."
Found poetry.
I dunno. Ann Margret , Marilyn Monroe and Mamie Van Doren all did a lot for the sweaters they wore.
LS/MFT
This passes for NYT-caliber news: big sweaters are progressive-liberal armor for women. Ok, that's ridiculous.
Some of those sweaters have sleeves just begging to get dragged across a plate of spaghetti.
"At a time when women in America have lost rights to their bodily autonomy,"
Like? Give us a really good example.
Abortion is still legal in most states. In CO - it's hyper legal up until birth.
Elective abortion is legal in every state. The mosr humane restrictions coincide with homicide statutes. Planned parenthood is a hate crime with Loving.
Leftists out of gas- turn to more Maddow.
Finding rage in fake quotes... you can count on MSNBC to be your spirit guide.
A large potato sack accomplishes the same objective
Nice try ladies. When we see you in those baggy clothes, we simply imagine what you look like naked.
No one escapes artificial inference (AI), and, of course, Trans/portation Sexual Addoration (TSA).
The left are obsessed with emotional gimmicks. Rather amusing.
"At a time when women in America have lost rights to their bodily autonomy,"
Like at the local Blue State YMCA - where men are allowed in women's locker rooms - and they are also allowed to help your daughters get "undressed."
The Julie Jaman story used to be up on Youtube. The Google(D-Soros.Soviet) do all they can to hide all the things that do not line up with the leftist narratives. which also align with the normalize pedo movement.
So, strong women need to hide themselves in fancy burlap sacks ,because___________, fill in the blank. So strong. Good grief. A presumed male gaze turns you all into sniveling cowards. Geez.
Could be a "cultural appropriation" case.
Internet: "As you might have guessed, sweater comes from sweat—the earliest sweaters were worn by rowers and were intended "to produce sweating and reduce weight.""
Rowers: "Rowers have strong, muscular bodies that use nearly every muscle group in the body. They tend to be tall with long limbs and a tall sitting height. "
Problem with the case is that Trump has not yet appointed a new Minister of Culture that would be... amenable to the case. Should a panel deem necessary to bring one.
Rh is on a roll. 😏
I didn't even get to the "click here" before I felt moved to comment. Here I go: I think this is BS. The main reason - in my experience as a woman and among other women, including my definitely Gen Z "it's not about the male gaze" daughter - that women sometimes like oversized clothes is because it makes us feel little and under the protection of big strong men. Extra points if the oversized article of clothing is in fact your boyfriend's or husband's.
I'm not saying women NEVER use clothes as camouflage (in the sense of hiding ourselves, not in the sense of distracting from features we don't like about ourselves, though we do that too of course). But a(n apparently) tiny woman in a big sweater, football jersey, flannel shirt - these are like, "See, I have a big man, and our relationship is such that I can claim his clothes, and by the way, you can't touch this."
That was an exceptionally well constructed and wide ranging post. I live in a los angeles neighborhood that is "walkable", and has a wide range of age groups and ethnicities. I walk a few miles a day. Some people, particularly women under 30, never stopped wearing masks. Now, with the wildfires, many people, especially women, are masking. (In my neighborhood, despite the occasional smell of wildfire smoke, the measured air quality is consistently good) There seems to be a high degree of anxiety for young women associated with presenting their faces to the world, and to breathing unfiltered air. I've also noticed that fewer women are going the body positive yoga pants route lately. (Maybe time to think about selling the Lulemon stock). It feels like the ending of an era, as people cope with the fact that their ideas failed, and they now fear their own visibility. They are saying, "please, let me just be invisible. Your judging of me upsets me for reasons I don't want to think about."
Now that is a sentiment the NYT won't write about. They instead have to frame it as wicked men with their bad bad male gaze. (Don't look at me there. No not there, there. Yes, that's the place you should never look at.)
P.S. I'm not little - I'm tall and of good hearty farm stock, as we like to say. And my husband is relatively fine-boned for a man and of average height. But wearing his shirts still makes me feel pleasantly vulnerable, what with the shoulders and the chest and all.
That Ann Margaret video was a lovely musical interlude on a Sunday.
This is a perspective one can take on the way Muslim women dress.
I spent some time in the Middle East and it occurred to me, perhaps being covered except in the presence of family might liberate those women from the constant judgement and ranking women are subject to in the west. Perhaps it also liberates their husbands from being judged and ranked based on the relative beauty of their wives.
Ann Margaret demonstrates how a woman can hide herself from the male gaze within a comfy sweater.
Hefty sweaters, and tea, and couches, and afghans, and throw pillows...
Just set up a café with that called "It's Therapy" and watch the urban trust fund Lefty women pour in.
'You feel a little under attack and being swaddled in a beautiful knit that completely covers you, not being available as a sex object, makes women feel better,'
'It’s about dressing on your own terms. The male gaze is not even a consideration.'
And women are pretending they don't want those Handmaid's Tale frocks.
Burka and hijab for the win.
Cats..
"Her breasts are perfect, large, beautifully belled, ...." - detective novel
What the hell is belled? Not sure what perfection he has in mind. Authors should avoid sudden love scenes and read up on the phenomenology of eros. I suggest the appendix of that name to Levinas's "Totality and Infinity." Which does not mention breasts.
I find few things less sexy in a woman than the claim they live in Berkeley California. Even if they were wearing nothing at all; the idea of a naked woman, followed by, "in Berkeley California" will assure I have no sexual interest.
I get a feeling that a "sex therapist" doesn't get the broadest and most representative sample of the female population as clients.
Women are afraid of the male gaze? Sexism?
The female gaze? Transphobia?
Hefty, hefty. Wimpy, wimpy. While the former will remain viable with climate change, the latter can be used for insulation. Climate change is a first-order forcing of social dysphoria or vice versa.
Dear rhhardin,
I hope there was no interest to disparage Argerich. That is a thing up with which I shall not put. Sirrah!
A woman's breasts are like bells demanding to be rung, clanged? And then it gets psychotic. Perhaps on Mars or Uranus.
pacwest said...
"Nothing sexier than an oversize sweater. Mmm cuddly."
Doesn't go the other way, though. Not too many guys going for the David Byrne look in the '80s.
"At a time when women in America have lost rights to their bodily autonomy"
Damn. My remote control must need new batteries.
Lazarus said...
"I did misread the headline as 'Mr. Tilevitz, the Sex Therapist said that a certain confidence can be gained by wearing generously sized sneakers', so thanks for the chuckle."
In the late 90s, a customer gave me a pair of Air Jordans. Best pair of sneakers I ever had. But my size 11.5s were noticeably smaller than my dad's size 13 normal gym shoes.
Like many Gen X women, I wore huge, baggy sweaters throughout high school and college. It was definitely a trend at the time. 35 years ago today, I walked into my college apartment to discover the upstairs neighbors had dropped in for a visit, bringing their new roommate along. He looked at me in my oversized, red J Crew sweater and thought "wow, she's cute - and that's the ugliest sweater I've ever seen." The big red sweater didn't "hide me from the male gaze" - 29 years of marriage and two grown kids later, let me say Thank God for that.
And let me also say, these nutty women need to "touch grass".
Ibid
"With apologies to Tolstoy, I would say that all men come alike, but each woman arrives at orgasm in her own way"
so it's not all bad
Tell me your blog is designed to deter me from reading the Times without telling me your blog is designed to deter me from reading the Times.
Hefty Sweaters for Heavy Times/Thick, woolly and oversize knitwear has for some become a form of soft armor to cover your fat asses and muffin tops."
I just want to start calling them “jumpers” like they do in Merry Old
Let me guess, women wear baggy clothing because of the "male gaze" or perverts or rapists or whatever. This is wrong. Women dress this way because they don't want to be targets of other women's aggressions. And if their boss is female, watch out. I've seen female judges dress down female attorneys because of their (slutty) attire. So, please, stop blaming men for all of your problems.
"...Ann Margret , Marilyn Monroe and Mamie Van Doren all did a lot for the sweaters they wore. ...."
What I was thinking, they did a lot for whatever they wore - or didn't wear. That over-sized sweater is just making both of us hot.
You know what happened when my zaftig GF wore one of these sweaters last time we met, which do seem to be stylish right now? None of your business.
Love the Fred and Barney figurines. They remind me of one of my favorite episodes of the Flintstones.
My experience has been that it's much easier to slip a hand under a baggy sweater than it is under a tucked-in, form-fitting dress shirt or leotard top, or a zipped up jacket - but, what do I know about what women think?
Starting at $312. You don't pay that kind of money to be ignored.
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