a l'allure garconniere

outrageous comments made by rich white man vs. 1,127 deaths in bangladesh

lionza:

the disparity of internet attention between shitty comments made by a&f’s ceo and the garment factory disaster in bangladesh. human deaths in the context of extreme exploitation - less shocking, less rousing. 

thank you thank you thank you for saying this. i’ve been feeling like an angry curmudgeon about this over the past week, yelling at my computer screen. here’s an angry (franglais) comment i left on a friend’s post about the “shocking” statement made by the company’s ceo, which is being covered around the world:

FYI Je m’excuse mais je trouve ça surprenant que les gens ne savent pas déjà a quelle point cette companie n’aime rien qui n’est pas blanc, skinny, hétéro, préférablement “Homme.” En plus, they have sold awfully sexist racist t-shirts (whose slurs I won’t repeat) for decades, and issued unapologetic press releases in response to organizations that call them out for it. (2005) They have produced and sold shirts for girls (not women, girls) with slogans like “Who needs brains when you have these?” referring to breasts they do not yet even have. They have had numerous successful lawsuits (2003) proving everything from the fact that they only hired men for managing positions, and discriminated against African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and women at nearly every level of their hiring practices. And what a surprise, they discriminate against people with disabilities as well (2009). Those are just SOME of the reasons why I don’t understand how people still shop there. (Oh yeah, and they even sued Beyoncé if that’s not enough)

other facts that have boggled my mind:

• the statement by a&f’s ceo that has gotten people so up in arms in early may, 2013? was made in 2006.
  
• people are talking about this ad nauseum in canada/quebec. there are no abercrombie & fitch stores IN THIS ENTIRE PROVINCE.
  
• the internet’s response? let’s put the clothes on the least cool people we can think of… homeless people! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU.
  

i seriously wonder, are we at a point where we really believe “plus-size” clothing is/should be accessible to everyone, by every brand, that a statement like his - which if you actually read it, is more about “cool” kids/class privilege than it is necessarily about shaming fat people - is beyond shocking and merits this much outcry? where was your outcry when the company was using racist hiring practices? selling racist and sexist products? why do you give a shit what some old rich white guy says about your body? and from where i stand, why the fuck do you care about a company that doesn’t even sell shit where you live? 

why does it get so much traction when just last month, 1,127 workers die (and countless others seriously injured) in a garment factory collapse? when nearly every major brand, sold in every part of the world, uses garment labour from that part of the world?

it simply reminds me of flavia dozan’s words:

“Here’s the problem I have with this neoliberal feminism: they have traded an in depth geopolitical and social analysis involving gender and the position of women in the West in relation to women everywhere else for the promotion of consumer empowerment dressed up as “choice” and career advancement. “Here, improve your chances at success by wearing the garments of your choice!” or “Here, see the latest fashion trends and pretty outfits! Wear this to succeed in your office job”, promoting this aspirational, mind numbingly decontextualized consumerism. The role models of this neoliberalism parading their manuals to better lean in and “having it all” chants as the only kind of gender analysis we are afforded. As women, we should aspire to rule the corporations that caused this death toll; as consumers, we should aspire to close the wage gap that prevents us from buying more “stuff”, with nary a word about how that “stuff” is produced, by whom and under which conditions. And when faced with over a thousand deaths, this neoliberal feminism will induce us to some form of rightful indignation (OMG all these people died! OMG this is terrible! ad infinitum) while obscuring the root causes of this death toll.”

is it easier for people to vilify a brand that doesn’t even market their clothing to you than it is to step back and see the impact of a globalized market? to look at the textile factories that closed down in the 80s and 90s as brands decided paying their workers the least amount of money possible for their work led to the creation of this system? that your demand for the most amount of clothing for the least amount of money may have led to this system?

get your fucking priorities straight.

being broke/loving fashion/hating wealth and affluence

recently, i came across a blog post by a fashion blogger i’d describe by saying i respect and admire her. i visit her blog on occasion, she’s been around for years and has got a big readership. she’s stylish, gorgeous, and touches on political issues on a relatively regular basis, mostly around fat politics. this recent post was talking about buying herself a new pair of heels. she didn’t name the price, but said they were a gift to herself. this was worthy of note since she does receive free items from brands from time to time (and is always up front about it). i thought they looked really good, liked them enough to google them…

and found out they retail for nearly a thousand dollars.

and then i felt ill.

i’m not linking to the post or shoes in question because this isn’t (really) about that. it’s more about my own questions about wealth and fashion.

after finding out how much those shoes retail for (and assuming she paid close to that much money on them) i thought about all the other ways i would choose to spend that money. the things i could do, the things i could buy. i wondered if there would ever be a day where i could drop that much cash on a pair of shoes or a piece of clothing and not bat an eyelash. i wondered if that was something i could ever imagine aspiring to.

then, i remembered the time i worked in factories, feverishly trying to get through those first two 12-hour shifts to be able to pay for the steel-toed boots i had to wear to work there. i thought about wearing expensive sky-high heels. i thought about (dis)comfort, excess, luxury, decadence. i thought about what this made me assume about her, about her bank account, about her life and her priorities.

i don’t mean this to be a pity party for broke fashion lovers OR a shame women who drop serious cash on material goods! post. i’m mostly just thinking out loud and wondering about these fucked up feelings…

which leads me to my next question: has anyone written about this? have you read anything online or in journals about finding a balance between having been poor and/or anti-capitalist and then hating yourself for those feelings of envy and resentment?

i mean, i’ve written about thrifting as fun, environmentally-friendly/”green” (whatever the fuck that means today) and satisfying - but fuck! i thrifted because i had to. because if i wanted a closet filled with variety i had to go to by-the-pound places, not because i “wanted” to. because if i wanted to dress in a  way i felt reflected my identity, and if that’s what i wanted, i had to buy my own clothes at thrift stores, not at the mall. because back when i was a teenager, one of the meanest insults you could throw at a kid was “where’d you get your clothes, the salvation army?” because i never felt poor enough when i was poor, because i would still “waste money” on clothes instead of the “necessities” like rent and food. because i’d feel guilty for spending 20 bucks on clothes in a month, and then jealous when i browsed online fashion communities where girls (this was before the era of “haul” videos) would post photos of the three or four dresses they bought at high-end american retail stores. what a bundle of contradictions.

part of me is wanting to negotiate between that extreme individualism that can be so omnipresent in fashion culture (i do what i want, i wear what i want, i buy what i want) and the destiny’s child “independent women” school of thought (the shoes on my feet/i bought it/the clothes i’m wearing/i bought it!)… contrasted with this idea that your clothing (what it looks like/how emotionally or financially invested you are in it) reflects your identity, your politics, your life in some way.

trying to weed out what about that is jealousy, what about that is my hatred of capitalism, and what about that is internalized class war (once a broke ass penny-pincher, always a penny-pincher).

I have never experienced a situation violating more constitutional rights than what is happening on Wall Street right now. No media helicopters, no press, no personal video is being allowed. This, if nothing else, should scare you.

readnfight:

liquornspice:

Oh. Let’s try:

• prisons/private prisons/prison labor
• immigrant detention centers
• juvenile detention centers
• slavery/slave trade
• the entire placement of the US-Mexico border
• Patriot Act
• segregated schools/the continued extralegal segregation of schools
• sterilization of women of color and immigrant women
• eugenics
• George Bush declaring war on an idea
• COINTELPRO
• McCarthyism
• the three-fifths clause
• the fact that raping a black woman during slavery was trespassing, not sexual assault
• lack of universal health care
• stop-and-frisks
• racial profiling/racial checkpoints/religious profiling
• the failed Sensenbrenner Bill/Arizona’s SB 1070/banning ethnic studies
• Japanese-American internment camps
• Chinese Exclusion Act/Alien & Sedition Acts
• Brasero Program
• US’s continued existence occupying indigenous land

but maybe you haven’t experienced those things or their legacies. Trust me, there’s more; that was off the top of my head in five minutes, but now I need to go to work.

This doesn’t scare me. I’ve BEEN scared. I’ve also been angry. This shit has been around my whole life.

because unfortunately it seems like a whole lotta people need a reminder of this. your privilege is showing.

(Source: viciousturtle)

autostraddle’s post on zines

lookuplookup:

I’m typically not a finger pointer, but this post about zines on Autostraddle is breaking my heart! For me, stuff like this strips zines of pretty much everything that got me interested in them in the first place. I thought about leaving a comment, but worried that I would end up coming across as a sanctimonious old biddy. But really? $10 for a half size zine that is only 8 pages and is just pictures and lists of things someone likes??? As a former distro owner, this is the kind of stuff that blows my mind!

A friend of mine who reads Autostraddle regularly and who has been involved in the same zine community as I have for a long time solicited feedback on the post for a response she plans to share with the article’s author and while I was giving her my 2 cents the most frustrating thoughts kept ringing through my head — namely, a lot of people just straight up don’t care about political/ethical components of pricing zines and helping to keep zines accessible & for me, it sort of hurts to see zines being ripped apart from politics and made slowly into consumerist things, because one of the things that (for me, at least) makes zines feel alive and vibrant and important is the fact that they’re oftentimes informed by a political subculture with a strong ethical code.

Also, it just sort of blows to see that they referred people to Microcosm for zines when at this point it’s pretty common knowledge that in addition to Joe being a known abuser, Microcosm is responsible for a lot of crummy business practices (reprinting people’s zines without their consent, withholding payment from people, bullying people into selling their zines at lower wholesale prices, etc.)

oh wow… i agree. this is kind of a bummer. of all of the distros they could possibly recommend, they only recommended microcosm? i mean, even if you are arguably new to the world of zines, the 4th google result when you search microcosm zines is called “Distributing with Microcosm… or not.” and it’s not the only one, so that’s not even a little bit snobby to question this rec by a queer, feminist, progressive blog. at least creatrixtiara pointed that out in the comments already. hear hear!

that issue aside, it is difficult (but important!) to find a balance between sharing your wisdom/suggesting more helpful resources without coming off as a condescending know-it-all or a purist (or as you put it, a sanctimonious old biddie tee hee hee). but the original poster herself admits she just got into zines and chapbooks a few months ago so i feel like it’s not out of line. i personally think it would be a great opportunity to respond with your feelings! i mean, it’s really easy to fall into straight-up snobbery when you’ve been interested and involved in this world for ages and you read a comment that says “OMG OMG, I was just bitching at someone about how zines need to be a thing again.” because to me, that feels incredibly dismissive to the amazing artists, zinesters, and distros who never stopped? and didn’t just start existing when you discovered them for yourself? part of my affection for zines and zine culture is that it has something that has been around for a while, and has a rich complicated cultural history. comments like those aside: at the same time, it is great to hear enthusiasm from people who are completely unpretentious about the fact that they are completely new to zines.

i like that the post makes it seem really easy and simple to do, but i don’t like that it doesn’t give any context about the history of zines or what the content should be. about having a cohesive theme. about the different kinds of zines you can make. about the difference between a fan zine and a per zine. about split zines. about punk zines, about riot grrrl zines, etc. that’s more what i would want the first conversation about zines to be, rather than the actual “this is how you can fold one kind of zine.”

(for the record, i’ve only made four zines (between the ages of 16-19) and never charged more than the price of making them… which was generally 1$-3$, max. and they were mostly just absurd and ridiculous save for one overly intense one i made for a class that ended up being epic and long and really hard to make copies of.)

(via formelyusako-deactivated2012090)

the woman in the zoot suit

ofanotherfashion:

Suspected members of a Pachuca gang called the Black Widows taken into police custody. (Los Angeles Times 9 August 1942)

This is also the cover image of one of my favorite fashion books, Catherine S. Ramírez’s The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory (Duke University Press 2008). Ramírez describes the significance of the woman in the zoot suit or the pachuca in this way:

[A] sign of an aberrant femininity, competing masculinity, and homosexuality during the Second World War. As a nonwhite, working class, and queer signifier, [she] was perceived as un-American.

READ THAT BOOK. my amazing feminist fashion prof included it in the sylabus and completely changed my ideas around 1940s fashion. prior to reading this article i would have said my interest in vintage fashion was largely limited to the 1920s, 30s, and 60s, but learning more about the politics of 1940s fashion and the impact the war had on gender stereotypes completely changed my perspective and in turn my aesthetic tastes. not to mention this was one of the first texts that helped reinforce my ideas that fashion can be revolutionary not only in terms of gender, but race, class, age and ability as well.