Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons on Hulu was interesting. It seems like objectification peaked in the 90s.

A part of me believes people, men and women, should wear what they want. But then you see these stories of women getting kicked off airplanes for inappropriate dress, and you see what they wore, and you roll your eyes. Dunno.

I guess if they want to objectify themselves that's their choice. Their mental health is their own demon. Where do we draw the line?

Some people think we should all dress like the mole women from Kimmy Schmidt. I certainly don't dress like that, but neither do I wear ruched-butt leggings. I do dress for myself and no one else.

I think the oligarchy only cares about money, and they will provide the public with whatever they want.

There is a balance of feeling confident and good about yourself and dressing like trash. There is a classy sexy that can be achieved.

I wish that more people understood that. Your tits and ass don't have to be in full view to be confident, strong and empowered. 

I hated when my daughter was young. I had such a hard time finding toddler clothes didn't make her look like a "prosti-tot". Toddler hooker isn't a good look. 

Feminism = Equal opportunity and choice to do what I want

Translates to wear what you want, when you want, but deal with the consequences of such, be it judgment from others, inability to obtain employment, compliments, unwanted attention, etc. You are not stupid. You know when you put something on, look a certain way, wear your make up just so, what your presentation to the public and power is as a woman?

Your face tattoo is probably going to be a challenge...

Our responsibility as fellow women is to teach, mentor others what true empowerment should be for a woman, for women and for hers. One of my mentors is a 10 out of 10 - blonde, big boobed, fit, naturally flirty but killer mind and killer strategies. She used her looks to her benefit. Not my style, but who am I to judge. She had the choice to do what she wanted as a woman and made her choice and dealt with it. Oh, and she was a huge business success. She played the game, was her explanation. And she won. Some would tsk tsk at her ways. I learnt from her. 

I, on the other hand...

I never was this type of woman. I counted on my brains and personality to make my way through life and success with a splash of social conditioning and understanding that I was not a 10 out of 10.

There are all types and ways.

As I age (48 too), I am wearing more and more what I want, wearing less makeup, not doing my hair, sometimes even going without a bra and I feel..... free, finally. I refuse to be held to some stereotypical women's visual standards because of the media, other people, greed, social conditioning, etc. I make that decision knowing full well the consequences and I do not care. But with that, I also find myself becoming less judgmental about other women, what they wear, how they look, the choices they make, etc. I feel more cognizant on how much women hurt each other so much when it comes to this kind of stuff, much more so than men hurting women (though admittedly predominantly profit from this all). I think women have much higher expectations on standards of beauty for women than men do and I also think that women check other women out with judgment way more than men do. Men admire, women critique or compare themselves to the other woman. It's all too much and is so damaging.

The oversexualization of children I believe is a natural consequence of many things but the internet plays a big role due to access to sexualized content. With regards to the clothing options available, who is buying this stuff? It would not be produced and trending if there were not buyers.

I'm so glad those JUICY sweatpants are not trending anymore.... ugh. 

It’s all about the almighty dollar, not really so much feminism.   All the “trends” are about ensuring they hit the target audience and get them to spend.  If you look at all the Tik Tok made me buy it stuff, its cheap infomercial crap.  It’s just packaged differently to hit the target audience, not like back in our day when it was on t.v. 

European here. The kids around here wear a lot less than when I was at school BUT it's pretty classy and not flaunty. They genuinely seem to wear what they are comfortable in. So far, I haven't seen anything that shocks me. Temperatures can be high around here in the summer, and if they are comfortable,who am I to judge?

People are comfortable with different things but just becuase its not to your taste doesn't make it wrong.  As Winterglow says, in Europe in the summer people can wear fairly skimpy clothing but look very classy.  I get more upset when people try to doggedly follow fashion when it clearly doesn't suit them or their body type.  I feel bad that they aren't making the most of themselves.

Teenagers now are definitely different these days. I'm in Aus and this summer girls walk around tanned, long hair, short shorts and crop tops with their tanned flat tummies showing. Because they are all so slim and TALL I can't believe how tall some of these girls are now, they all look like teenage models. Some do it quite classy actually.. but then some young girls have their long legs showing, tummy AND cleavage. Then their appearance looks completely inappropriate. 

I'm 33 and love my floral dresses and flowey pants. Sometimes I wear tight leggings, but only when my top is long and it covers my bum. I think it's a bad look when I see women wear tights as pants. At the gym, sure whatever, but the fashion is wearing gym outfits when your not even at the gym and it's everywhere. Young mums walking around with the scrunchy bum tights and tank tops getting coffee and doing food shopping. It's not my cup of tea, especially when you can actually see their underwear. It's not a good look and the amount of looks from men they get.. I even catch my DH looking and think well, how can he not? Her bum is exposed in tight fabric and right there infront of us. Some women like this attention and I personally do not. I like to dress not by latest fashion but what looks nice to me and suits my body shape. I want to be comfortable and look nice too for me, not for anyone else. I will try to teach my DD to be classy in whatever choice of style she ends up liking. Not to follow 'fashion trends' as much. 
 

I find the whole concept of policing clothing as well as the concept of femanism's perspective of something wrong with anyone noticing beauty and reacting to fashion augmented body traits to be naive and idiocy as a whole. Wear what you want, look at who you want. If someone does not want to be seen, stay home.  Don't like being manipulated by marketeers, don't watch, don't read that crap, and focus your purchases by what you like, need, etc...   Classy is classy.  Some recognize it, some don't.  Background, friends, etc... all influence, but sexy has far more alignment with classy that it does trashy. But that is subjective.

I consider myself a pragmatist.

The fact is that any mammal or any other category of animal has evolved to propegate the species.  So, the shape of a human body is due to that goal. Be sexually attractive.  Also to optimize the survival of the human within their geographic environment. THat is why humans who have evolved in different regions have different traits.  Caucasian humans have generally longer and narrower noses to warm the air they breath due to evolving in glacier prone cold climates.  Those humans who evolved to thrive on the African continent generally have dark skin (to protect from UV burn and to minimize skin cancers), wider noses to minimize heat transfer to the body.  This is also the case for humans indiginous to Australia. Asians as a broad category have various characgeristics based on where in asia their ancestors evolved to thrive and propegate.

The curve of buttocks, hips, breasts, etc... of women are entirely designed to get attention from men of breeding age.  The shape of shoulders, hips, chest, musculature, etc.. of a man are entirely designed to get the attention of women of breeding age. And to thrive and survive in the climates, environments where they evolved.

Social influences evolved to tune, augment or de-emphacise physical traits for any number of reasons.  Climate, resource distribution, social standing, etc....

Women can and should wear what they wish. However, they also need to own the outcome of those choices.  If clothing choices augments their attactiveness to men, they should own the "objectification" since their actions are amplifying what is natural in our species.

For whatever reason, male clothing tends to not have the same level of attention associated with it as female fashion. At least in augmenting physical attention.

Of course wearing pants half way between the ass and knees with underwear exposed, etc... is beyond my ability yo comprehend the reasoning  for or attractiveness of.  Man fashion is far more dimensially limited than lady's fashion.

Attractive humans are noticed.  Conversely, unattractive humans do not get noticed as much.  Unless they are so extreme in how they present publically that they are rejected overtly. Attractiveness is not a single combination of traits. It is socially subjective.

Men who get heavy, do not dress to present their stature to the best advantage, should not be blaming women for not engaging with them.  I take exception to both rude behavior toward attactive women and to men who get shitty when an attractive woman ignores them.

Basic polite behavior should be required.  Aka be nice, until it is time to not be nice.  If someone behaves otherwise,­­­­ then it is game on as they forfeit nice from others. 

A glance, an appreciative smile, and a pleasant hello makes anyone's day regardless of the presence of butt scrunch leggings, work out tights, deep cleavage tops, etc...... or not.

Designers do not force anyone to buy their products. Purchases are the choice of the buyer.  People buy what they like.  Motivators for that differ by the individual within cultural environments.

Misogeny is wrong. Racism is wrong. Sexism is wrong (in any direction), Ageism is wrong. Anti Semitism is wrong, discrimination is wrong, though generally none of those things are illegal.  Abide by the law, be excellent to each other, and ... party on... as two brilliant social humanists once said when something was afoot at the Circle-K.

As far as the sexualizing of children, I am of the opinion that a parent allowing their prepubesent children to dress in ways that sexualize them is wrong and in fact should subject that parent to criminal consequences.  Not sure how that would be structured, but.... pimping your prepubesent daughter should have severe consequences associated with it.  For those who would abuse or molest a child... the death penalty should be a frequent consequence.... following a fair trial of course.

As for careers, etc... I have long held that the only things that matter are qualifications, experience, and performance. Gender, race, country of origin, etc... don't matter. Neither should those things be given any advantage. Qualification, experience, performance.  PERIOD! DOT!  No affirmative action, no diversity and inclusion, no nothing... but the most qualified gets the job, the top performer gets the promotion. I have worked for incredibly talented people and amazing leaders in my career.  Female, male, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Arab, protestant, catholic, muslim, hindu, gay, straight, etc.......  My give a shit about them is based on their performance. and their quality as decent humans.

Meritocracy should be the core framework of human outcome.  No merit? Suck it up, do the work, improve the skills.  If someone else outperforms or is more qualified, good for them.  IMHO

Just my past middle age privileged white male perspective of course.

Please excuse my meandering musings.

As for Burkhas.  It is easy to ascribe that regional social clothing element to misogeny.  That would not be entirely accurate. That clothing evolved to protect women in nomadic tribal societies from tribal raiders and to protect the ability of  tribes to maintain the procreative viability of the tribe.  Raiders targeted young women of breeding age. Since raids essentially were snatch and grab attacks, women were dressed in clothing that prevented the raiders from selecting specific aged women and made a raid a you get what you grab event rather than a considered mate shopping trip. As one of the major religions evolved in that primarily nomadic tribal society populated region, the burkha became a religious tennant that took on broader 'meaning' than its original purpose.

Now a personal experience related to that clothing.  When we lived in Qatar I had a doctor's appointment at a particular hospital.  After my appointment I was waiting for an Rx before leaving.  I was sitting next to a young Qatari man. Through the door walked the most beautiful and sexy woman I have ever seen.  Tall, statuesque, ebony skin so dark it shimmered blue, and fully covered in a spectacularly tailored Abaya (think Burkha head to toe).  It highlighed every beauty trait that woman possesses.  It was not tight, but it was imeccably tailored, she was wearing nothing under it. You could see nothing, but it augmented everything making it even more alluring.  The only skin showing was her face and her hands.  When I say she was stunning, it is an understatement.  The young man's jaw dropped open and he said clearly in English... Wow! I smiled in appreciation and noded politely to the young woman and the young woman nodded back to me and glided past.  As she noded she covered her face with a corner of her hair covering. She went from holy shit beautiful to OMG beautiful as her eyes were even more stunning when the rest of her face was covred.  She maintained eye contact with me as she glided past. Her eyes smiled and sparkled. I have no doubt that garment was exceptionally expensive and designed by a high end Abaya designer.  There are several young women Arab designers who are making exceptionally stylish and beautiful fashion for the women of that region.

Middle East society has begun to turn that garment specifically designed to protect  and hide women from tribal raiders into an amazing, classy, stunning  and still modest statement of female empowerment and beauty.  Accomplshed talented young women designers are taking the future from the fundamentalists and making it their own.  Riding Harley's in amazing, modest, stunning, sexy 'burkhas' that they are creating for themselves. Worn over talored, edgy, leathers. I foresee amazing things for our species. Once the equal outcome focused failed leaders get the hell out of the way and let human excellence have free reign.

There come my optimist tendencies.