Informal Assignment #4: Crimes Against Fashion

            When I was younger like preschool/elementary school, my brother and I were always very close with everything that we did. That was because of our age difference, depending on the time of year he would sometimes only be a year older than me and then at another time in the year he would be two years older than me. We are really only a year and a half apart. Since we were so close I always wanted to be with him and hang out with him, so naturally we had a lot of the same friends. The first time I committed my “crimes” against fashion was when I was in the third grade. That was around the time that I received my first pair of hand me down clothes from my brother. Some people say that little girls should not be wearing little boys clothing…..well I guess I missed the memo because I did, and I loved wearing my brothers old clothes that didn’t fit him or that he didn’t want anymore. Not only did the clothes make me feel closer and as cool as brother, they were sporty and less restricting than girl clothes. They allowed me to keep up with the guys since most of my friends were guys. I really didn’t think anything of the new clothes that I received. They didn’t confuse me about what gender I was or my sexuality because I was always crushing on boys and girls were annoying to me. My mom didn’t care because she knew I was running around roughing it with the guys and the types of clothes were perfect for that. Plus my mom, being a single parent with three children, it was less money spent on one thing that could be put to paying bills.

            The one and only person that who literally policed my “crime” in order to reinforce or bring me back into normative definitions of sexuality and gender was my grandmother. She is very old fashioned with the notion of baby girls wearing pink and baby boys wearing blue. Since I was the first girl granddaughter, she got excited and went a little overboard with making me her little pink princess. Looking back, I was the most difficult grandchild she will ever come to have because I would not let her have her way with me and let her mold me into the dainty little flower she want me to be. She would always buy everything pink and lots dresses for me and I would tell her I don’t like pink but she would force me to wear it anyway. Later she would give into me and would buy other colors and more things like jumpers that would look like a dress in the front but they were shorts in the back.

            Another major crime I committed was when I cut my hair. My junior year in high school I really wanted to shave all my hair off, just to see what it would be/feel like. Well I talked to my mom and she was cool with the idea; she would just make sure that this was what I really wanted to do. Long story short I chickened out and didn’t end up going through with it. But when I came to college I really didn’t care what people would think, all I knew was that I really wanted to do it and I was ready. When I cut my hair society was the main group that would police my actions because they would keep labeling me saying that I look like a boy (sometimes confused me for a boy) and that I look lesbian or gay. None of the comments I received bothered me in the slightest because I am comfortable with my gender and sexuality. I just got annoyed having to explain to people why I did it and that I am a girl and I am straight.

            Today in society people have gotten the idea that clothing and different hairstyles define what your race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, and even nation you come from. People need to wake up and realize that different clothing and hairstyles don’t define who a person is; it what’s on the inside that people should look at but that rarely seems to happen since people are so quick to make a judgment based on appearance. Hasn’t society heard of the phrase don’t judge a book by its cover?