Kara & Michael’s Blog

Yesterday, I finally got around to checking my liberal feminist websites for the first time in a few weeks. The feminists are all up in arms about Southwest Airlines. For those who aren’t in the know, a Southwest employee asked a female passenger to change her outfit before she boarded the plane, she couldn’t because she had no other clothes with her and so he asked her to adjust her clothing.

Maybe I’m not a reasonable person, but I really don’t see the big issue here. I’ve identified what I believe are the main points of contention that seem to keep reappearing in people’s blog entries/articles.

1. Society/Big Business/The Man is judging women by what they wear.
This argument is bologna for one reason and one reason only – we are all judged by our appearances. If I’m a hostess at a fancy restaurant and a man in rags comes in, I can turn him away at the door and refuse to serve him. Whether or not he has the money for the meal is not the issue, nor is his gender – it’s how his appearance impacts the way incoming customers will perceive the business. The feminists are saying what she was wearing wasn’t out of line – but that’s not for them to decide (unless, of course, they are Southwest employees). I guarantee you if a man tried to walk on that plane in the same outfit, he would have gotten a similar response. Women can dress much more provocatively than men because they have more sexualized bits they can expose, and so women are bound to be judged more often about how sexy, or overly sexy an outfit may be.

2. Society/Big Business/ The Man is attempting to assert Its/Their/His control over the way women dress, and subsequently women.
This ties into the question above. I think this is bologna, too. No one is telling that woman she can’t dress that way – just that she couldn’t do it on that plane at that time. Heck, the attendant even backed off of that, and let her fly, anyway.

I don’t deny that trends in media, fashion, etc reflect the way society approaches gender roles. But it’s not as if he came out and said whore, (although the media has had a field day reporting about her breast implants) he simply told her she was dressed inappropriately and asked her to change. He doesn’t just have his own opinion to consider, but the opinions and comfort of every passenger on the plane. Maybe this makes me unenlightened, or maybe it makes me honest, but if that woman sat down next to me, I would have stared down her shirt most of the trip, just because she was exposed, not because I found her attractive (she is not my type). I could see where someone might be offended by her clothes, and if the flight attendant is trying to make as many people comfortable as possible, I could see where he might try to err on the side of caution. Expanding this issue to Southwest or society as a whole is uncalled for. No one has printed up books yet on what women should or shouldn’t wear except for women’s magazines.

3. Southwest Airlines is being hypocritical because their ads in 70s featured skank-ily dressed stewardesses as a means of attracting customers.
I hear this everywhere I turn. It brings to mind two things for me. One, the 70s was 30 years ago, and Southwest has changed their image considerably. and Two, Southwest doesn’t have any policy on file about turning away scantily clad passengers, just an employee who acted on their behalf. His opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the company he represents.

So, feminists of the world, let it go. Seriously. This whole Southwest thing is not that important. Why don’t you all publicize the rape cases where people say the women deserved it because of how they were dressed? That actually is an appalling judgment to make.

And to people who think they should be allowed to dress however they want, wherever they go, I have one final point to make. I have plenty of clothes that I don’t wear certain places where I can know or figure children will or might be. I’ll wear them to a bar, to an over-18 concert, on a college campus and at home, but not to the grocery store, the dr’s office, the pool. It’s common courtesy, at least, I always thought it was. This extends to the manner of dress, as well. I don’t wear the same clothes to the club that I wear to the grocery store, mostly because the club won’t let me wear sweatpants… j/k. Seriously, though, setting boundaries about what to wear in a restaurant or on a plane or in a club is not only totally legal, but obviously, totally necessary. And if you disagree with what that restaurant, airline or club decides – you can make your point easily – don’t give them business.

K.

The contents of this blog entry may not reflect the views of the Webmaster of Doom, Michael.