Girls Don't Dress Up For You.

(Apologies in advance for the messiness of this post, it's more for me to get things off my mind and vent than anything, but if it helps some people in the process then thats great!)

'Girls wouldn't get dressed up nicely if they didn't want us guys to stare at them' is something that was contributed to one of my media class discussions this week and it's really stuck with me. This idea that girls dress up for attention and to be admired by others is not something that is true in any way, or at least for many people anyway.

Take the youtube and blogging fashion and makeup community for example, that is a huge collection of people that are interested in the topics that they talk about. They talk about these things because they make them happy and give them some form of confidence boost. We don't spend hours writing blog posts and reviewing beauty products for men to enjoy (but I'm not saying they can't because some guys do enjoy watching these videos), it's because this is something that we really love (oh wow, I think I've made that point about three times already but it's important for people to understand). It's not like I spend ridiculous amounts of money on makeup just to look good, because that's really not the reason that I do it. It's because it is almost a form of art, makeup is fun and wonderful to play about with, it can give me a confidence boost on the days when I'm feeling a little crappy and just makes me feel much more me.

And yet media has made it so that men think that everything women do is for their pleasure, and when the suggestion comes about that perhaps it isn't all for male pleasure and that we can do what we want with our bodies they begin to get defensive. This idea that they have a say in what we do and the reasons that we do it is ridiculous.

In my media class the other day we watched a series of commercials by Dove (a skincare company) where even they gave this idea that women do things for men, that they wanted to reveal skin for men to enjoy looking at them. This male gaze is everywhere in the media and has been for as long as anyone can remember really. Women are always sexualized and portrayed to be this item that appeals to men and falls at their feet at their every word, we aren't. Women are strong and independent, we don't do things for anyone but ourselves.

To conclude I am going to leave this messy post with a quote that summaries what I have been attempting to talk about in this post perfectly. 

"Girls do not dress for boys. They dress for themselves and, of course, each other. If girls dressed for boys they’d just walk around naked at all times" - Betsey Johnson.