[Traducción española en cursiva, al final, después del salto]
This
past Tuesday I was shopping for Winter jumpers with a friend and I entered a
C&A shop to take a look. I usually stick to the women's sections, not
because I particularly prefer women's fashion over men's (I actually favour several "traditionally-made-for-men" styles and clothing) but because
it is very likely that nothing in the men's aisle will fit me, personally. But to the
point: That day I felt curious (or maybe disheartened) and decided to take a
look at the men's aisle for a change. Well, I did, and this is the very first
thing that I saw:
A Star Trek: Into Darkness T-shirt
featuring John Harrison aka Khan. As a nerd girl, a Trekkie in the making, a very
hardcore fan of the newest movie, and a Benedict Cumberbatch admirer - well, the
first thing that I did was leap around a bit in geeky exultation. Then I
realized that I was in the men's aisle, and that the smallest of these shirts
was probably wider than me and way longer than I would have liked. There were
no geeky T-shirts in the women's aisle at all (and no, Disney doesn't count).
This isn't the first time this happens
to me. The Superman and Big Bang Theory T-shirts at FNAC didn't come in 'female
sizes'. The T-shirts that came to the stores as part of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
merchandising didn't come in 'female sizes'. And I came across some great R2-D2
T-shirts last year, and guess what - they didn't come in 'female sizes'.
 |
| The Hobbit T-shirts, all with the male symbol indicating they're male sizes. The only ones available at the store. When I asked one of the shop assistants why that was...He shrugged as if it was no big deal and looked at me as if I was mad :/ |
Summarizing:
Or to
be more specific: 99.9 of the nerdy/geeky T-shirts on the stores are made for men.
Not cool.
Apparently,
geek girls don't compute to the
majority of the clothing making/nerdy merchandising industry.
This other pic I took at the store pretty
much summarizes what these kind of shops usually look like: The girls' section
features cute, 'feminine' clothing, the
boys' section is all about casual wear and (you can't find these in all the
stores) geeky, fun T-shirts. I actually have a liking
for short dresses and that sort of thing, even though I dislike the fact that the 'feminine section' often doesn't have a lot of variety. But I also have a
liking for nerdy T-shirts.
It's the blatant sexism and gender bias which gets
to me.
Why can't both men and women (and enbyes) have similar styles in
their respective sizes, so as to make it all truly 'unisex' where gender doesn't really matter in clothes, and so that all of us can choose around a bit more? When
is the merchandising industry and the society in general going to realize that
there are actually a fair share of women who like fandoms and comics and
miniatures and all the stuff that can be considered 'nerdy' or 'geeky'? And
that the fact that 'geek girls' are still a minority is not because all those
hobbies and fandoms are "meant for boys/men", but, to a great extent,
because all the 'geekdom' is still blatanly androcentric and offers their
products mainly to men?
People often buy mainly what they are
offered. Women who already identify as 'geeks' or 'nerds' will delve in online
stores to find products and T-shirts that they can wear (this particular Star
Trek T-shirt is actually available in women's sizes, but only online. Which is
still discrimination, and includes shipping). But many others won't, because they
aren't offered those products, and will stay oblivious to them or will think
that because they are only to be found in the boys' aisle, they're not meant
for them. Either way, they will loose the ability and the possibility to choose
them.
And now I'm not just speaking about the fact that it's sexism and discrimination and gender bias, and thus wrong and unfair. I also think that the managers who decide
these things seem to be so brainwashed with sexism that they don't realize that
they are actually loosing money. Let us focus on the Star Trek
T-shirt. How are they so sure that only boys would like to buy it? What about enthusiastic
geek girls (like me)? What about girls who
do not call themselves 'geek' but who like to dress in this style? And what
about girls who are not hardcore Star Trek fans but
happen to admire Benedict Cumberbatch (and there are a few of those, not all
girls like the shallow, unhealthy models that are Justin Bieber and sparkling abusive vampires,
society!)? How are they so sure that women would not buy these kind of T-shirts?
My friend had the idea of writing a customer complaint/suggestion
form so that the manager would at least know that someone thinks that they're
showing gender bias and discrimination, and maybe something will come of that,
but unfortunately, I think that more than one person would have to write suggestion
forms and in many shops, and even so, day-to-day sexism has a nasty habit of
clinging on for a long time. This is of course not the worst example of
day-to-day sexism, but in my experience it is irrational and mightily frustrating. I think that it is high time women were offered geeky T-shirts
too, but I'm afraid this still seems to be a long-lasting 'Geek Girl Problem'.
