Gender Blender

An article titled "It's All a Blur to Them" from this Thursday's Style section of the New York Times, discusses the resurgence of androgynous-dressing men and women last seen in the 1970s. Although I think this "phenomenon" has been around for a while below 14th street, the Times claims that this time around it's the men who are digging through their mom's closets. Psychologist Diane Ehrensaft coined the term 'gender fluidity' to describe the idea that "younger people no longer accept the standard boxes. They won’t be bound by boys having to wear this or girls wearing that. I think there is a peer culture in which that kind of gender blurring is not only acceptable but cool.” The article continues and cites famous people who embody this image. Including Adam Lambert from American Idol, because he wears eyeliner, emo-rocker Pete Wentz and Johnny Depp. The author also notes how many couples seem to have similar, yet vaguely reversed styles such as the female in a relationship wearing a hoodie and a leather jacket and the male wearing a gauzy T-shirt and super-skinny pants. Although the Times makes some decent arguments, I think that as a whole there is a lot of misrepresentation in this piece. This isn't a new, it's Brooklyn.
For years you wouldn't be able to walk down a street south of 14th and not encounter male waifs sporting clothes that could have easily been worn by their girlfriends the night before. On a deeper level, the way in which young men adopt these 'feminine' styles that break gender boundaries are reminiscent of the methods used to put gays on television in the Shugart reading and the lesbian gaze in the Lewis reading. The fact that tight black jeans, and a long loose t-shirt worn by a man symbolizes femininity is a little problematic. It wasn't until the 1970's and '80s that it became permissible for women to wear pants in the work place. Up until that point, dresses and skirts signified femininity, and furthered the gender separation between women and men. Even though mens pants were never as tight as they are now, the "baggy" trend was seen as thuggish and inappropriate when it was very popular in the '90s. Furthermore, men have been wearing thin undershirts underneath their button-downs for decades. So really, this masculinized femininity style is original feminist style, both trying to rebel and prove women can be equal to men in all areas, repackaged as feminine style for androgynous males.