Identity Juice

The poems included in “We Sinful Women” screamed out a message of shame to me, but it was a shame that was clearly undeserved and unwarranted; in many of the poems, it seemed like the author was simply asking, “Why am I being called sinful for something as petty as this?” or “What did I really do to deserve this kind of condemnation?” This is a problem that we see all over the world, and in no way is it only contained within countries with a strong Islamic presence. The world has experienced millennia of stifling women within the standards and barriers of men, and although progress has been made relatively quickly within the past century in many parts of the world, we are still far from complete equality and freedom between the genders. Nowadays, we face questions that are even more complex than the ones we had to face just decades ago. A woman should be able to wear whatever she wants, but is what she wants TRULY what she wants or merely a result of the cultural standards that have been ingrained within her since she was little? Where is the distinction between gender equality and sexual freedom? How can women and men work together to promote the same ideals regarding gender equality? How do we exactly define what liberty is when men and women alike share different values depending on their respective cultural societies? Many of these questions were brought up and addressed in class when Professor Asani shared the article with us regarding the burqa and the bikini, the double standards associated with one and the other, and the different definitions of gender repression that are exhibited in both.

In response, I decided to try something I had never done before and draw out some fashion sketches; these sketches would show examples of how typical American fashion is represented, and next to them I would put the labels “SINFUL” and “TRASHY” to show how women are often labeled by society solely by the clothes they wear. I had no previous experience with fashion designing, and I had never even considered it an interest until I stumbled upon some vintage sketches done by famed fashion designer Oscar de la Renta. Using his sketches, I found inspiration to sketch out the two dresses you see below using just pencil and paper. The two dresses differ from one another in that the one in the left is quite short and even a little bouncy, while the one on the right can be seen as more elegant and aesthetically complex than the other. Regardless of their differences – and, to be more specific, regardless of the amount of skin the woman may be revealing with either dress – the labels written above and underneath are equally demeaning and repressive, essentially lowering both women to a status of nothing more than a piece of trash. To add more of an effect and emphasize this point even further, I drew censor bars over where both women’s eyes would have been placed, representing the idea that much of society, the only thing that is really focused on when looking at someone is what they wear or the way their body is shaped. Both of these sketches, although certainly not to the level of Oscar de la Renta, are meant to reflect the feelings of degradation and shame that many of the authors felt in “We Sinful Women” when composing their poems.

Design sketches, based on sketches by Oscar de la Renta

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014 at 5:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized.