Being policed.
Someone wrote…
I came home from running errands the other day and showed my mom the pants I had just found at the thrift store – they were really baggy and had tons of pockets and I was pretty excited about them. The first thing out of her mouth was, “Are they guys’ or girls’?” For some reason this made me really angry. I was holding the pants up; she could see exactly what they looked like. What extra information would she gain by knowing whether the manufacturers intended them for boys or girls? Why would that matter? She seemed to like them, but I still felt like I was being policed.
What’s your experience?
Posted by julian on July 10th, 2009 at 08:00 am
Category: your voice 2 comments »
July 10th, 2009 at 5:05 pm |
My mom used to do this, too: if she could find a label that said "for girls", then any kind of clothing became acceptable. It's like she trusted the manufacturer to set standards for gender.
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July 16th, 2009 at 6:05 am |
Julian, I LOVE that you shared this story. My favorite pair of pants on earth is a super baggy pair of cargo painter jeans that I found in a thrift store for like 2 bucks. Happily, my family does not put much stock in labels, and they don't hassle me about what I wear. :D
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