Gender and Social Change

Clothes Against the Female Body

One Size Fits None

Woman in Tight Clothes

This is a good example of how women's clothes are usually form fitting when it comes to both tops and bottoms. 

Does This Really Exist?

Is there really a point to having a zipper in the back? That can't be comfortble when you sit down. 

Even in today’s day in age, women still struggle to find clothing that is both comfortable and visually appealing. This is primarily due to the fact that women’s clothing is meant to sexualize women. Women’s tops and bottoms are designed to be tight around the breasts and rear in order to “accentuate a woman’s figure”, which makes it very difficult to find shirts that fit well in both the sleeves and around the abdomen, and pants that fit both in the waist and in the legs.[1]  

Sizing is also a major issue for women because many stores don’t offer special sizes, and if they do, there are fewer options.[2] This makes it difficult for women with different body shapes to find clothes that fit them. In these cases, many women are forced to purchase clothes that don’t fit them well, or buy clothes from the men’s department and risk the social consequences. To make things worse, sizing among brands is often inconsistent, which forces women to take the time to try on clothes because a size medium in one brand might be a size large in another.[3] To put this issue into perspective, when shopping for men’s pants, the sizing is based on the measurements of waist and pant length, which allows them to buy pants that fit in both the waist and the legs. On the other hand, women’s pants typically come in sizes 0-20 which only correspond to the waist measurement, so if you have long legs, you either look like you got caught in the rain, or you need to buy a belt.[4] 

Women’s clothing isn’t just tight, but it can be thin as well. This is meant to draw attention to a woman’s breasts, which further sexualizes women, and also forces women to buy more clothing.[5] This makes it hard for young women to find clothing that satisfies school dress codes, and makes it hard for adults to find clothes that are appropriate in the workplace.