I'm really enjoying this book and one of the things that always makes me think is the 'what is the difference between French women and American/English women?' chapter. The answers are invariably, English women drink too much, French women are stylish etc. It has occurred to me lately that your average English speaking woman is born with a lifetime supply of confusion about whether she is supposed to be a woman or a man. I think that the average French (or European) woman has less of a problem with this. In France a woman is expected to dress nice and be able to carry on a conversation about politics. In North America and the English speaking world at large, dressing fashionably or being beautiful somehow undermines your ability to be intelligent. Case in point: a few years ago I was talking to an Australian man about politics. At one point he interjected "I love Canadians, you are all so informed about the world". Later he told me that I was "just one of the guys". I have to confess I was insulted, it was as though mentioning world affairs had simultaneously subtracted all my sex appeal.
I'm also currently reading Fashion: Philosophy for Everyone. The cover of this book makes it seem like it is going to be beauty tips or something but it is actually essays about different aspects of fashion, commodification, sexual identity and so on. Right in the preface the editor says she had a problem with being stylish and being a feminist. Somehow we feel that we must choose between being beautiful and being smart something which is a notion I think we retire once and for all.
Personally I love clothes and I love discussing politics and I don't think that those things are mutually exclusive and I plan to continue doing both!
Hope you all have had a fantastic Monday and have an equally fantastic week. xoxoxox
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