A few days ago, I overheard a group of girls extolling the virtues of “boyfriend jeans.” While the style’s nothing new, and I won’t argue over the merits of any loose, comfy piece of clothing that comes with plenty of room to accommodate your three-doughnut-baby because the grocery store was selling 4 for $2, I do have a problem with the name.
“Boyfriend Jeans.” Whatever happened to “Loose Fit” or “Relaxed”? They all mean the same thing. Granted, “boyfriend jeans” is hipper sounding than “baggy, misshapen, after-Thanksgiving jeans,” so I understand the idea for a new marketing campaign. However, I don’t understand the idea that a heteronormative, sexist and sizeist name is an acceptable alternative.
You’re wearing boyfriend jeans? Great! You fit the expected female norms of being:
- Straight
- In a relationship (but not married – these aren’t husband jeans)
- Smaller than your boyfriend
I don’t need my denim to be homophobic, sizeist and infantalizing, and I don’t need my clothing to define me with the nomenclature of another gender.
On the tails of some people’s outrage over a little boy with pink toenails, my mind is sucked again into the dichotomy that while it’s not alright to define a man through female signatures, it’s perfectly acceptable to define a woman through male signatures. So no “boyfriend jeans” for me. I’ll call them what they really are, “baggy, saggy diaper bum jeans,” instead.
As usual, Stephen Colbert said it best.
When a girl wears men’s clothes, they’re boyfriend jeans. But when a man dresses up in his girlfriend’s clothes, suddenly she’s his ex-girlfriend.
And while we’re at it, no more:
- Hooker boots
- Wife beaters
- Skinny jeans
What clothing monikers do you want to see done away with?
P.S. I’m not the only one with these thoughts lately. Pop over to Tall Girl Blogging and read Allison’s thoughts and the awesome comments and jesse.anne.o for her take on “boyfriend clothes.”
hear hear! on all accounts.
I need to never say wife beater again. Haven’t in years, but used to use that term regularly. Still call ‘em skinny jeans…. ideas for an alternative? how about leg-hugging-jeans?
I was so shocked the first time I heard the term “wife beater.” My dad always wore these and my husband wears them daily…and neither man is what the nomenclature would suggest. I buy my jeans in the men’s department though…I’m slinking off now.
I have blathered elsewhere about what I think about “boyfriend” everything even when that everything comes in colors or stylings (seriously, yellow chiffon trimmed “boyfriend” sweater?) that men in our culture would potentially be beaten up at gas stations for wearing. (This happened to a young guy in Rock Hill SC last week and it is much on my mind.) But the man-ifying of proportions is stupid for other reasons.
I can’t wear man pants — my natural waist (which is kinda high) is 11″ smaller than my hips, and even my belly button line where pants waists often end up is about 8″ smaller than my hip measurement. This means that even women’s pants are tight in the butt and loose on the waist on me. Which is funny, because 75% w/h is supposed to be some goddessly ideal of girl proportion, and you’d think they’d make pants for that. But no.
This weekend I tried on some cheap summer pants (shh!) and I swear, I don’t know how it’s even possible for pants to be too big and simultaneously too small, or to be falling off my hips and at the same time, creating muffin top, but they do. Trying to squeak into man pants wouldn’t improve the situation.
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Thanks for the shout out, lady. I love everything about this post and feel exactly the same way about boyfriend jeans, skinny jeans and all other manner of heteronormative and sexist clothing!
TOTALLY.
I posted about this a little while ago, when UO started constantly referring to band t-shirts as “boyfriend”!
http://jesseanneo.blogspot.com/2010/08/boyfriend-this-and-boyfriend-that.html
Thanks for the link – I added it to the post!
Yes and yes. I was bigger than my last boyfriend, do not have a “boy” shaped body and am not currently dating anyone. Is it misleading if I wear “boyfriend” jeans and pretend I have a boyfriend. Seriously, I find boyfriend jeans irritating at best.
So true. The name “boyfriend jeans” also reinforces the idea that women “normally” do not wear loose clothing. Yay diversity!
Amen all around.
Two of my ex-boyfriends are 6’3″ and thinner than me. Ain’t no way I wore their jeans. I DID used to buy a lot of men’s shirts, though, many of which I handed up to one of those tall, lanky boyfriends… so really, he WAS wearing “girlfriend shirts.” Many a guy has wanted to swipe my top hats.
This isn’t a garment nickname, but I hate seeing women described as having “boyish” figures. I get the point, but it still seems insulting.
The word “feminine” is alllllllllll over fashion magazines and style magazines too, as if women were BORN wearing ruffles or pastels— I wonder how often guys dodge certain clothes for fear they might be deemed “feminine,” or how many women are harassed for having “insufficiently feminine” looks or qualities. I try not to use the word.