Last week, Vogue Magazine released their December issue, with Harry Styles on the cover. Wearing a ruffled dress and discussing the role of clothing in his life in the interview, Styles was the first man on the cover of Vogue in 127 years. While fans of Styles fell head over heels for this photoshoot, it didn’t come without criticism-one of the most notable critics being Candace Owens.
Owens is known for her conservative views and criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement as a black woman. In a tweet posted on Saturday, November 14th, Owens claims that society cannot function without strong men and says to “bring back manly men”, in response to Styles’ Vogue pictures.
This was met with a lot of backlash from many different groups online and Owens has been continually tweeting and posting about this for the past couple of days, saying things like, “If I see a man in a dress I think he’s a crackhead” and “I would never allow my kids near a man in a dress.” Owens has made it clear that she believes men who wear dresses are unstable freaks.
Here’s the thing: clothing is just fabric. Why does it matter who wears what, and why is it anyone’s business? Who’s to say that a man can’t wear a dress, and a woman can’t wear pants?
In today’s world, why are we still getting mad about these kinds of things? I hate to say it, but it’s 2020. It’s time to grow out of those old ideals from what seems like hundreds of years ago, and learn that just because a man is wearing a dress doesn’t make him any less “manly.”
The word “manly” in itself spreads ideas of toxic masculinity that we should have left in the dust ages ago. Manliness cannot be measured and clothing shouldn’t be indicative of if a man is “worthy” or not.
This idea that men have to be ultra masculine is extremely harmful to men. It enforces the stereotype that men aren’t allowed to express emotion and that their masculinity isn’t valid if they have feelings. It would be ignorant to say that stereotypes such as these are not a contributing factor in the high male suicide rate.
If you genuinely get upset by a man wearing a typically femine item of clothing, or just painting their nails, I suggest you ask yourself why you are upset. First off, it’s none of your business and secondly, it’s not hurting you, or anybody for that matter. Let’s not forget that men have historically worn dresses, skirts, makeup, and high heels, which are now all considered to be feminine items.
We also must acknowledge that Harry Styles was far from the first man to do this. If we look back, countless famous men have broken the gender binary, such as Prince and Kurt Cobain. These men paved the way for people like Harry Styles to express themselves through clothing.
All in all, wearing a dress, or a skirt, or nail polish does not make you any less of a man. It does not make you weird or unstable. Gender is a social construct that is used to enforce damaging stereotypes on all types of people. It is important to recognize how the gender binary has shaped the way we interact with each other and how it is harmful. Therefore, clothing cannot be and is not assigned to only one gender.
I believe challenging and breaking the gender binary is a good thing. I encourage you to wear whatever you want to, and whatever makes you feel most comfortable and confident. If you don’t want to wear a dress, regardless of your gender, don’t. Remember it isn’t your choice or your problem what other people wear.