How Clothes Make the Woman Immoral: Impressions Given Off by Sexualized Clothing. (July 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Montemurro, Beth; Gillen, Meghan M.
• Is Part Of: Clothing and textiles research journal. Volume 31:Number 3(2013)
• Page Start: 167
• Page End: 181
• Publication Date: 2013-07
• Subjects: dress -- aging -- sexuality -- women -- authenticity; Textile fabrics -- Periodicals; Clothing and dress -- Periodicals; 677.005
• DOI: 10.1177/0887302X13493128
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0887-302X

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to examine clothing as a marker of women's sexuality. Ninety-five women in their 20s - 60s participated in in-depth interviews. Many women reported concern with sexual messages others might perceive from their clothing, and judged other women's clothing on the dimensions of authenticity, morality, and appropriateness. Self- and other- clothing judgments varied by the target's age, marital status, and parental status, and for other-judgments, by social class and generation. Results suggest that women's bodies are socially monitored and that sexual subjectivity is suppressed through the stigmatization of women's sexualized dress.