Maliciousness in memes: #boganmovies and #tightsarenotpants

[sqbr]

Maliciousness in memes: #boganmovies and #tightsarenotpants

I always feel a bit self conscious ranting about class, since the more I think about it the more I realise that for all their left wing ideals my parents are basically middle class bohemians slumming it because they find the rat race too stressful. I never entirely fit in to the working class culture I grew up in, and have few connections to it now. Plus being a "working class" Australian in the suburbs in the 80s was in some ways less difficult than, say, what a lot of ostensibly lower middle class Americans are experiencing now.

Then again, I guess the fact that despite these cushioning effects I've still experienced enough classism to feel pretty angry about it is testament to how totally not class free Australia is.

Anyway, yes. The cheerful way that ostensibly left wing middle class people mock and belittle the working class and people from rural areas is gross. (And I wish this went without saying, but I don't want to see any of it in my comments)

Comments

[woldy]

I hadn't heard about the Tightsarenotpants thing before, but I'm not convinced it's a class issue in the part of Canada I live in. Here, it seems to be trendy middle class teens and young twenty-somethings who wear leggings, so if anything opposition to leggings is ageist. In some cases people go out in public wearing hosiery ('tights' as the Brits would understand the term, i.e. transparent or translucent legwear intended to go under skirts) instead of pants/trousers, and I recall coming out of a public library in one of the wealthiest parts of town and being unexpectedly confronted by a graphic view of a young woman's buttcrack, because she was wearing translucent black 'tights' instead of trousers/pants and a thong that did not cover the areas that should* be covered in public. I thought it was breaching the boundaries of public decency, and it was certainly TMI, regardless of the woman's income, wealth, occupation, or education level.

Perhaps the piece you've linked to is only saying that the 'tights are not pants' opinion is classist in Australia, and if so then I may be straying off the point. However, if that piece was trying to make a broader claim about the politics of opinions regarding leggings/hosiery across all contexts, then I respectfully disagree with the author's claims on the leggings issue.

* The should is both 'by convention' and 'by municipal law', the latter of which allows toplessness for both men and women in city streets, but requires that both men and women are clothed in a way that conceals genitalia etc. from the waist down (unless they're on a nudist beach).

[sqbr]

Yeah, I'm not anywhere near as certain of the classism in #tightsarenotpants, I take much more issue with the more unambiguous #boganmovies. And either way there's nothing wrong with having a problem with tights as pants in principle, especially the sort of example you gave.

That said, I think this sort of situation can combine legitimate criticism with classism etc. You have to ask: why is this unfortunate fashion choice a popular source of ridicule? Why does making fun of it appeal to people so much that it's a popular meme? I mean, I don't know, maybe there are similar memes about clothing which is generally associated with well off people, I guess the hipster mocking kind of does that. But I think it's worth thinking about.

[meloukhia]

It's absolutely used in classist and body policing ways in the United States.

As you (may?) know, I write a lot about rural issues in the US because it's something that is not well covered or addressed by the 'progressive left.' There are clear intersections between poverty and rural areas and I find the complete writeoff of any place that's not San Francisco, New York, or Los Angeles despicable to a high degree.

[sqbr]

*nods*

I'm very grateful to several friends of mine from the country who have opened my eyes to the unjustified and toxic attitudes directed towards anyone not from the city. It's certainly not something I'd thought about much before meeting them, despite having a very "progressive" upbringing.

[woldy]

If I hadn't read the piece you linked to then I'd have assumed the 'tightsarenotpants' site was hipster mockery. The people I've seen wearing leggings/tights here are the American Apparel crowd, so it seemed like there was a definite overlap with hipsterdom.

That said, I think this sort of situation can combine legitimate criticism with classism etc. Yes, I can totally see this. Historically in the UK and North America, enforcing 'public decency' has involved policing the sexuality and dress of poor women, so it's a difficult area.

[lilacsigil]

I think that the "tights are not pants" and "leggings are not pants" arguments are used in classist and body-hating ways in Australia - the judgement is usually applied to young working-class women (it used to be "don't go out in your tracky pants" until expensive sportswear showed up) and/or fat women and/or working-class older women who are not being "classy". While there are definitely fashionable, thin young women who wear tights and leggings as pants, they're not the ones who are criticised for it (and I say this as a person who has been publicly mooed at while wearing leggings under a knee-length dress!)

Disconnected thoughts.

[gretel]

The tights not pants thing is interesting.

Mostly because I noticed it first on Claremont women and my italian 'not' family before noticing it on young (poor?) girls. I'm guessing given I've now seen them in supra and sweet valley they're relatively cheap now. I wonder what order this all came in. Is it like ugg boots?

I have to admit to irrational anger at the concept of 'jeggings' because well, jeans are meant to be tough and somewhat protective! I

I wonder if the unpopularity of the recent 'new' wonder woman outfit had anything to do with this.

Re: Disconnected thoughts.

[sqbr]

I remember leggings being common in all levels of society at various points in the 90s, I'm not sure what the history is.

I wonder if the unpopularity of the recent 'new' wonder woman outfit had anything to do with this.

HMM. Interesting question!