CLOTHING MAKETH THE MAN All these comments about Heortling men wearing 'womens' clothing, Gori wearing 'mens' clothing have a top-down air about them that says more about our culture than Heortling. Who's defining these gender distinctions anyway? What sort of sense to they make to Heortlings 'on the ground'? People wear *appropriate* clothing, and the obsession about whether it is gendered or not seems to be positively Solar. Nakedness, kilted men and trousered women are all appropriate and natural in certain circumstances in Heortling culture, and you'd have to have the hangs up of a Yelmalian to see anything particularly gender-bound in any of it.
BTW, when clothing transgressions *do* become an issue, its usually to do with threats to cultural status. The following two-sentence example is illustrative rather than definitive (the issue is complex) but it presents the essential idea. In our society overthe last fifty to one hundred years, women wearing traditional 'mens' clothing (trousers, jeans etc.) has become accepted, but men wearing traditional 'womens' clothing (frocks, skirts and associated signifiers) is still scandalous in most contexts. Its a cultural status thing - its accepted that people will strive for and emulate and associate themselves with symbols of 'high' status (and you can provide a few hundred examples of this yourself) but it upsets the traditional lexicon when those of 'high' status' seek to emulate those of 'low' status (men wearing frocks, 'working class' accents, punk clothing, etc.) Clothing scandals are often implicitly about the status of men vs women.
Cheers
John
nysalor_at_primus.com.au John Hughesjohnp.hughes_at_dva.gov.au
My girl is the queen - of ten villages
We live - on the fruits of her pillages
She eats other queens - she's very religious
She doesn't use a fork
I don't think I'll go back to New York.
- - Stephin Merrit, 69 Love Songs.
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