What is Gender Mystique about?
This newsletter is the clippings and scraps of a Big Thing I am working on. It might turn out to be a book, but it might also just end up as one of a million Substack newsletters. I am not wedded to the title Gender Mystique; we are not even engaged.
Gender Mystique examines the turmoil around sexuality, gender identity and expression from the perspective of a person born in 1949 who has devoted over forty years to the study of dress and gender. Or it might examine dress and fashion through its relationship to the turmoil around sexuality, gender identity and expression. I also plan to reassess my own research in the light of current research on sex/gender science. Sometimes I will focus on my personal experiences as consumer.
Some questions on my mind:
How does my work since 1980 reflect changing understandings of sex, sexuality and gender? What would I revise, replace, or retract?
How did growing up in the 50s and 60s influence my gender identity and my clothing preferences?
How have my personal experiences shaped my research?
As a retired and recovering academic, I am trying to re-learn how to write in plain English. Bear with me.
About me:
According to ChatGPT,
“Jo B. Paoletti is a notable American scholar and author known for her work in the fields of fashion and gender studies. She is best known for her research on the history and cultural significance of children's clothing and gender identity in fashion. Paoletti's work has been influential in shedding light on the ways in which clothing and fashion contribute to the construction of gender roles and identity.
My version: I’m a semi-famous dress historian, trying to explain what I observed in clothing trends. I wrote my 1980 dissertation about the introduction and acceptance of the modern business suit. I’ve written about how pink and blue baby clothes became an unquestioned tradition. I’ve written about unisex trends in the 1960s and 70s.
For decades, I depended on the experts in gender science to help me explain what all those patterns and changes meant. The problem that the field was moving too fast. I read my old work and realize that my history was solid, but my interpretation is outdated. But it’s worse than that. I look around at my fellow Americans and can see that gender science has them not only confused, but skeptical and even angry. I’m in no position to explain the gender science; hell, I can’t even understand their jargon half the time. But I can explain what I left out, what I got wrong, and how I would revise my thinking, if the academic world allowed do-overs. I’m retired, so they can’t punish me now.
Wish me luck.
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