Mama Hoomster sometimes takes issue with what I wear. (I exaggerate it, sure, but whatever.) She is very offended by young women who dress whorishly (by showing their collarbones; it’s my bad luck that mine is naturally prominent) and doesn’t want me to EVER err on the side of whorish.
That’s why, when she saw this outfit for today in a Chadwick’s catalog (???) she was like YOU HAVE TO DO THIS FOR THAT BLOG THING YOU DO. ALSO YOU SHOULD TOTALLY WEAR IT.
These are the kinds of outfits Mama Hoomster likes, you guys. Outfits with blazers. Outfits that completely hide your sweater puppies. If she can make out even the slightest curve in my upper chest sweater-puppy territory, she clutches her pearls until I put something else on over it. This is why I often wear 7 layers when I’m around her, and look like a little marshmallow with toothpick legs.
I’ve often asked her if she wouldn’t just prefer that I cut holes in a box for my head and arms and wear that, to hide my sweater puppies. But then the box would bring attention to the fact that I HAVE sweater puppies, so I’d require a larger box. This discussion ends with me asking her if she’s sure she doesn’t just want me to LIVE in a box and toddle around bumping into things, and then she gets mad, ties a cold compress to her head, and goes to bed to escape my rampant, galloping whorishness.
Anyway, Mama Hoomster would still be scandalized by the lace, because lace has holes that shows the skin beneath. The skin that is TOO close to your sweater puppies for her comfort.
>:(
You guys are so whorish.
Just like me.
So here’s a Mama Hoomster-approved outfit…that still wouldn’t pass her Whorish Test. She’d probably get mad that I took the ‘decent,’ modest printed blazer she liked so much and somehow found a way to make it whorish.
Click HERE to read the post at The Working Wardrobe.
question.. what’s your stance on the whole virgin/ whore thing? I mean you use the word whore a lot, jokingly obviously… but what about the idea that calling girls whores or yourself a whore perpetuates the idea that it’s okay for guys to call girls whores. I mean what’s a whore anyway? Or a slut, in your opinion?
I know this seems a little weird to be asking this since you were clearly joking, but since you also seem to be a feminist, it just seem an odd choice of words.
I mean if someone was having sex outside of marriage, but to them it wasn’t a big deal… or if they were wearing “revealing” clothes, whatever that means. I mean, I don’t think that makes them a whore or a slut. I feel like those are just derogatory words men use to shame women into acting a certain way.
I’m Muslim, so I don’t date or anything, or have sex outside of marriage, or wear super revealing clothes, but that doesn’t mean that I think other people who have a different belief system shouldn’t be able to do what they want (as long as they’re not hurting anyone else).
Just wondering…
I don’t know how the ‘whore’ thing started. It was just me and one of my BFFs (a non Muslim) and somehow that word just worked its way in as our default insult to each other. And then it became a term of endearment, oddly.
As for ‘whorish,’ the way I use it often in these posts, usually is a reference to Angela from the Office, who has very strange ideas about sluttiness and purity, and once referred to the color green as ‘whorish.’
As for clothing, I just know my mother thinks I look like I have loose morals if my tops are too low, which they usually aren’t. I just have high, prominent collarbones, and so it looks like a top is low when it isn’t. Also, a shalwar kameez neckline can be even lower than a normal shirt’s neckline, and she’ll have a problem with the lower shirt and not the shalwar kameez. :-P Desis. #amirite
I mostly use it in a tongue in cheek way, to make fun of things that people (usually my mother) think are slutty or whatever that really….aren’t.
Also, I’m not really a feminist. I just play one on TV. Okay, bad explanation. I’m not a crazy feminist. My view of feminism comes back to rest squarely on choice: A woman should be able to do what she wants. Beyond that, I hate people that read too much into little girls playing dolls, and only buy their girls toy trucks, or don’t wear makeup at all because it’s ‘girly’ and something to revolt again. That’s crap. If a woman WANTS to wear frills and lace and makeup, she should be able to. If a woman WANTS to wear pants and no makeup and burn her bra, good for her, she should be able to. I have a very baseline, centrist view of feminism and generally tend to roll my eyes at people who stray too far to the right or left of that spectrum, just because I think on the one hand it’s limiting and restrictive and on the other, you’re reading too much into stuff that isn’t important at all, and that effort and intelligence could be better spent elsewhere.
As for guys calling girls whores because they see me doing it….I like to think that most guys reading this are intelligent enough to understand that it’s not cool. I further expect any girl with any modicum of self-respect to shut that crap down the second a guy says it. Beyond that, it’s like those kids that decide to smoke because they see a picture of Taylor Momsen doing it. It’s like, okay, if you’re that dumb…I…I can’t help you.
You make valid points about why I shouldn’t use those words, I have no problem saying that. In fact, I’ve been wondering for a long time (almost a year, really, since I started this bog) when I’d be called out on it.
To me, if I’m using the word whore or slut as a joke, it doesn’t really mean anything. I don’t ascribe any power to the word when I use it in addressing a friend, or myself, or even in a tongue-in-cheek context.
But if I’m using it seriously, I use whore/slut to refer to someone willing to compromise important values for something base. Like attention. Like money. Like a falsely attained positive image or positive reaction from others. And I make sure to make that context clear. I believe I used it that way recently in a post about the Islamic community at my mother’s private school (where I was a student for a couple of years). The people who run it have no problem reneging on their values (yes, Islamic values, basic things like honesty and integrity and looking out for the welfare and best interest of children, and treating workers fairly and paying them their fair wages and SO MUCH MORE) for money or for the power and ‘respect’ they think they have among the community.
Oddly enough, and I’m just realizing this, I usually use the word ‘whore’ seriously when I’m referring to men. And I use it in a pretty literal sense, that of people prostituting themselves for money or other similar things.
Huh. Interesting. If you don’t mind, I might use your comment and my response as the framework for a later blog post about the whore/slut thing. :) Thanks for prompting the discussion!