Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Do men like women who look like 'housewives'?

             The other day, a friend told me that I looked like a perfect housewife. Well, she was not aware of my feminist ideas and was confused by the shocked look on my face when she made this observation. However, it got me thinking about looking like society's idea of a 'housewife'. Although a wife can take any form, I believe that society's idea of a housewife is somewhat akin to the perfect 1950s homemaker who wears high heels while she scrubs the inside of the refridgerator. And, are men more attracted to this ideal? Even further, are they more attracted to women who look like housewives than they are to women who look like 'working women'?
               Of course, it will depend on the person. However, men may tend to be more attracted to a woman who looks like a housewife because 'she' (not necessarily that woman, but the woman she embodies through her clothes) will provide him with a beautified, clean, perfect home with a white picketed fence; this vision is ideal and gives the man the security that he has filled out society's idea of a perfect lifestyle. I found a few items of clothing that reminded me of 1950s housewives while browsing online...
            While these outfits are no doubt stylish and refined, they do look like an outfit that a 1950s housewife would select from her closet before an early morning run to the grocery store. I do not know whether a typical man would be more attracted to a woman who looked like she stepped out of the 1950sbecause of the security that ideal provides, but it makes sense to me.

 

2 comments:

  1. Yes, that housewife comment was quite strange :P-- I think the security factor is a good observation, but another reason a man may dig those pictures also has to do with the shape of the woman-- tall, lean, well-developed curves. If you can recall, when Hillary Clinton was running for president, people constantly obsessed over her business attire and how she looked. I think that people today are more aware that not all women will take the housewife role, but the focus on the looks and overall appearance of a woman are still deeply ingrained in society's mind(basically, her "sex appeal"), much more so than the focus on the appearance of men.

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