Hi girls! You ever notice how female clothing is backwards from mens clothes? It's contradictory to everything we do in life! the buttons are left handed and the zippers are left handed!! this drives me nuts!!! why is this?? Don't get me wrong, it's actually cute watching my left hand try so hard to be right that it's just all wrong.. but really..why is this? some kind of attempt for society to indoctrinate the female species into an opposite way of life? thanks girls!
XOXOXO
Opposites attract: I think I took this concept of physics a bit toooo personally!!Hetero, Gay, Lesbian, Bi, TG, TS, TB, BP, BS, ET....I know I fit in there somewhere...but who cares!!! Happiness: lies in self progress, truth, love, and tolerance. I'm Me! No one else can be me but me. Ironic: is how society made me embarrassed to go out in public, and yet the biggest reason I wanna go out is to seek their approval.
I think it dates back to the middle ages when the servants would dress the lady of the house. Since they were standing opposite them, the buttons would be on the "right" side. At least that's what I was told!
put on a few woman's blouses and you get used to it
You ever stop to think that maybe it is us males that are backward?? It is cute though when I put on a male belt and want to put it on in reverse like women do and the same goes for the buttons.
Ya, and on US boats the steering wheel is on the right side of the boat and in New Zeland and Australia the boat steering wheel is on the left side.
What's gurl to do??
Hi Joan! who told you this? lol That actually makes sense....but how could it carry through all the way to these days...worldwide?? I suppose it could but it seems a stretch doesn't it? I don't know. I think there's something else goin on here..Originally Posted by Joan_CD
XOXOX
Opposites attract: I think I took this concept of physics a bit toooo personally!!
Hey Allie Lol I was thinking that but it was too much to type and the reality is that neither is really backward. I actually forgot how to put my male belts on...and I wear them fairly frequently. really :/
You mean there's a male and female way of putting on a belt? I always just threaded it through to match the overlap on the zipper. If that came from the left then the buckle was on the left and so on....
I don't wear women's clothes, I wear MY clothes !
We learn things new everyday. From what I learned, and it could be wrong, a male threads his belt to the left while a female threads her belt to the right. But, I have also seen women thread it on the male side. Anyway, who looks at belts when we have the total outfit to analyze?
The forgetfulness/confusion with belts, zippers and buttons is like driving a manual transmission car all the time (I do) and then needing to drive an automatic transmission car. My left foot (right foot for you other side of the pond drivers) is always pawing for the clutch petal when I come to a stop.
I always run the belt to the right LOL
This is actually the most commonly accepted reasoning for woman's clothing being "backwards".
The servants were also the tailors back then. So in order to make it easier for them to dress the lady of the house they would reverse the buttons so that to them they were correct.
Female peasants, servants, ect. clothing was the same as mens.
When nicer better made clothing become available to a broader range of people that was just something that continued along with it.
About the only piece of clothing that has wholeheartedly upheld that tradition is the womans button down blouse.
Yes sometimes you will see the occasional pair of pants or skirt with a left sided flap, but most are on the right, same as mens, these days.
I guess since I am left handed, it's not hard at all, it just seems more natural to me.
Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don't worry 'bout what you don't know
Life's a dance you learn as you go
Buttons were carved from ivory or bone way back when. They were susposed to be expensive. Only the upper class had clothing with buttons. Others wore pull over or tunic style tops. The buttons on womens clothes were placed to make it easier for those assisting her to fasten them. Don't know where that all comes from, probably read it somewhere!!
Gee, it's starting to sound like I was right!!! : )
The convention is slowly becoming unisex. It is becoming rare to find slacks with the zipper on the woman's side. When will they eradicate the button difference.
I think if you look a little harder you will find many women's pants also have the zipper flap on the left just like the guys. Patterns though will have the flap on the right (correct) side for women's pants. Also, a lot of size tags you will find on the opposite side, and they are in sizes 8, 10 12, where men's pants are something like 34/30, women's are 18T or 18W, 18PW. That can also be a give-away about whose clothing you are wearing. If your shirt tag says petite it's women's clothing. Also, zippers on pants used to be either on the side or the back or no zipper, but now that clothing seems to be merging, you will probably find more "male" sided things.
Last edited by busker; 06-06-2012 at 11:11 PM.
That also helps explain all the back zips on ladies dresses. I KNOW GGs can't ALL be double jointed! Most of those dresses COULD have them on the side if not the front!
U can't keep doing the same things over and over and expect to enjoy life to the max. When u try new things, even if they r out of your comfort zone, u may experience new excitement and growth that u never expected.
Challenge yourself and pursue your passions! When your life clock runs out, you'll have few or NO REGRETS!
All my bottoms (skits and shorts) have the flip in the "mans" way, but my blouses are the opposite
I honestly don't realize this any more. Although I think what other have said was right, it was from medieval times when women need help getting into their clothes. Things were a lot more poofy back then! Maybe I should find out where I read that, wikipedia maybe.....
No, no, no, no, no.
That's SUCH an androcentric view. It's not the women who have it backward, it's the men's clothing that's done up wrong. I have never understood why men do all their buttons, snaps, and zippers backwards. It sort of reminds me of their thinking. Backwards too.
S
It's not about being male-centric. Back then, males would dress themselves which is why the buttons are on a particular side while women, especially nobles, would have their servants dress them.
Women's buttons are the backwards one.
And not all men are backwards in their thinking. That is so sexist and bigoted.
Posted by AllieSF
"The forgetfulness/confusion with belts, zippers and buttons is like driving a manual transmission car all the time (I do) and then needing to drive an automatic transmission car. My left foot (right foot for you other side of the pond drivers) is always pawing for the clutch petal when I come to a stop. "
Hi Allie
I've driven on both sides of the pond. The pedal arrangement is the same in the US and the UK, we use the left foot for the clutch as well :-). I found the biggest problem was going between and auto and a manual gearbox. I'm used to a manual ( stickshift ? ) and until I learned to tuck my left foot out of harm's way I sometimes pressed down with my left foot when approaching a junction, 'thinking' I was operating the clutch when in fact I was stomping on the brake pedal. Some cars can stop really quickly when you do that !
Hugs
Rachel
Last edited by Rachel Newark; 06-07-2012 at 01:28 AM. Reason: refining reply.
They're not womans clothes, they're mine. I have receipts !
The difference in male and female button positions is based custom
Women of quality had servants to help them dress so they butto right over left to make it easier for the servant to work them
Men wore swords as a common practice
Male jackets button right over left so that the hilt of their sword did not catch on the jacket opening
Common people copied those styles in their dress
the custom still carries on today
I have read the same thing about ladies of yesteryear being dressed Joan! Though with belts, the military really drummed in that "the male is always right" (Before any GGs get upset, the pointy (male) end of the belt should be on your right hand side)!
Offhand I'd say because it takes longer so we can enjoy our dressing more.
Second star to the right and straight on till morning
Posting Permissions
