Nationality:
‘
Source: Pacific Standard Magazine
Race:
Source: American Psychological Association
Class:
Source: CNN Business
Education:
Source: My image
Gender:
Source: My Image
Occupation:
Source: CFDA.com
Statement:
I think that the definitions that have been given on intersectionality by Susan B. Kaiser in her book Fashion and Cultural Studies and from the reading The Dressed Body by Joanne Entwistle are pretty self-explanatory and really speak for themselves. There is a part, in particular in Joanne’s book that states: “…these examples suggest that dress and the body exist in dialectic relationship to one another. Dress operates on the phenomenal body; it is a very crucial aspect of our everyday experiences of embodiment.” What I get out of this is exactly what intersectionality describes. I think intersectionality discusses the nature of how different social categorizations define a given individual or group and the 6 subjects that I have chosen to describe my own intersectionality map is my nationality, race, class, education, gender, and occupation. I think nationality and race go pretty hand in hand because I am of Asian ethnicity, but I am actually born in America. Although I will have this Asian background in me, I am very much heavily influenced by the culture that has become part of America, so I dress very much like people here in American rather than how people dress like in Asia. This is also probably due to the fact that I have never visited Asia, so I only know what is here in America. Another part of my intersectionality map is class. I think class definitely plays a big role in the way I dress especially because clothes come at a monetary value and what you wear depends on really what you can afford. That being said, I am of middle-class standards, so I dress what people in the middle class can afford. So what you won’t see me often in are designer brands because that is just something that I cannot afford because of my social class. Education is the next thing that I have on my map and I think I chose this because a lot of how I dress is due to my education. Now, I’m not just talking about school in specific. I’m talking more about how I’ve been educated by my parents and the people around me since I was a little girl. So, my mom always taught me to dress modestly and not showing too much skin, so that is something that I’ve adopted in my daily dress practices and it’s become natural for me because of how my mom educated me. Next is gender. Gender is a no brainer when it comes to dressing. It is not generalizing gender roles in society, but naturally, females are just built differently biologically than males are so that defines the ways that we dress. That being said, I actually dress in a lot of male clothing because I do like the oversized look. It’s no surprise that you’ll find a lot of pieces in my closet that belong to my parents, but specifically my dad because I like the look of a female wearing men’s clothing. Finally, the last subject that I have listed on my intersectionality map is occupation. For me, occupation is one of the most important pieces of this list. I’ve been working and interning in the industry since my junior year in high school and I’ve learned a thing or two about dressing for occupational periods of time. It’s important when I’m dressing that I think about the occasion in which I need to dress for and oftentimes, it’s for work.
Citations:
- Kaiser, Susan B. Fashion and Cultural Studies. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2018.
- Evans, Mary, and Ellie Lee. Real Bodies: a Sociological Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002.
