Liza Featherstone :
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Sometimes this not trying can represents a kind of arrogance and privileged smugness-- the sloppiness of many men for instance. When I first met with my publishers to get a contract for my book, I wore a suit. My editor (female) said, "I've seen so many male authors wear whatever they felt like to these meetings. I've never seen a female author do that." Now, there's certainly something to Charles's shrewd observation about concern for appearances among the oppressed that applies here. But that doesn't make disregard for one's looks a virtue. Many white and straight men can still get a date and a job even if they look like hell -- but they're still a blight on the visual environment.
Liza
^^^^^^^
CB: No doubt. I'm thinking women are an oppressed group, so their dressing better than men in general might fit the generalization of the oppressed dressing-up for social self-defense.
I agree with those on this thread who have suggested that women, in general, take responsibility for the aesthetic and sensual qualities of our lives more than men do. I'll say "straight men", if that is not stereotyping.
In this regard , I like to consider the myth of "The Beauty and the Beast."