My children believe I am a stone-age dinosaur, one of their reasons is that I’m fond of reading a physical newspaper, not just headlines on the internet. This morning together with my morning coffee, I got to read the New York Times International Edition from yesterday (Nov 9th 2023) and found an article called: ‘Women’s styles and (no) pockets’ by Vanessa Friedman; an article I would never have found online.
Wau, how did you know! this has been an issue for me since I was 15 years old, that means for more than 55 years! I strongly believe that my clothes should be comfortable to wear and be in, whether I’m at work for long hours, or at home hanging out with my children and now grandchildren, hiking or doing whatever comes into my mind. THAT you can absolutely NOT do in women’s clothing or trousers, which for me are too tight, what ever number they try to sell me, I cannot breathe and move freely and comfortably; women’s trousers are usually too short, end just below the knee, which is stupid and not comfortable. And they have no pockets!
I cannot manage my life without my driving license and ID card for work and of course a credit card, a few coins to buy a sandwich after the hospital canteen has closed; this must be in my pockets!
I do not care for fashion of colors, brand or cut, I only demand that they are comfortable and can stand heavy use.
When I lived in Scandinavia, it was not such a big problem because I always bought men’s jeans which were long enough and comfortable enough with 4 big pockets for my stuff.
But having moved to Israel, it became a problem. The sales persons are as a rule very young girls (they seem to get younger, the older I am) with colored blond hair and long fingernails red as blood, that prevent them from doing anything useful. I need number 44 or 46 depending on the brand, so when you ask the sales person to get one for me to measure. They look at me with complete indifference and tell me: “But you are not a man, it is not allowed’. My answer to that remark is “oh, you have read ‘The Second Sex’ by Simone de Beauvoir’; in that book woman is defined as ‘not been man’. Their response to my remark is usually that the indifference in their eyes turn into a scary emptiness, like somebody suddenly turned off the electricity to the computer screen; a response, that makes me wonder about the saying about what it means to be human: ‘cognito, ergo sum’ or in English ‘I think, therefore I am (Descartes, 1637).
What I usually did in these situations was to go an buy a book, instead of the trousers I needed.
Fortunately, the internet now provides me a way to buy online from NEXT, where I can get the length, color, and 4 pockets in each pair of men’s trousers I buy. I do not have to rely on ignorant and incompetent young girls who try to belittle me for not being young and male.
This scenery has probably happened to me more than 25 times over the years, but not in the last 4 years as I have stopped using the local shops.
To end this sorry tale, I have written a Haiku on it:
Woman’s right to deep
Pockets, right for men and women,
Right for humankind.
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