It is not a secret that in fashion, personal care, and hygiene, women pay mor ethan men do. I’m intentionally using the binary because that’s what most products are marketed at and as–men and women. A woman’s t-shirt will cost more than the male version because, ostensibly, it takes more tailoring. Uh huh. You would think it would be the opposite because it takes more fabric/material to make men’s clothing (in general) than women’s, but no.
There’s a phenomenon called the pink tax that posits that women pay more for the same item than men do. I just read a paper that says it’s not true because the products aren’t truly the same. But ,she hastened to add that her next area of study is WHY women feel it’s necessary to buy products that have more ingredients–such as deodorant with moisturizer. She says it isn’t that the items themselves cost more but that women have a bigger basket of items, that have a wider range in price.
Her broader point is that if you buy an item that is truly the same (like a basic deodorant), you’re not paying much more either way. So in my example of the fitted shirt, maybe it’s that it’ss because it’s not exactly the same as a men’s t-shirt? And you could argue it takes more time and design? Or it could just be because they can. That makes more sense to me at this point.
The reason I’m writing about this is because I’m buying black booty shorts. I have a bunch that I’ve bought before that are great. I can no longer find them. They are simple black women’s boxers that hug the ass. I can’t find them in black any longer. This is one of my biggest aggravation about clothing–it’s so hard to find women’s clothing in just. plain. black.
In fact, this was the reason that I started shopping online in the first place. Decades ago, I was looking for a pair of black tennis shoes. So simple, right? Well, not if you’re a woman, apparently. I went to the mall with my mother. We went to so many stores, and I could not find a single pair of black tennis shoes. It does not help that I have fat feet, but still. I could find teal tennis shoes. White tennis shoes. And, sadly, many pink tennis shoes. But one pair of black tennis shoes? Nope!
I went online and never looked back.
But now I think it migtht be time to switch to men’s clothing. I used to wear men’s boxers, but now I’m switching to booty shorts because I finally have junk in the trunk. It’s seventeen years of Taiji that’s given me some cushion for the pushin’. I am Asian. I have had no ass for most of my life. I know it sounds like a small thing to complain about, but I hated not having an ass. It was so flat. Then, about ten years into studying Taiji, I realized that I was starting to get a booty. And not just a hint of one, but an actual booty. Junk in the trunk. Like what what.
I mentioned it excitedly to Ian that I now had a booty and he said diffedently that he had noticed. I was so pleased! It wasn’t just me being eager to see something that wasn’t there. It’s not a huge booty, I’ll grant you. It’s no Nicki Minaj booty, but it’s there! And it’s squeezable.
I’ve joked with my Taiji teacher that she should advertise this as a bonus of Taiji–getting a booty.
How many times can I say booty? Many, apparently.
My point is that I don’t mind emphasizing it now. More to the point, I glory in it. That’s why I want the booty shorts that will accentuate the positives.
There’s navy, gray, dark gray, white, and other boring colors. In XXL, there’s pink and other frou-frou colors. But where is my black? Nowhere. It’s so frustrating because I love the shorts! I’m wearing them now. Why did they discontinue the black ones? I don’t get it. It wouldn’t have been hard for them to continue on with the black.
I have branched out a bit into dark red–which is my second favorite color. The last shirt I bought was a dark red tunic with flowers on it. I look cute as hell in it. That paired with black flowing pants? Yeah , that’s a great look.
Look. I like black. Black is my favorite color. It has been for decades. It’s one of the reasons I got two black cats. I mostly wear black. I would love to have black walls except I know that will suck the light out of the room. I also know that it would probably make me depressed.
I will say that one of the reasons I like wearing all black clothing is because it’s easy to match clothing that way. In addition, I have so many sensory issues, that I’ like to pare it down. Black cotton is basically what I wear. I’ve let my ear holes close, too, because I’ve had so many infections with my ear holes. I used to have five in my right ear and four in my left ear. I let them all close, but would occassionally put in earrings in the bottom holes, but I gave up for the pandemic. Mostly because I didn’t leave the house.
Here’s the thing, though. I’ve spent decades trying to wear earrings. When I first got my ears pierced, I was sixteen. One of them got infected. I also got my belly button piercet at one point, and it kept weeping for a year. I gave up and took it out, but I still have a scar from it. As for my ear holes, they kept getting intermediately infected. I just can’t any longer.
I could never wear the shitty cheap jewelry. I worked for Claire’s Boutique, and I bought several earrings from them. Many of them made my ears infected. Plus, the earrings themselves turned green. I found out after a decade or so that I could not wear cheap earrings. Not even like 14K earrings. Sterling silver was fine and then stainless steel. I like silver than gold, anyway, so I did not have an issue with that. Platinum probably would have been fine, too, and now, titanium. But they never felt comfortable. I was always aware that they were in my ears. I feel nothing but relief about letting that go.
I don’t wear underwear, either. My goal is to wear as little as possible. That’s my life goal. To wear nothing at all–and to not care about it.