After several drunken post-exams conversations, I’ve had numerous women finally pluck up the courage to ask me how can I be a feminist and the college women’s officer when I like to dress in corsets, pencil skirts, tiny dresses and miniskirts. The truth is I simply do not subscribe to the idea that I am somehow objectifying myself for the benefit of men when I decide that I’d rather like to wear a catwoman fancy dress costume over dressing as a parcel at Christmas. The fact that it has been suggested that I am putting myself in the place of a ‘thing’, object or dehumanising myself, is quite frankly insulting as it suggests that I have no will or understanding of the way the world works. I’m an educated woman; I know exactly what I am doing when I go out. I know that man buying me a drink has no interest in my personality, life story or what I’m studying. Yet I don’t have any interest in him either, I’m just out having a good time and getting a free drink. To be honest, what business is it of yours anyway? Continue reading
