Let’s talk about this obsession we have with telling grown women how they should dress. From the Chick-fil-A line, to tabloids, to nights out in the Cotton District — how and why women should dress differently seems to be a topic that everyone everywhere can’t stop talking about. Paparazzi sell photos of celebrities without makeup or in less-than-stellar outfits for megabucks, and the media runs them and reruns them, sometimes with helpful “hints” out to the side. Because really, how dare they not look beautiful all the time?
    And you know, I get it. As a female who is told I have to look perfect every day to look feminine, I understand the vindictive pleasure that comes from calling out other women for not putting in the same time and effort we’re told we have to in order to “look our best.” I watch “What Not to Wear” marathons for hours on end as I sit on a dorm futon eating baked Cheetos and procrastinate on my linguistics essay, but at least my family has never turned me in to Stacey and Clinton for the way I dress. And while I veg-out watching girl after girl get a $5,000 makeover, I have to admit the show does some great work. It emphasizes the empowerment women can get from clothes that fit their bodies and personalities. I also have to notice the formulaic way each and every girl is shamed into feeling bad about her wardrobe choices at the beginning of each show. Sure, many of the women who go on WNTW seem to come out of the show more confident. But what are its effects on the women watching them?
    A 2012 study published in the “Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,” which studied “real women” makeover shows like WNTW, found that shows like WNTW and “How to Look Good Naked” were just as harmful to women’s body images as shows depicting solely thin women like “America’s Next Top Model.” It makes sense, since these shows prescribe very specific things women must do to be considered their “best.” However, it’s not just makeover shows that tell women how they should dress to “accentuate their positives” (implying, of course, that there’s plenty of negative). It’s hard to pick up a magazine without seeing a product that promises to augment some aspect of a woman’s body. Women are constantly being told they need to put in effort to look better.
     What is it about women’s clothing that makes us judge them on that more than we do men? Just because the fashion industry is targeted more toward women shouldn’t mean women are forced to comply with it in order to survive. (And by the way, only one-third of the top jobs in fashion are held by women, so it might be good to ask ourselves just who really benefits from all of this anyway.) Yes, Meryl Streep was fabulous in “The Devil Wears Prada,” but that doesn’t mean we need to emulate her snide remarks to Anne Hathaway in our daily life — even if that haircut she got is still on point seven years later. Fashion is absolutely valid, despite the many flaws in the industry, and so are the women who rock it. But those who don’t (and these are often the same women at different times of a single day) are equally valid.
   While women agonize day after day about how they dress, what skin care they should use, or whether or not they should wear Spanx with that dress, men can get away with being giant slobs, even on the red carpet. Various articles have been written about the recent downturn in red carpet fashion for men. After last year’s Cannes Film Festival showed this “glamour gap” reaching a new high, fashion historian Amber Jane Buchart was quoted in “The Guardian” as saying, “Red carpet dressing for women has become about creating a look that is almost superhuman, and this reflects a broader truth about modern celebrity: that women must achieve perfection to avoid criticism, while men have an easier ride.”
   But wait, you say. Fashion limits men far more than women. If a man wears more than the requisite slacks and polo, he gets funny looks. Women have much more choice. You’re absolutely right, and that’s where we get to the true problem with this whole affair. Despite the fact that fashion is a multi-million dollar industry dominated by men, it is still seen as a female concept. Women are forced to care about their looks, but if a man does the same, he is being trivial or feminine. Not only do we tell women they absolutely must dress like Stacey London to avoid ridicule, we at the same time tell them that to worry about their looks is petty and valueless.
   Quite frankly, I’m over it  — this whole obsession with fashion policing women while we allow guys to walk around in their khakis and T-shirts and don’t say anything about it. A woman is preoccupied with something other  than fashion for a split second, and we cast her in a none-too-friendly makeover segment. As for me, I’m done with it. I’ll wear what I want when I want, and not criticize any other woman who does the same.