Comparing Frith's Article 'Clothing And Embodiment'

According to Hannah Frith and Kate Gleeson’s article “Clothing and Embodiment: Men Managing Body Image and Appearance”, It is often assumed that men are uninterested in fashion and clothing.— However, Frith and Gleeson argue that men do engage in modifying their appearance, via clothing practices, to conform to the idealized male body— that is tall, muscular and slim. Their research focuses on clothing practices as a form of body management, while exploring men’s feelings and whether they use clothing to alter appearance of their body. Thematic analysis has revealed four key items to managing the body image and appearance. Those four are practicality of clothing choices, lack of concern about appearance, using of clothing to conceal or reveal

He shrugs and nods at whatever I present him with, showing a lack of interest. However, considering he does have skinny arms- he seems to show greater disapproval for sleeveless and/or skin tight shirts(knowing they would extenuate his “not-ideal-arms”). Although his facial expressions display a lack of interest, his choice of clothing demonstrates- that he, like other men- actually does care! Furthermore, I would like to extend Frith’s and Gleeson’s discussion by arguing that the impression that the men do not care is related to “Doing Gender”, a term coined by Candace West and Don Zimmerman. This facade furthers a system through which individuals are judged in terms of their failure to success to meet gendered societal expectations. These men are not failing to show interest in their clothing practices/ body appearance because they genuinely do not care. It is because a “man” is expected to show interest in other things like “cars or tools”, not in “clothes”. Showing any concern in conditions mismatched to their gender(such as clothes), puts them at risk of being judged or labeled as flamboyant, “gay” or