Even though I do, I don't do this...

Okay, so as I think all of you have read by now, Tony and I are getting married. I think that's pretty damned cool (notice the understatement here). This means we are now planning a wedding, and avoiding the chaos of run-of-the-mill, white, lacey, overly bride focused goo. That is where this blog entry found it's inspiration....

As I was perusing the uber corporate 'David's Bridal Boutique' website, generally looking at dresses and the rest of their tulle and chiffon clad entrapments, I noticed a section in their "boutique" titled To-Be-Wed Wear. First of all, why anyone would want to wear something advertising their relationship status, and certainly thumbing their noses at anyone who isn't equally "blissful," is beyond me! Second, if perchance that kind of public display of affection, attachment, what ever you want to call it, is your thing wouldn't you want to do so in a more long lasting way? I mean, is some made in India cotton garment that is going to fade, fray and tear, really the way you want to think of your commitment to your sweetie?

As much as those two issues disrupt my sense of inner peace, they are not why I sat here to share with you and rant about something I find deeply disturbing. Allow me then, to lead you to several of the products that they advertise as part of this "collection." The items in question are all underwear, specifically women's panties. There is the "Bride Thong," the "Dreaming of... Boyshort," the "Future Mrs. Boyshort," and the "Mrs. Thong." I hope I don't have to tell you how utterly ridiculous I find this. But since you're not here to calm me down...

I can't decide what is worse, that these "products" exist at all, or the fact that hundreds of brides will purchase this tripe not thinking about what these communicate. At best these garments are sexist and smack of a return to 1950's gender roles, and at worst they subtly condone and encourage the idea of the woman as nothing more than property of her fiance/husband whose sole purpose is to embellish his prestige. And how does this happen? By plastering these ideas all over the physical center of her sexuality.

WTF? Has women's equality lost so much ground that now not only are the women of my generation trying to find justification for their own lives by handing over their own identity for that of anyone else's, but much worse they are allowing someone to stamp his name on their body as if it were a tag of ownership.

A quick note to those of you who may not be familiar with this weblog... Please find a collection of activist websites to your right. Many of those are feminist. Visit them, frequently. At each you will not only find valuable and edifying articles about women's issues in today's political climate, but you will also find different ways to become involved in something yourself. Please, don't be a part of what I fear to be the majority of this generation, too blinded by prescribed roles and a consumerist fever to actually stand for something.