CRLT101

One new word that attracted me was: Utilitarian. Utilitarian means designed to be useful or practical rather than attractive. In context, this word was used like "Men's clothing must now be honest, comfortable, and practical rather than good looking.

Male Decorativeness in Cultural Perspective summarized: This section was about the difference between the way women and men dressed, as well as the difference between the way blacks and whites dressed. In the beginning of this section it was the difference between women and men. For example, on page 215 it says until the 14th century, men and women didn't dress differently. Now men's clothing must now be comfortable, while women's must be deceptive. The world has changed so much as far as clothing. Later in this section, it switched to the difference of class between men and women. Bordo brought up a great point about if you see a woman dressed "glamorously" walking a dog, you'll think that she's crazy. But if you see men dressed in tuxedo's, you'll think they're having a real serious conversation about business related stuff. Another point Bordo made is: Do you think joining elagance with violence is okay? For example, when we watch 007 and Transporter we look and say it's okay. Most females don't like violence and action movies but they love looking at the male actors. Further in this section, Bordo describes the way African-Americans dressed. The word "style" means to show-off what you've got. That's exactly what they did (during the slavery era). Back in slavery days, African American men and women dressed in the most colorful and vibrant colors for church. Whites didn't like their sense of dress and thought it was foolish, but now that's all you see. Walking down the street one would see several patterns and colors. So by the end of "Male Decorativeness in Cultural Perspective" Bordo explained both class and cultural perspectives of style and clothing choices.

Real Life Connector: From my dicussion, the real life connector had many examples. He said that you see men and women dressed in bright colors now. He also stated based on environments women and men dress differently.

Story Life Connector: Our story life connector connected this section to Wideman and Manhood in a Bottle.

Significant point: The illustrator made an interesting point, he said that not only are women interested in how they look, men are as well.