History has its eyes on your dress
Ever since I was little, I was told that I focused too much on my appearance, regarding what clothes I wore, how I did my hair, even how much makeup that I put on. How can girls possibly find the inspiration to not care about how others view them in an ever-changing and ‘love yourself’ era when we are exposed to the ideal that after we die, despite the accomplishments we’ve made, we are only going to be recalled for how we looked on a certain day or event.
After visiting Washington D.C. over spring break, I was excited to immerse myself into the American history that D.C. is famous for. However, I quickly concluded that the way in which history is depicted and recalled is very different if you were a woman compared to if you were a man in the past.
While visiting the Smithsonian on one of our schedule-free days, I was eager to see the presidents’ exhibit that I had heard so much about along with the attached first ladies exhibit. The presidents’ exhibit was filled with lists of accomplishments and depictions of groundbreaking discoveries and contributions made by each of the men
Moving onto the first ladies however, I was floored, and not in a good way. As soon as you step into the exhibit, guests are met with a long row of dresses from each first lady with the single caption of each dress stating the designer and the material. If you pan to the right however, you’re met with each of the table settings that that first lady had chosen for the house with a possible depiction of how their physique or dressing style was scandalous at the time, and that was pretty much it.
Eleanor Roosevelt, for example, was considered a considerable politician in her time for her contributions as a spokesperson for the United States, a press conference holder, and radio broadcaster; however the Smithsonian chose to reflect on her specific preference of dishware. As considered before, women hold just as many accomplishments in history as men; however, reflecting on women in history in matters of such simplistic domesticity as opposed to continues to put women in a seemingly inescapable box of fragility and underestimation.
I had hoped that other museums would have a different way of representing women in history, however, I quickly learned that the others weren’t much better. While men in history are recalled in terms of their effect on the world and those around them, most women are merely recalled upon as to how a choice of garment fabric had been all over the news that day. Though accurate feminist representation has come a long way, women are still viewed as mere objects of physicality and domesticity, which demonstrates the fact that the fight for recognition is far from over.
