Oh darlings, I wish I had time to properly discuss this article about socially acceptable gender-appropriate ways of using one’s body.
I am sorry that the author and the researchers seem to have no historical context for their study. If they had extended their context a bit, this article may have included insights about the general North American shift from formal to informal culture in business and in social settings. In the 19th century, for instance, no gentleman would have EVER sat sprawled out with knees splayed. It would have been considered a huge impropriety and an insult to everyone else present. For heaven’s sake, men didn’t even take off their collars or roll up their sleeves in 100 degree heat!
There was a time, not so very long ago, when proper comportment was a concern to all people who wanted to be seen as respectable in society. How and why that concern degenerated over the years is beyond the scope of little ole PeaceBang’s blog here, but it is not as simple as “men have power and can be sloppy and throw their weight around” (literally — did you see Toronto Mayor Rob Ford barrel into his City Councilwoman Pam McConnell) and women have to contain themselves or be thought slovenly and not worthy of respect.
This a huge class issue. I don’t have time to get into right now — big ministry day — but I’m sorry the article didn’t delve a bit more into that aspect of the gendering of social comportment and body position.
Cheerio! Shoulders back, good posture sitting or standing! Go be beautiful in the world and shine it on, sweetlings!
I’ve had a few moments in life wondering about this topic, but not from the point of view of gender. But from that of income. It seems to me that when I was a kid, there was huge pressure on my dad to “dress up” for work (city government and insurance sales). You were supposed to look more prosperous (even if you were not) to foster a sense of authority at city hall, and of financial security in insurance sales.
But I wonder? When Dad retired a few years ago, he didn’t dress up as much for the same jobs he always worked. He said there was pressure to dress down so people could identify with you. You didn’t want to seem “better than” the people you were selling to. Would it be experienced as snotty, or lording-it-over others? Is mandatory informality a sub-conscious effort to erase income distinctions? If so, this too is doomed to failure. The high earners simply buy high end casual clothing (sometimes with distinct brand labels), while the low-enders buy from discount retailers (sometimes with distinct sloppy fits and low-grade fabric quality).
Pure speculation on my part.