The Emperor's Nude Clothes

I suppose this could also be titled "The Great Divide" or something like that as I ultimately am writing about practice of grouping. People seem to agree that there are fundamental things which split us into different categories. I think the first is alive versus dead. I can't think of a more dynamic potential difference between two people. I think the second is sex. While there is a wide range of expression of human sexuality, the issue of being male or female is second only to being alive or dead. For those who choose to disagree with this, I would point out that the moment a child is born, stereotypically, the first announcement regarding the child is its sex. And, in one way or another, we carry our maleness or femaleness through our entire life and it affects every thing we do and every relationship we have.

The third great divider may not be expected. I argue that it is clothing. More than any other sensory clue, our costume identifies, separates, categorizes, and divides in immediate and profound ways. We certainly take clues from sound and smell and touch (and occasional taste), but our sight and how we see and are seen is the ultimate social message of who we are.

This is true for two reasons. First of all, we cloth ourselves. What we put on is a deliberate act and carries a message of how we want to be seen. Some might profess to not care what they wear but that fact, by definition, carries message about who they are and how they want to be seen. Some will be defined by what they wear; others will be defined by what they won't wear. So far, I am not suggesting anything other than the simple fact that what we wear is communicative. There is no ethical or moral component to my comment.

The second reason is that all dressing has, at it's root, costuming. Not only are we saying something about who we are, but we are also providing very detailed information about what we want others to see when they look at us. The costume of a doctor is different than the costume of a priest. The costume of a farmer is different than the costume of a cross dresser. While the variety is immense, we are socially fine tuned to observe the appearance of others and to assimilate that information into our relationships.

 
I believe there is an obverse example which shows this truth quite shockingly. The YMCA is very popular and we are blessed to have one in such a small community. I believe that over 50% of its users qualify for some level of reduced rates. When there is a group of naked men standing in the locker room it is very difficult to determine who fits what social profile. The janitor looks a lot like the restaurateur looks a lot like the organist looks a lot like the acupuncturist when all are without clothes. Sometime the best way to proof an idea is to try the opposite and here the importance of costume certainly shows.

In addition, all of us are privy to some story in which a person is confused for being above or below their actual economic station and they are shown exceptional service they did not expect or they are belittled at the local Porsche dealership or whatever. Actually, I wonder how many of us have daydreamed of walking into some high end store with a wad of cash in our pocket while dressed in ripped jeans. Then, after getting snubbed by the salesman, we would flash our wad and walk out in smug satisfaction knowing that we had taught the crestfallen jerk a lesson.

While there is no problem dressing the role you want, there is a problem treating people with differing levels of respect and agape love based on the judgments that socially flow from the categories into which they dressingly communicate themselves. Clearly running around nude would be the best solution although I would guess we would find some new visual indicator of status and position to present. We would also go out of business so that might not be as good an idea as I first thought. In the end, of course, costume dressing will continue and should. And, like most writers, I probably write what I need to read more than anything else. So, to me (and any others who need to join), this is a reminder to celebrate the personalities that drive the clothing choices and to enjoy the discipline of having equal empathetical responses to those personalities despite the divisions of clothing. It's a wacky and wonderful world.