Let me describe my daily struggles with my clothing: I spend 90% of the week in some kind of tunic top and leggings, which means an outfit entirely void of pockets. The miraculous days I actually manage to put on pants aren’t much better in the pocket department. I only own one pair of pants with functioning front pockets, leaving many opportunities for my phone to almost tumble out of my back pockets when I forget it’s there. My solution to both of these problems is usually to either stuff my keys, my wallet, and my phone in the waistband of my leggings or in either side of my bra. Which reminds me. Dear Patriarchy, if you’re going to force me to wear a bra on a regular basis, then I reserve the right to use it to its full capacity of storage space. This means you should stop giving me dirty looks when I have to begin a personal body pat down when I can’t find my ID.
All of this is to say that I need more pocket space. This need for compartments in my clothing is ever so evident when winter rolls around. It’s cold outside. I want to be able to walk to class with my hands comfortably tucked into the warmth of my pants and jackets. Instead, my hands are usually freezing and cracking from dryness. I hadn’t ever considered this issue to be a sexist issue until I saw an article about it on Facebook. Then it all made sense. Pocket denial is just another way to keep us subservient. Our fake pockets in our jeans are just a representation of women’s status in society. We are objects, symbols rather than subjects. Deep stuff, right?
One of the more surface level reasons we don’t have pockets is because they apparently ruin the lines of our clothes. Pockets on the hips create bulging where designers tell us we don’t want bulging. Personally, I just want pockets, I couldn't give a damn about how my hips look after I put my phone and money next to them.
Think of men’s suits. By my calculations, men could have as many as eight accessible pockets when wearing a suit. I’ve owned a pantsuit before. You know how many actual pockets I had? A grand total of two. Two functioning pockets in the entire outfit. That suit cost me about $60, and if I had wanted to find a suitable bag to go along with this suit, I probably would have paid at least another $50. I don't want to spend more money for an outfit. On the contrary, I want space to hold the little money I have.
All I want are pockets in my favorite dresses and skirts. We have been able to accomplish many amazing feats in this world, I think inventing functional pockets in women’s clothing is going to be the next great thing. I don’t want to be hampered down by all of the things I carry with me on a daily basis. I have things to do! It’s not like our fashion designers aren’t talented enough to figure out an outfit that both meets their standards of beauty and our standards of function. Come on, guys, I believe in you. Give me pockets, or I WILL spend the next decade trying to bring cargo pants back.
(Seriously, Google, “why doesn't women's clothing have pockets” and you will be amazed at the amount of articles on this topic.)
