Why are girls criticized because of what they wear?

Answer 1

This is very hard to answer, but here we go. It all goes back to sexuality and political power. Men are attracted to women. If women don't dress nice enough to get the attention of guys, then they are criticized as antisocial or being attracted to other women. If they dress to the point they get a lot of attention from guys, then they may be called loose, provocative, and many ugly things that are not appropriate to say on this site. The ladies who dress to either extreme are not respected. If they dress too "frumpy," they are seen as cold, frigid, or old fashioned but if they wear revealing clothes as to attract lots of guys, they are not respected either. They may be popular but not respected.

However, it doesn't stop there. Not only do clothes signify sexual attitudes and availability to men, they also send messages to other women. Women tend to be more social and interact in groups. A lot of their sense of worth comes from being accepted by a group. So the clothes signify if a given woman/girl shares the attitudes of whatever group. Preppy and snobby girls put more emphasis on dressing sophisticated and a bit on the sexy side, and they tend to go for the guys who have the most status. They hold themselves out as exclusive in an attempt to drive up their own status and the status of their entire group. So a girl who steps outside of that and befriends a guy with status without going through the girls who have status is bound to have serious trouble with the girls with status. Either that, or the guy loses his status.

On a smaller level, trouble with girls over what one is wearing often has its roots in jealousy. So if a girl dresses too nice for what is perceived to be "her place" in society (as judged by her family, schooling, friends, job, etc.), other girls, both in and outside her perceived group will be jealous, and on multiple levels. If a girl is "moving up," then her own group may see her as a traitor, see her as abandoning them, and accuse her of being too good for them. The target group sees her as an outsider in the way looking to take from them what is theirs and be what she's not. And of course if any guys are involved, then it becomes personal.

Yet, it doesn't even stop here. There is also the media. In many ways, it is the media who gives celebrities their status. The media gives them a venue to show off who they are, and the media influences how people view them. The media of course is owned by influential people, advertisers, bankers, and so on, and they have political ties. So if a celebrity says or does something that threatens the establishment, she faces bullying or shunning by the media. So those who want to keep their status act and dress according to what those paying their bills want. Those who are too independent are shunned because they are unpredictable and could say or do something to hurt someone influential at some point. If some celebrity woman has already broken some rules, then things that signify her style of dress may either be ridiculed, mocked, or ironically, celebrated. If the public hates the special interest group in question, then those who dress like the "discredited" celebrity might get positive attention.

If we must sum this up, women and girls are criticized for what they wear out of jealousy, them not being willing to be a "team player," or because of the power or perceived power they have, and this power threatens others.