Genderless Fashion: A (Still) Binary Market

Abstract

Gender is commonly associated with two distinct and opposing sexes. Over time, such binarity has engendered stereotypes commonly observed in the fashion market. However, something called genderless fashion has recently gained prominence in the media. This research first posits that discourse in specialized media can influence the issues of power; we then seek to understand how the business and factual media discourse in Brazil describe the genderless fashion market through a critical discourse analysis. The results revealed essentially that the genderless fashion market still reproduces the stereotypes and gender patterns of the binary perspective.

RESUMEN

El general, el género se asocia comúnmente con dos sexos distintos y opuestos. Con el pasar del tiempo, esta binariedad ha creado estereotipos muy presentes en el mercado de la moda. Recientemente, sin embargo, ha adquirido gran notoriedad en los medios una moda sin género. Esta investigación toma en cuenta que el discurso de los medios especializados puede influir sobre temas relativos al poder, razón por la cual tratamos de entender cómo el discurso de los medios de comunicación y los hechos en Brasil describen este mercado de moda sin género, a través de un análisis crítico del discurso. Esencialmente, los resultados muestran que este mercado sigue reproduciendo estereotipos y patrones de género desde una perspectiva binaria.

RESUMO

Em geral, o gênero é associado a dois sexos distintos e opostos. Ao longo do tempo, essa binariedade gerou estereótipos muito observados no mercado da moda. No entanto, recentemente, a moda sem gênero ganhou destaque na mídia. O presente trabalho considera que o discurso da mídia especializada pode influenciar questões de poder, portanto buscamos entender como o discurso da mídia factual e de negócios no Brasil descreve o mercado da moda sem gênero por meio da análise crítica do discurso. Os resultados mostraram essencialmente que esse mercado ainda reproduz estereótipos e padrões de gênero a partir de uma perspectiva binária.

Keywords:

• Critical discourse analysis
• gender
• genderless fashion
• marketplace
• media

Notes

Notes

1 The data comes from a report prepared by the Gay Group of Bahia, which is the oldest association for the protection of the human rights of homosexuals in Brazil and part of the committee of the International Commission of Human Rights of Gays and Lesbians.

2 The dictionary definition of genderless is “without distinction of gender.” Throughout this article, however, genderless, a term recently co-opted by marketers, means from our point of view “ostensibly without distinction of gender” or “so-called genderless” precisely because the genderless aspect aspired to by the apparel industry is so often obviously absent or missing.

3 Google Trends is a tool that allows the visualization of the most commonly used expressions in online searches using multiple customized parameters (in this case we define Brazil as a locality and establish a period of time that was from the beginning of the year 2015 until the date of access to the chart).