There is No Unmarked PERSON

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Tannen's famous piece "There is No Unmarked Woman" talks about how no matter what women do -- or don't do -- they will be "marked" in one way or another. I agree with this, but only to an extent. Her logic for her argument is that people will always try and judge women based on their makeup, outfit, and jewelry. But is this not true with men as well? In the example she gave in her piece, she describes her male colleagues as wearing "brown or blue slacks and nondescript shirts of light colors" and calls this unmarked. However, isn't this business attire somewhat marked as well? It marks them as professional and formal in an academic setting. Even in high school, wearing a certain style of clothing can mark you regardless of gender. For example, wearing designer clothing marks you as popular and potentially a jock, while wearing semiformal clothes could mark you as a nerd. But the discrepancy Tannen tries to focus on lies in the extent to which the genders are marked. It's true that men and women alike are both judged by their appearances, but women might be judged more, comparitively. Take this hypothetical: both a male and a female news anchor roll out of bed and go live on TV. Both of them will be marked, but the female news anchor might face more backlash due to women doing more things to get ready, on average. Do both sexes get judged for what they wear on a given day? Yes. Do women get judged more? Also yes.

Comments

  1. Meth YahampathJanuary 30, 2022 at 7:52 AM

    I loved your news anchor example, it makes a lot of sense. However, I don’t quite agree with your statement about the men in Tannen’s example being “marked”. The term “marked” as the Tannen uses it means to stand out among the crowd, and thus be more subject to scrutiny. Since the men all wear relatively the same outfit and in the appropriate setting, they blend right in. Even so, it’s the majority that dictates what is “unmarked”. If everyone dressed in absurd styles like 80s-retro or steampunk, then anyone who wore the “standard” attire of a t-shirt and jeans would be the outlier, and therefore be “marked”.

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