Data

I launched a google form druing March of 2022. I sent it to around 700 students (9th-12th grade) at Lane Tech high school in Chicago, IL. I got over 70 responses.

Teens came up with a total of three different methods of making retail stores more gender inclusive. The options are: 

1. diversifying the gendered sections
   
2. sorting clothing by category rather than sorting by gender
   
3. keeping the gendered sections, but adding an androgynous section
   

I will include the raw data at the bottom of the website.

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How do you see masculinity in fashion?

Hmm. I think I see it in terms of the absence of femininity. Because I think that any clothes that are stereotypically masculine could totally be worn by a girl but I think that there are things that are seen as distinctly feminie that a guy would get weird looks for like...

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The type of masculinity clothing brands tend to sell is boring, I think there needs to be more of a variety of clothing in terms of colors and styles. I think it has been getting better recently but it still has a long ways to go

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it’s kind of basic (hate saying it but it’s true—not a lot of colorful, fun, unique choices compared to overly bright feminine fashion)

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How do you see femininity in fashion?

fashion kind of has a feminine connotation to it. i guess femininity is catered to more in fashion, although some brands need to work on what actually looks good and functions well instead of badly designed “feminine” outfits that don’t function very well (exceptional if some outfits aren’t exactly meant to function, or adding functionality would completely ruin the form)

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It’s very intense and very in youre face about being feminine in one specific way and its often times focused on a specifiic body type (mainly skinny women which drives me crazy!)

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there's a lot more variety. I do think that a lot of styles revolve around showing off your body.

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pants that fit my body type. I'm not overweight or underweight, but my hips go out a lot, and it makes me look like a messed up cartoon character. all the "curvy" pants are skinny jeans, and I don't like those as much because they're harder to put on.

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Less emphasis of gender on stuff that is very gender-neutral. For example, while a dress has been historically feminine, t-shirts are not yet t-shirts are still sorted by masculine and feminine.

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Less boring gender neutral clothing that I can wear and is actually made to look good on fat people so that fashion trends aren’t just a trend because skinny people look good in them

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more neutral patterns and clothes in the feminine section. patterns and colors right now are too in your face and not able to go with a lot of things.

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WE NEED TO BRING BACK CLOAKS!!!

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Girl clothes with pockets omg, and the line between "boy" and "girl" clothes to be more blurred. Of course we have to have boy cuts and girl cuts because women and men have different body shapes (women are curvier and would not be able to fit in male jeans that fits their waists and men wouldnt fit into womens shirts because theyre too wide) but in terms of style it would be nice to have a gender-neutral style and get rid of the pinks for girls and blues for boys.

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More true androgyny and gender neutrality, rather than self-proclaimed androgynous/gender neutral (people often wrongly use the terms interchangeably) fashion companies that in reality, are just the typical version men's pants and men's button up shirts.

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def more casual fashion, like stuff you can wear thats flattering but also COMFORTABLE like i wanna wear cute stuff but like i also wanna be able to to take a nap in it and not feel like i have to change

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mostly i think of comfort since i’m too lazy to wear something cool but complicated that’ll hamper me later on in the day (example: changing for gym). although i want to dress fancy, i often don’t get the chance to. i think that comfort and functionality inspires me to dress how i do on a daily basis.

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Usually I just try to throw on a hoodie I really enjoy, and jeans and/or khakis. I dress like this because I don't own many shirts that I enjoy, or pants, and so I don't really try to overthink it because it is difficult to get an outfit I really really enjoy.

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Definitely the weather is a big one. Ever since I started PE at the beginning of Semester 2, I've had to pick things that are easy to change in and out of, which means no more skinny jeans for me :/ I get a lot of style ideas from my friends.

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mainly function but i greatly appreciate form and see it as a huge factor in clothing. i think both are important, but function wins by a bit more. function is what helps you get through the day comfortably—good fabrics, flexible cuts, pockets, etc etc. but form is what makes it look nice on top, which also matters.

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Function, I have PE so I have to be able to change in and out of my clothes quickly, but I'm trying to focus on form a bit more

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function, i am an athlete and need to be ready to have a suprise practice after school so i need to be somewhat prepared

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I think that more objective terms are needed when labeling clothing measurements. I hope we can phase out of "men's clothes" and "women's clothes" and just label things with numbers instead the type of cut instead. Most women's t shirts are v neck and most men's shirts are crew neck, so if we could do away with "men's" and "women's" and just have "v neck" and "crew neck" instead, that would be great

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Brand names can include sections that are not gendered, especially when there is no point. If you go to Aeropostale for example, the men's section contains many T-shirts that have cities on them while the women's section has many t-shirts that are all bands. The fit of the shirts are extremely similar, and so are the colors.

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by marketing to a more general audience that would enjoy their clothing, not really like “WOMEN!!!! check out our newest SEXIEST most FEMININE and GIRLY clothing!!!!” “MEN!!!! check out our newest MASCULINE and RUGGED and INTIMIDATING clothing!!!!”. not sure if it’s coming across right

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not labeling the clothes and women's and men´s, but maybe feminine and masculine, or labeling by type of clothes and not gender

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They could ask non-gender conforming people about it! Even as a non binary person myself, it's important to recognize that the entire community has voices with thousands of different ideas. The best thing a company could do right now is reach out and ask what they can do better - directly to people in the community. And then actually listen. That being said, I would want more than anything (as I stated in the last question) for there to be little to no gendered categories. Skirts? Call the section skirts. Button-up shirts? Call the section button-up shirts. It's as easy as that. With clothing such as pants where there's a specific "women's cut" or a "men's cut", subcategorize items of clothing by their cut. Come up with (or use an already existing) name for the cut that explicitly states exactly what it is. It is my honest opinion that even though it would be a step up if a store were to add a gender neutral section and call it a day, there would still be the implication that everything outside of that section is meant for only women and men respectively. For true inclusiveness, the only real way I see is to get rid of the concept all together - it's not even that far-fetched.

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i think its hard, bc then the question still stands "what even IS gender neutral clothing" when so many "gender neutral" clothes are just masculine. i think if stores have a wide enough selection, individuals can shop for their own wardrobe and decide what they personally think is gender neutral and what clothes fit their preference and still

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it goes along with gender roles, and that's how it makes gender identity more clear because it adheres to traditional gendered clothing.

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wearing clothing that aligns with how i feel affirms it, or might make me lean more towards a different internal state of gender i think

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dressing a certain way can help people express themselves, and especially trans people, it can help them feel that they are more passing

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If i wear more comfortable expressive clothing i can be more comfortable with how i express myself in other ways.

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They try sometimes but it ends up looking like a half ass attempt to fit what they think is a new fad and not actually someone’s gender expression so they end up making clothes that is boring and not well fitted for different body types as they mass produce the same sizes with no variety in shape

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I don't know much. I cannot speak on any issues, however a friend of mine has expressed to me that there aren't any options that are considered gender neutral/androgynous, which forces you to decide whether or not you want masculine and feminine clothing.

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To me it means that people see my personality first before they see a gender, like before they get to decide oh that’s a girl or a boy, like it makes people think that’s a person first who likes bright/dark colors

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someone seeing a never and how they’re dress and not knowing if they’re presenting as masc or fem, confusion but understandable

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to me it means just not being labeled as a man or woman. not a “combination” or “middle ground”, but just neither

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i think so, because it’s hard to try to find clothes that make me feel happy but every time i look at the tag it always says the gender it’s labeled as. which kind of sucks as a nb person. it’s just like… shirts are shirts, pants are pants, even if there’s different cuts for different bodies you can specify that, but otherwise i think the labeling just isn’t necessary. to me, i suppose it looks like just sections based off the type of clothing rather than by gender

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Yes because usually that means that they’re also more accessible for people who don’t have the option to shop elsewhere like low income people or just people who can’t travel all over the place to get to a specific brand. Because they’re big it also means more people will see them and that is important for people to feel like they have options and can express themselves more often and few comfortable in their own bodies

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I believe that it is important because there are people who do not want to choose their gender identity as feminine or masculine. To me that looks like including sections that are not called "Men's" or "Women's", or "Feminine" and/or "Masculine".

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Yes, because if I want a shirt about videogames, I have to go into the little boys' section of kohls and some of those shirts are plain shirts, what makes them for boys. It would probably have a lot of plain shirts or graphic tees.

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I don't think there's an issue with wearing clothing that has a strong gender implication, but I think these clothes should be available in a much larger selection of sizes than they usually are, to make it easier for everyone to have the opportunity to choose what they want to wear. Gender neutral clothing is also very important, but I almost feel like the variety of different styles isn't always the issue, it's more that people are often confined by an inability to find the clothes that they want offered in ways that make them practical for use by people other than their intended demographic of people, if that makes sense? So yes, definitely, but maybe more if the implication of "selection" is about size/availability, and not just style.

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I think it is important for inclusivity and so more people feel like they can just wear whatever they like without any preconceived notions about their clothing. What this looks like depends on how bold the brand wants to be, like they could just put all of their clothing under that section if they really wanted to. I think a more realistic approach would be to have clothes that appeal to both genders because personally I have no idea what "gender neutral" specific fashion would look like.

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I feel like generally there are more gender neutral clothing in both male and female clothing sections. If it was added I would not opposed to it and if an item I liked was present I might buy it but overall it doesn’t really affect me and stores will do whatever makes the most profit. Basically if enough people wanted to buy those clothes they would focus on it more as a target audience making the real issue society’s outlook on gender neutral items.

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Yes oh my god yes it's important. It's important, at least in my eyes, for the millions of trans people that sift through clothing stores like attempting to find a goddamn unicorn. I just want clothes that don't give me dysphoria but also don't make me look like an 8 year old boy is that too much to ask for ;v;

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Yes, it increases inclusiveness and provides a sense of comfort to people who don't usually enjoy/prefer buying gendered clothing. There is no one way this should look like, there is some flexibility.

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Yes they are both just as important and not the same thing because gender inclusivity to me feels like It’s the ability for clothing to fit all body types and still look like a specific gender while gender neutral means there is a specific aisle in the store that can fit to any gender identity but not necessarily styled for all types of types, if done right they can be the same thing though (idk if any of that makes sense)

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I believe gender neutral shopping is part of gender inclusive shopping. I don't think there's a difference.

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Yes, I think it does. I never really thought about that. More stores should do that.

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There is most certainly a difference. In a gender inclusive shopping environment, where the typical rules of "women's clothes" and "men's clothes" are disregarded and there are no gendered labels or categories, it is a much easier experience. Easier means a lot of things here. For instance, it takes away the stress of walking into either the women's or the men's sections and getting weird looks. For trans/gender non-conforming people, it can remove the constant pain and disappointment when looking through a gendered category that does not match their identity. And in my experience, it simply makes it easier to find the specific item of clothing that I want without having to guess whether it's in the women's or men's. A gender neutral shopping section, though significantly better than doing nothing, does not have these same effects. It provides a small area where you can exhale and enjoy some benefits shared by gender inclusive shopping - but it's only a section. It gives the implication that everything outside of that one area is meant for only women and men respectively. It either gives you a small safe space in a still hostile environment, or it makes you question if the small space in the hostile environment is even safe to begin with. A gender neutral shopping section is better than nothing. But gender inclusive shopping is ideal.

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There is a difference but I wouldn't say that one matters more than the other. Gender inclusive shopping appeals most to transgender people and people who feel inbetween genders, providing various options no matter the body type of the person attempting to wear the item of clothing, (i.e. a dress that comfortably fits a man). Gender neutral fashion feels different to me, possibly because I'm agender and I want clothes that don't have any gender to them whatsoever lol.

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I think there is a difference, one is about clothing made to have no gender associations, for everyone to wear. And one is about gendered clothing being made in a way where people of all genders could wear it.

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personally my fashion means everything to me, how people view me is very important to me because i want to always be seen as how i see myself on the inside

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Fashion is the medium through one can express themselves using clothing.

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def more masculine, i honestly don't even think there's a lot of things u can do to be exclusively masculine, bc of how much of masculinity is neutrality (androgyny). like wearing sweatpants all the time and not wearing any makeup etc. all that stuff are things that women do as well, but no one would really assume they are trying to be 'adrogynous.' but if a man were to take part in common feminine things like, wearing makeup or skirts/dresses, its much more obvious that they are trying to step out of being exclusively maculine.

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I think society doesn’t really consider androgyny as being masculine or feminine. You’re either closer to one or the other and that what people consider you as. I feel that a lot of people know everyone has masculine versus feminine traits, but their automatic assumption upon hearing a traditionally female name without actually knowing that person is that they are a girl and are feminine, even if they may not be. same for males.

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It's more feminine from my understanding. Most people who are considered androgynous in a transformative way are feminine people who dress more masculine or something of that sort. Androgynous people are also very very typically afab. Masculine people exploring their gender is seen as strange and a spectacle, while androgyny applies more to feminine people exploring their gender.

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I see it as more masculine, because usually I see many feminine people wanting to be androgenous, which, to them, means that they need to present as more masculine to balance out their femininity. I see less masculine people wanting to dress feminine to balance out their masculinity.

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Generally more masculine just because androgynous clothes and names are more often male than female when they are gendered. However as a male this may be an implicit bias towards something I have more knowledge of.

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