‘’Students pondered the topics of bodily autonomy and gender norms while tearing pants apart in the San José State University art building on Wednesday.
Larisa Usich, MFA candidate in spatial arts, held her participatory art exhibit called “Who Wears the Pants?” from Nov. 7 to 16.
Through her art exhibit, Usich explored the typical norms and restrictions on clothing, the history of wearing pants and how people’s identities contribute to their performance of gender through clothing, according to an SJSU Events Calendar webpage.
She said the idea for the exhibit was originally inspired by the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and what it meant for bodily autonomy.
Usich’s art included colorful weavings, as well as a diverse collection of pants and an informational wall of articles describing the history of requirements and social standards for women’s clothing.
On the wall, Usich wrote that women were not allowed to wear pants in the United States Senate until 1993.
All women in the United States were also prohibited from wearing pants until 1923 when Attorney General Harry Daugherty time declared that it was legal, according to an article published by the Adam Smith Institute.
Usich said it’s important to think about the history of pants and clothing restrictions because the issues behind them are still present today.
“Anyone can look at their own family’s past and the things passed down to them about notions of gender,” Usich said. “We so easily internalize these things that have been historically passed down over time as notions without almost even being aware of it.”
Cindy Deras, sociology senior with a concentration in women, gender and sexuality studies, said she visited the exhibit with a group of her peers.
Deras said Usich’s display on the topic of restrictions on women’s clothing made her think of her grandma who is in her 90’s and does not wear pants to this day.
She also said the standards for women’s clothing back then were just a small part of a larger set of expectations placed on women and how they should live their lives.
“The standards are having as many kids as possible, getting married and staying in that marriage that obviously does not make you happy, and just doing the wifely duties,” Deras said.
Deras said the fact that she’s able to wear pants freely today makes her feel powerful and reminds her that she doesn’t have to meet those same misogynistic standards.
Usich said the gender norms and regulations around clothing often seen in societies around the world are partially about having control over girls and women.
“There’s something about that that feels really wrong,” Usich said. “I rail against this idea that you must not want to play roughly and that you need to look like a doll and be there to be looked at and not to move how you want to through the world.
Tanya Bakhru, women, gender and sexuality studies professor, brought students from her class titled “Sexualities and the Body” to see and participate in the exhibit.
She said it is important to expose students to the topics explored in the art exhibit because they have a lot of relevance to everyone in American society.
“All these issues are so personal in our lives, but they’re also political,” Bakhru said. “It’s important that we think about them because they affect us on a daily basis.”
She said the hands-on nature of the exhibit encourages students to think about the issues of bodily autonomy, equity and freedom in a different way.
At a table in the middle of the room, attendees worked with deconstructed pairs of pants and other clothes, modifying them with needles, scissors, looms and other tools.
Usich said this was meant to help attendees interact with the topics of the exhibit in a hands-on way and inspire them to think deeply about them.
Usich looked for attendees' perspectives on these topics and offered notepads and pens, along with the prompt: “How do you wear pants?”
One attendee wrote, “I wear pants largely against my will but largely because if my legs are observed I will die on the spot.”
Another wrote, “I wear pants because I don’t want to shave.”
Usich said she wanted to bring up these topics to spread a message about the kind of world she’d like to live in.
“Let's be a world where we can all not only wear what we want, but move how we want through the world and be free to manage our own bodies,” Usich said.
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