A new campaign has been launched in University College Cork (UCC) which aims to tackle the “excessive association” between an individual’s choice of clothing and their gender or sexual identity.
The #dontbeclothesminded campaign, organised by the college’s LGBT society, promotes the message that an individual’s gender or sexual identity cannot be interpreted through their choice of clothing.
The visual campaign presents six anonymous individuals photographed holding posters promoting this message, with statements such as “clothes don’t define my gender” and “My clothes aren’t a statement of my sexuality.”
“UCC LGBT society has created a new visual campaign that challenges what clothing means in our present society as a medium of expressing an individual’s gender.
This campaign presents six individuals of varying gender and sexual identities but this cannot be interpreted through their clothing. The anonymity present in the campaign is used to highlight the excessive association society places upon an individual’s identity and their clothing.,” a statement from the society read.
“Gender is socially constructed but clothing is used as an instrument to enforce this construct. UCC LGBT Society wants to examine and deconstruct this social condition as no one should be clothes minded,” the statement concluded.
The society’s campaign officer Alan Draddy said that it is, “only the beginning” as they attempt to “start a conversation about how the clothes we wear describe or imply someone’s identity.”
“The goal of the campaign is to start a conversation. We need to start talking about gender and we need to de-construct the social construct of gender.
"We need a world where individuality is central and gender identity is no longer a question with only two answers.
"We start this conversation with the clothes we wear, how we can't describe or infer someone's identity from the material draped over someone's body. It's only the beginning, but a good beginning,” he stated.
The Union of Students in Ireland welcomed the launch of the new campaign and said it was a “fantastic” initiative.
