Handbags, or purses, as they are commonly called, have been around for ages. The purse started out as a tool that was used for helping the ancient Romans and Greeks hold items and it progressed into a modern day accessory that has become very gendered in this society. Why is it that we very often see females utilizing purses and not males? Don’t men need to carry things just like women do? In American society a purse is seen as a typically “female” item. The purse is a gendered technology.

Americans expect women and men to look a certain way. Women are expected to care about their outward appearance. Our society focuses a lot of attention on how women look. The purse not only helps women carry those typically “feminine” items such as cosmetics and hairbrushes, but it also serves as another fashion statement. Purses are often used to make a woman feel and appear more “feminine.”

Purses are, at times, a necessary tool rather than an accessory. Women’s clothing and men’s clothing are very different. They both have different styles and different cuts. We give a lot of attention to what is “attractive” and “ideal” in this society. In this society the ideal woman is sleek and slim. Thus, women’s clothing possesses tiny pockets to help women keep to that slim physique whereas men’s trousers typically possess generous pockets. While tiny pockets may help a woman look “ideal,” they are not practical when a woman has a good deal to carry. This is where a purse comes in handy. It can hold all of a woman’s articles while complementing the fashionable appearance that society idealizes in women.

If a man uses a purse, he is often seen as “feminine.” In this society, it is not acceptable for a man to wear a purse. If a man needs to carry around things, he is expected to carry a briefcase or stuff everything in his pockets. A purse is too closely associated with a female and is often thought of as a feminine object that is not fitting for a male. This is a cultural view. In Europe purses on men are seen as acceptable. Every society has norms and when people break out of these norms, it is seen as “different” or often weird. But, men need to carry items just like women so I see it not as weird but as practical so I say, Men! Go for it! Wear those purses and look “slim” just like the rest of us purse-wearers!

Suggested readings:
Kidwell, Claudia B. and Valerie Steele. Men and Women: Dressing the Part. London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1989.

Lauer, Jeanette C. Fashion Power. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981.

Steele, Valerie and Laird Borrelli. Hand Bags: A Lexicon of Style. New York, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1999.