tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post4615262176815018525..comments2024-03-12T22:31:46.500-04:00Comments on What Would Phoebe Do?: Nails and intersectionalityPhoebe Maltz Bovyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-40387866886062817242012-08-18T09:05:41.071-04:002012-08-18T09:05:41.071-04:00PG,
I think the key here, however you wish to arg...PG,<br /><br />I think the key here, however you wish to argue about this, is that toes are different from fingers. They're less visible, and not getting into anyone's food, medical procedures, handshakes, etc. It's long since traditional for a woman with sheer nail polish (or none at all) to have dark red toes, a woman with red fingernails to go more out-there with her toes, etc. Pedicures thus pose very different nail-art-politics questions than do manicures. Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-9218257465308059742012-08-17T22:05:50.055-04:002012-08-17T22:05:50.055-04:00business attire tends not to include visible toena...<i>business attire tends not to include visible toenails</i><br /><br />I suppose it might vary by workplace. I've worked in offices where you could wear peep-toes with suits, and others where you could wear all-toenails-showing shoes with business casual (i.e. slacks and blouses but no jacket required). But in most of the offices where I had to wear a suit, I was making a more-than-middle-class income, whereas the people making less money had more freedom to dress more casually. I don't know of a middle-class-income job for a woman that wouldn't allow her to show her toes, other than certain medical ones where you need to wear closed-toed shoes for safety but they can be and often are sneakers.<br /><br />Anyway, my mom wears open toed sandals all summer because it's too hot when you're outside to fully enclose your feet, so people see her toenails and can admire the rhinestones.PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-52800915258623309982012-08-16T15:26:46.958-04:002012-08-16T15:26:46.958-04:00Pedicures are another story entirely, for the obvi...Pedicures are another story entirely, for the obvious reason that business attire tends not to include visible toenails, regardless of how tastefully polished. Once you're in a toes-can-be-out-there situation - the beach, the bedroom, and various less-formal work environments - there's no reason for them to be the same sheer beige as the fingernails of a woman in a no-toes-visible situation. One difference with the new nail art is that it's about saying that fingernail polish can be what used to be reserved for pedicures.<br /><br />The issue of which fingernails work in the medical professions is its own question, and one that I certainly couldn't answer. I suspect that with acrylics, and even nail-painting, the issue is more that you can't see for yourself if the hands are clean, than that they're in fact dirty. Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-38003858583819999792012-08-15T16:15:28.453-04:002012-08-15T16:15:28.453-04:00I think nail art's middle-class respectability...I think nail art's middle-class respectability depends on what it looks like. My mom and several of her co-workers and friends who work pink-collar jobs (office managers, secretaries, receptionists, nurses, et al.) have been getting their toenails done with flower designs for years. The big toe is often ornamented with a rhinestone in the center of the flower, or on a petal to look like a dewdrop. It's girly and cute, and thus seems entirely appropriate for their jobs. Three inch fingernails with leopard print would probably scare clients and patients, however. I don't think I would like to have anyone touching me, whether in a medical or cosmetic capacity, who had fingernails that long. Seems unlikely that they'd be entirely clean.PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-2294528228158180862012-08-13T03:56:02.111-04:002012-08-13T03:56:02.111-04:00I suppose any reduction in impulsivity helps. Alth...I suppose any reduction in impulsivity helps. Although I wish I'd been a bit more impulsive in terms of getting a car soon after moving to a place where one is necessary, rather than trying to get by with a bike and occasional (but free) shuttle service.Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-3985282343336758512012-08-12T16:59:53.546-04:002012-08-12T16:59:53.546-04:00Love the cheapness philosophy. I adopted a habit ...Love the cheapness philosophy. I adopted a habit that I'd never buy luxuries or purchases I could put off until a year after I first considered it. 99% of the time I don't want it any more by the time the deadline comes up. This habit is still ingrained in me, even though it no longer has the utility that it once did, but it served me extremely well for a long time.Andrew Stevenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13453328821252013152noreply@blogger.com