Clothes and covers, and why sometimes, characters choose.

As someone who focuses on media and gender studies in academia, I find it refreshing that these conversations are happening and that people are thinking about things like the male gaze, sexualizing characters, etc. I think these discussions are vital to the continued growth of everyone's dialogue on the role of gender and gender expectations in our society. I definitely understand why the covers portray Verity the way that they do and they certainly aren't what I would consider inappropriate. That being said, because of who Verity is, I connect to her least of all the major characters in the McGuire/Grant universe mostly because I don't always understand why the character does what she does. The strip club lost me a bit, not because I have strong feelings about strip clubs per se, just because it added to an overall picture that made it difficult to resonate with the character. I spent those scenes pondering other ways she could work a crappy job in NY and barely make ends meet and most of them involved private dance lessons of the non-pervy variety. Of course, grandma and I will likely understand each other quite well, so, there's that. :) Anyway, mostly wanted to post because I really enjoy reading everyone's discussions on issues like this. I think it is important and I'm glad it is happening more than it used to!

As someone who has worked on a titty bar circuit, in the same sort of capacity as Verity, i.e. not a stripper, but a bar nad cocktail waitress who shows a lot of boob and thigh, I did it because I made three times more an hour than what I would make as a barmaid or waitress who got to keep her clothes on, and I made even more in tips.

This meant I only had to work two nights a week and could afford to study fulltime while living on my own. It's not the sort of choice everyone makes, but it's not that out of the ordinary either. A lot of the strippers I met were dance students who saw it as a way to pay for their training, because basically it's being up on a stage doing dance moves in a costume.

A couple of years later, I chose to be the sort of barperson who had a lower hourly rate and got to keep her clothes on, because my priorities had shifted.

Yep - that's the thing about feminism - if you support someone's right to make a choice about how they live, then you need to accept that sometimes they will make choices you might not personally agree with.

Working in theatre, where there are never enough dressing rooms, you learn to be comfortable with a certain level of nudity pretty early on. I also did a lot of art class modeling, because I was also learning to swordfight so I had a level of visible musculature that art students loved. I can't count thenumber of hours I had to stand holding someting above my head while total strangers drew my back. So I have a certain view of dress/undress and when and where you choose to do either.

While I'm older and plumper now, I'm still comfortable in my own skin to really enjoy going to a local Korean spa where the "wet" areas are gender segregated but nude. Honestly, I'm more likely to attract looks for not being Asian than for being fat, but still everyone is very polite about it. and I can soak in a hot spa until I'm parboiled for up to 24 hours with one admission!

that's the thing about feminism - if you support someone's right to make a choice about how they live, then you need to accept that sometimes they will make choices you might not personally agree with

Yep, that's perfect.

I'm pretty big on autonomy, and so when people make choices where they actively work to undermine other people's ability to make choices, I do see that as anti-feminist, whether it's people who are trying to shut down abortion clinics or people who are trying make wearing hijab illegal in western nations.

I do think that strip clubs and bars with scantily clad waitresses are very much a product of patriarchal societies, and that ultimately we'd be better off without them in the same way we'd be better off without a whole lot of double standards and sexual objectification. But I am not going to question, let alone berate, the women who use that to make a living.

It makes me wonder how many of the cryptids Verity is likely to worry about are nocturnal or crepuscular. If her regular job was a daylight job, she'd run into the Bruce Wayne problem; how does one make a living during the day, and defend the innocent at night, and still get enough sleep?