Pockets
One morning in January I was commuting to work on the subway. The train car was typically crowded, but I was lucky to have a seat. There was a high school girl standing directly in front of me, holding the dangling hand strap with one hand while doing something with her iPhone in the other hand. Playing a game, scrolling through e-mails or SMS messages, or surfing the internet. Something. Her waist was directly before my eyes. I mean, looking straight ahead I was looking directly at her waist. I tried not to stare at her. Anyway, her stop came, she pocketed her iPhone and got off the train.
I thought, “Wait a minute! Girls’ school uniform skirts have pockets?!” I’ve been teaching Japanese teenagers for 30 years, seeing them in their school uniforms thousands of days, and I NEVER knew that girls have pockets in their skirts. I always thought skirts were just a simple sheath, fastened with a button or a hook, held in place by a tight belt (or elastic waistband) around the waist.
I’ve never noticed pockets in skirts because the pleats in the material kind of hide them. What do girls need pockets for, anyway? They’re girls! They keep their stuff in bags, because they’re gatherers. They carry bags to put their berries, nuts and roots in - and today their iPhones, pencil cases, makeup, etc. Men are hunters. We need our hands free to carry our spears, our bows and arrows, our rifles, and we fill our pockets with nourishing jerky.
I sort of feel that girls' clothes with pockets challenge my identity by infringing on my male environment, my domain, my section of the clothing department.