Comments on: What’s So Unsexy About “Asexual Chic”?

By: Hannah Elise

Hannah Elise — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:23:58 +0000

Okay, where I live in Wellington NZ, everyone dresses like Ellen in Inception! Has been like that for a couple of years now. I LOVED her look in this movie, and will definitely be on the look out for some more scarves!

By: dc

dc — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:20:55 +0000

Emma Rosenblum doesn’t seem to live in the real world. My world is peopled with endless versions of Ellen Page’s so-called “asexual chic”, and very lovely they are too!

By: SomethingClever

SomethingClever — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:48:39 +0000

I totally thought this was about “a sexual chic”. A homosexy chic.

Also, I love a gal with neckerchief as much as the next, but I actually noticed the neckerchief uniform while in the depths of cinematic absorbtion. Perhaps it helps distinguish the real from the crazy-amazing-shit-your-pants- fantabulous-ness of the dream world where anything is possible, even a pantsuit!

By: jenn

jenn — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:20:48 +0000

related: ABC family just possibly introduced an asexual character on “Huge”- one of the camp counselors, Poppy- but it was a random one-line explanation sort of in the background while you were really supposed to be paying attention to/contrasting it with the boy counselor’s obvious angst about not being able to sleep with the hot girl camper.

By: SK

SK — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:33:38 +0000

I don’t get it … she doesn’t look like a boy, and “graduate-student chic” is super cute. Where’s the argument in this?

By: Anna

Anna — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 07:18:32 +0000

I think there’s more to it than just her way of dress – or perhaps reasons behind her way of dress. For one, Ariadne is significantly younger than most of the other characters – with the exception of Arthur, they seem to be well over thirty. But I also think it’s a matter of contrast – dream!Mal is so over-the-top, noiresquely sensual that anyone would seem desexualized in contrast (I doubt the real life Mal was like this, but of course we’ll never know). And of course they’re wrong. Ariadne is sexy in her own way, much as the male characters are, and I am glad some miniskirt or catsuit wasn’t added to her wardrobe in attempt to draw in some more teenage boys.

By: owls

owls — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:41:26 +0000

Yeah, I considered that . . . it’s just that the whole rest of the article is so overwhelmingly stupid that I was unwilling to give her even that much credit. And I get the feeling that she really *would* have been much happier if EP had been wearing girly stuff plus glasses. Like no way would her post have existed if that had been the case, right?

By: multiplecats

multiplecats — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:09:54 +0000

haven’t seen the movie, hoping to soon, but in the previews, to me, the movie looked really stylized with, like, lots of suits and a certain color palette with some serious greys and such. everybody I saw in the previews was wearing suits, kind of 40′s style, but ellen, who was bohemian-style. so, I thought maybe it meant something was different about her character in the story, that she wore a different ‘costume’ and it had significance of some sort mebbee… anyway, that was my first gut. my second was that she woulda looked badass in a 3-piece grey suit.

the asexual chic thing is kind of a weird thing to assess about a person, but some people do view things in very narrow ways about sex and sexuality (lesbians do it too!).

By: Ronan Mark

Ronan Mark — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:06:50 +0000

Rosenblum’s comments are so bizarre. She’s creating an argument out of nothing to fit her ideas of what ‘femininity’ should be; like autostraddle said, what about the kiss in the dream? There are a lot of straight men who find Ellen Page very attractive.

By: maria

maria — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:40:53 +0000

I would love it when people would turn their own arguments on the head and then decide if it’s still what they want to say.

What bothers me about this is of course how Ellen Pages look was critisized – seriously, students look like this. especially when attending classes/working. she didn’t even look that “asexual” to me (and it’s a stupid way to describe anyones look really).
But if you try to look at this critique the other way around, it means that in order to attract men, and especially the men in this movie, Marion Cotillard had to be dressed the way she was. I found it a lot more irritating that she ALWAYS had to wear super sexy dresses or lingerie. and that is something that should be discussed – what our society is told to be attracted to, and that there’s only one kind of feminine beauty that’s acceptable.

and then again, it’s not the female characters only purpose to attract men, thank you very much.

By: TimeInvariant

TimeInvariant — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:55:22 +0000

“Grad students don’t generally spend their time in super fancy clothes” – kd15

Totally true!! Former grad student here (thankfully finally finished) and I can confirm that’s totally true for me.

My other half is currently a grad student – and she just about has time to eat some food, and sleep – nevermind shop for ‘fashionable’ clothes.

I do kinda see what they mean about asexuality – I was convinced my other half was asexual before we got together (prior to her professing her love for me, hahaha) – she dressed very similar to Ellen Page in Inception, and gave absolutely no hint of a sexuality. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t sexy though..
/drifts off in daydream

By: Natalie

Natalie — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:27:54 +0000

Haha! As soon as I read the Cinematical quotation I spun around on my chair, made upward-shooting texan hand gun gestures, and yelled “yeah bitches!”. That’s some good shit right there.
Thanks for including that, and thanks for the insight, Laura, and commentors!