I have to admit I'm somewhat of a gender studies newbie and I'm trying to educate myself about the issue. I watched this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VosH1MOTsfQ) and the youtuber says that Gender differentiation was all the rage in the 1600s... but when did it start?
Was there some point in history where people were just too poor or didn't have enough energy to make two different types of clothing for girls and boys?
Can someone point me in the right direction or explain to me when all this variance among sexes started?
Also while we're on the subject, I also heard that women used to walk around in Europe topless and nobody really freaked out about it. Is that true?
Any help would be appreciated.
In France, there have been times when women have walked around topless. The idea that breasts are sexual organs are actually a German idea - that got imported to the Americas. Before that well, even today, I've seen men with bigger breasts than a lot of women. Breasts were seen as necessary to give substance to babies - nothing more. It doesn't mean women walked around without a top - most of the time- but no one would think much of someone breastfeeding in public either before the 19th c.
If you look up a lot of late 18th c/early 19th C fashion plates, you'll see that topless dresses were the rage in France. They were considered unseemly in England. Actually, a lot of the fashions of the early 19th C (Regency or Empire period) would be considered scandalous even today.