How Everyday Sexism Is Sewn Into Our Clothes

Pockets should be a given—as essential as elastic in our underwear or buttons on our coats, writes the author Josie Cox.

How Everyday Sexism Is Sewn Into Our Clothes
Illustration: Jenny Kroik

There are two types of people in the world: Those who delight in discovering that an item of clothing has pockets, and those who are men. 

This is, of course, a gross and provocative, and possibly even slightly ridiculous, generalization. 

Many men appreciate the deep and cavernous pockets in a new pair of jeans: Troves of opportunity that can hold everything from an oversized phone to a bulging wallet, chapsticks, condoms, business cards, spare change, and more. But men don’t delight in pockets. That’s because pockets are as common in men’s clothing as the zips and buttons that fasten it.  

Women on the other hand. Well...