The arbitrariness of terming women’s shopping as ornamental can be alleviated by couching female shopping in male terms, I find.
I’m by no means a shopaholic, I am more of a window shopper and spending money makes me anxious. But even I get termed a shopaholic by some men, just for the sin of being fascinated by things in malls.
So I would try to show them how curated each purchase was, and how spending a lot of time deciding which one to buy was a conscious decision. The pros and cons of each purse, each piece of jewelry, each designer dress, I would painstakingly explain to them. And when they left, they felt very educated. Man it felt good to womansplain.
It also made me consume more consciously to have a running chatter of my thoughts.
Wish I could say the same when my husband explained his Magic The Gathering collection to me. I don’t get it, not even when I’m helping sort and categorize what seems like a million cards based on tiny symbols at the top right.
