ABSTRACT
Women's personal surveillance of how much of their bodies to cover gets even more complicated because the rules for dress extend far beyond gender. Within the gendered rules for dress, there are additional rules based on age, body size, race, sexuality, and class that further shape and limit how people dress. In her best-selling book, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, Roxane Gay shared her experiences of dressing when "fat". The rules for how much of their bodies women "should" cover also vary over their lives. The idea of "age-appropriate" clothing stipulates that not everyone can wear all clothes; rather, only certain clothes should be worn by people of certain ages. Research shows that teenage girls, around thirteen years of age, are torn between showing their bodies and covering their bodies. On one hand, teenage girls at times desire showing off their changing bodies and trying to be sexually attractive to boys.
