You know that sweatshirt you wear when you want to pop across the street to the drugstore and not have to put on a bra? The thing you throw on over nothing else because it reduces you to a shapeless blob, an impenetrable mass devoid of emotion, shape, or gender? That’s the dysphoria hoodie, something that hides your body and gender expression from wandering—and potentially misunderstanding—eyes.
It’s an item born more for function than fashion, one that lacks any room for personal style or expression. Yet it’s been adopted en masse by mainstream brands looking to appeal to gender-ambiguous shoppers. Look at the “gender-neutral” lines of mainstream mall brands like Old Navy, Roots, and H&M and you’ll find a lot of dysphoria hoodies—items meant to affirm but seemingly designed to avoid any sense of silhouette, pattern, or colour. Based off the offerings of most mainstream apparel brands, you’d think “gender-free” was synonymous with no fun—ironic considering many of us who identify outside the gender binary often present ourselves in fruity and extra ways. Last year, a set of button-ups from Old Navy were shared on Twitter (now X) among transmasculine folks, and one of the shirts had a vibrant orange print—and I do mean orange as in the fruit.
