The show desexualizes Mary while hyper sexualizing Lilith, but both characters are played by the same actress. I wonder what you think about how the show is using the Madonna-whore dichotomy here?
Well, I think it’s less Madonna-Whore, considering we actually don’t see Lilith engage in anything whorish (even her sex with Adam 2.0 is off screen and implied to be emotional more than anything, but I’ve written other posts about that specifically on here so I won’t go into it again) and therefore could be considered to be portrayed as ‘chaste’ despite her overt costuming, and even her character is revealed to be grey more than bad (and we could see in the next season that Mary is more grey than good. Showing that we all have light and dark) so I personally feel it’s more about how women present themselves and how that in itself is received, as well as what is expected.
The prime example is Hawthorne. The moment ‘Mary’ dresses and styles herself in a conventionally attractive and sexy way, he won’t freaking leave her alone, but we can presume, by the way he looks freshly awed by her, that he has never even glanced in Mary’s direction when she was in her own style of hair up, minimal make-up, glasses etc. The thing is neither Mary or Lilith are interested in Hawthorne, he has no greater chance with either of them, yet Mary’s way of dressing causes disinterest, whereas Lilith’s way of dressing is immediately interpreted as ‘come get me’ and causes pursuit.
Why should the way Lilith dress have any effect on Hawthorne’s behaviour or anyone else’s, or even ours, the audience’s, for that matter?
A woman dresses in her own style, her own way, embraces her sexuality and her attraction, for her own reasons, but men, and society, immediately think it’s for them or to some purpose (i.e who is she trying to impress? Who does she think she is? She’s too old to wear that. She’s too fat to wear this etc). Think how easily Lilith entrances the pizza boy simply by showing cleavage and speaking breathily. She doesn’t make much effort there, but there he is, entering her cottage with a smug-I’m-gonna-get-some grin on his face.
I am someone who likes dressing sexily; I like wearing red a lot, I always paint my nails (usually red or black depending on how I’m feeling) my lipsticks are all reds and dark pinks, I like my hair to be volumned and styled, I wear skirts and heeled boots. I like feeling sexy. I like feeling pretty. But I do that entirely for me, no one else, and certainly not for the attention of men. Yet, I have days when I want to just be comfy, so I’ll wear jeans and one of my favourite t-shirts, I’ll leave my hair curly and tie it up, perhaps I’ll even wear glasses instead of my contact lenses, I’ll just put on some gloss and blusher and feel fresh and natural. Again, that’s for me, not for anyone else.
I personally see the whole switch of looks for Mary and Lilith, and how transformed Michelle is both in appearance and in the way she carries herself etc, as a reflection of how the world perceives things. We even have Zelda and Lilith refer to Mary as a spinster school teacher, showing how even they are influenced by patriarchal society norms and expectations. Mary and Lilith look exactly the same, but the way they treat that appearance dictates how the world, and even the audience, view and judge them.
I think Lilith’s appearance is as much who she is and the way she likes to dress (even if she dislikes the male attention as much as Mary probably would, as she has no interest) as Mary’s style is for her. I’ve said in another post, I like how CAOS doesn’t let their sex lives dictate their characters, Zelda loves sex and has a lot of it, of all varieties, but dresses in a way that could be considered as ‘prudish’, while Lilith has almost no sex and doesn’t pursue it, but dresses in a way that could be considered ‘sluttish’.
Our own preconceptions and ideas, as well as society’s, are revealed by something as simple as how a character dresses, or how one actress can look so different.
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