edition one
ham THE BEHAVIOUR ISSUE
the behaviour issue
HAM
EDITION ONE Featuring: Emma JAMES Lily ASQUITH Lui ASQUITH
DONT LIVE UP
TO YOUR STEREOTYPES
EMMA JAMES
model behaviour
PHOTOGR APHY BY: MEGAN JEPSON
EMMA JAMES
NAME: EMMA JAMES | OCCUPATION: CIVIL ENGINEER & MODEL
HAM
LILY & LUI ASQUITH
ONE OF A KIND
PHOTOGR APHY & WORDS: MEGAN JEPSON We all remember the movie The Parent Trap, in which timid Lindsey Lohan takes a trip to summer camp and finds outgoing Lindsey Lohan, her unknown long lost twin after being separated at birth. Despite having conflicting personalities they come together as an item. Well, meet twin sisters Lily & Lui, although they were not separated at birth they still fall into different stereotypes, whilst still being a unit.
ily and Lui Asquith are fraternal twins, both naturally born and naturally fertilised. They are the same but it goes without saying, different. Warm hearted with huge cheesy grins, blonde curly hair and standing at around 6ft, they are unforgettable as a duo. Where they differ is their different takes on gender. Lil, a girlie girl and Lui, a tomboy both match their preferred stereotypes, those which have grown with them throughout their childhood.
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We construct gender stereotypes without even thinking about it. From and even before birth we pinpoint gender to the new generation, the generation of the future. We attach those three little words, ‘It’s a GIRL’ or ‘It’s a BOY’ to all things pink or blue. These stereotypes grow with us in terms of style, a ‘tomboy’ and a ‘girlie girl’ are opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to female gender; we subconsciously find ourselves falling into this habit of stereotyping women. Lily is 19 minutes older than Lui and works as a PA at a university in the North East. Lui, works as a solicitor and has recently been given the chance to open her own bespoke LGBT department at a law firm. The twins list of hobbies begins to set apart their stereotypes. Lil, a ‘girlie girl’ hobbies include dancing, fitness and beauty. Lui on the other hand a ‘tomboy’ likes writing, reading and politics. Understandably, we can’t label certain traits and interests to categorize characters but we can understand that typically
different hobbies interest contrasting individuals. Even when the twins played dress-up as children these stereotypes came through, with Lil taking the role of ‘busy-body’ mum, tidying and looking after their younger brother and Lui putting on swimming goggles and becoming the father figure. Even in reference to their chosen childhood music tastes, Lui gravitated towards rock music, influenced by Michael Jackson and Good Charlotte whereas Lily drifted towards Disney and Mcfly. “When we used to watch Spice Girls The Movie, I was always baby and you were always sporty,” says Lily. As much as it is crazy dividing all the girls of England into 5 different stereotypes we all knew how important it was choosing which Spice Girl you related to thte most and replicating their style. There was something about those 5 girls with opposing styles and personalities which captured the minds and hearts of young girls across the world and gave everyone their first real insight into experimenting styles and identity in the noughties. 20 years ago, the twin’s stereotypes were nowhere to be seen; they were dressed up by their mum in the same clothes with co-ordinating dungarees and hair. As cute and cliché as this may be, the girls couldn’t contain their style identities and it came through. As Lui started to discover her own personal style at the age of 5, she wore football strips regularly and even began to wear her brother’s clothes. Lui talks of creeping into her brother’s room and pulling
open his rickety chest of drawers, to pinch a specific pair of dark blue joggers, she recollects telling her young self how much she wanted to wear them. Proudly making her way downstairs, Lui’s mother says “It was the cutest day when Lui started coming down in Fred’s clothes”. Her mother quickly caught on to her newly adopted style aesthetic, “Mum went out and bought me a full new wardrobe of ‘boys’ clothes because she wanted to support who I wanted to be.” Lui asked for all her hair to be cut off determining the start of ‘becoming’ a tomboy. “I still have such an attraction to male clothes. I actually feel more comfortable walking into a male department store as opposed to a female, I remember thinking, why am I not a boy because I felt such an alliance with the style and it wasn’t something that I ever questioned, I just did it and you get on with it” says Lui, and it’s the same for many other girls. The umbrella stereotype of being a tomboy is now broadening and extending from young girls in the 90s wearing camo combat trousers and mucking around playing football, girls are putting up a sincerely good style war with the men and truly are a force to be reckoned with. With the likes of Kylie Jenner and Rihanna adopting the ‘casual’ street wear aesthetic, and even collaborating with ‘male’ sports brands, it is becoming more than a stereotype. Street wear brands are becoming more aware of the growing number of girls wearing their clothes, Leeds brand
MKI MIYUKI ZOKU created a separate Instagram to their original with a bio of “for women who love to wear MKI MIYUKI ZOKU”, reposting pictures of women wearing the ‘mens’ clothing brand, however questions raised is this celebration or segregation? Similarly, for the first time since opening back in 1995, street wear tycoon Supreme used female supermodel, Kiko, as the main face for their collaboration with renowned photographer Araki. These are all steps in the right direction for women to be able to express themselves not just by wearing dresses, within the predominantly male fashion stereotype. Much like the Spice Girls and the two Lindsey Lohans from the Parent Trap, it is crazy how these twins fall into completely opposing stereotypes yet stand as a unit, they are together. “At school we were never really interested in having partners, Me and Lui have always been such good friends, its always been such a unique bond, no one questioned why we didn’t have boyfriends and girlfriends because we were ‘Lil and Lui’.” says Lil The exploration into dentity raises important questions about gender stereotypes throughout various platforms of the fashion industry and beyond. This is a call to action to accept and respect through abolishing gender stereotypes, to see an end to the misinterpretation of identities to create trends. We need to celebrate all walks of individuals by bringing them together.
LILY & LUI ASQUITH
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I’ve got an issue with gender I don't agree with how we perceive gender in society and how we have constr ucted gender and I think we need to pull that apart.