Comment on What's the name of the type of man I'm attracted to? (pictured)
BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 3 weeks agoI lived and worked in the UK for 10 years, not all working class are chavs.
I would call them chav as well, just less burberry than when I was in the UK
MissKiwi@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
it’s still a classist slur used against the working class. let’s not use slurs to describe how people look?
Sunsofold@lemmings.world 3 weeks ago
The mockery in ‘chav’ is not about class, but choices in relation to class. Class is not chosen. That particular ‘look’ is certainly chosen.
Image
This is a young man in a pub. They might call him working class, but few would call him a ‘chav.’
The young men in your provided images are absolutely the sort who would be called chavs, not because of something intrinsic to themselves, and not because they work for a living, if they do, but because of the choices they have made in how they present themselves to the world.
The chav look is not respected because it simultaneously follows neither the unwritten rules of modesty and dignity that the working class often use to claim moral superiority over the wealthy, nor the unwritten rules of ‘tasteful conspicuous consumption’ used among the wealthy as their in-group lanuage. It is part of a subculture within working class spaces that attempts to draw esteem via conspicuous consumption, but without wealth. It is a subculture which has ‘bought in’ on the consumerist ethos which says ‘who has the shiniest hat, and the most attention, is the best person.’ The message is subtle, but present.
You can be attracted to the aesthetic, just as some people are attracted to the aesthetic of prison inmates, serial killers, fascist uniforms, etc, but the real-world versions of those things are not something to hold in esteem, regardless of how hot they might be. You aren’t the first person to be attracted to an aesthetic tied to a problematic culture, and you won’t be the last.