1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: a show that pulls down the pants of history because 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: it knows what it did. I'm Gay Blusier and today 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: we're looking at a time when the police of Paris 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: muscled their way into women's fashion by outlawing pants. The 7 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: day was November seven hundred. The Police chief of Paris 8 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: issued an order making it illegal for women to wear 9 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: pants in public. It was titled Decree concerning the cross 10 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: Dressing of Women, and it stated that any woman wishing 11 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: to dress like a man must first go to the 12 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: police and ask permission. Such approval would be granted only 13 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: if a woman had a notarized her from a health 14 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,839 Speaker 1: official stating a valid medical reason for why she needed 15 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: to expose her legs. Any woman caught wearing pants without 16 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: the proper documentation would face legal repercussions, though it's unclear 17 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: how many actually did. It's also unclear exactly how many 18 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:23,039 Speaker 1: women applied for or received permits to wear pants, but 19 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,119 Speaker 1: there is evidence in the archives of the Police Prefecture 20 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: in Paris that at least a couple hundred women did so, 21 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 1: including the accomplished painter Rosa Bonair and archaeologist Jane dou 22 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 1: la Foix. So aside from plain old misogyny, what made 23 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: the police view women in pants as such a threat 24 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: to their city. Well. Like many French laws of the era, 25 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: this one was largely motivated by the recent revolution. The 26 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: aristocracy typically wore knee length bridges called coo lots, while 27 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: the working class favored the practicality of full length trousers. 28 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: In this way, pants weren't just a symbol of masculinity, 29 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: but of the ongoing battle between the upper and lower classes. 30 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: Female rebels started wearing pants right alongside the male revolutionaries, 31 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: and the local authorities took notice. In effect, the law 32 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: banning women from wearing pants was a way to keep 33 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: them in their place. If they couldn't wear the uniform 34 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,639 Speaker 1: of the revolution, then it would be harder for them 35 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: to take part in it. And similarly, if they couldn't 36 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: wear clothing suitable for manual labor, then they couldn't join 37 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 1: the workforce. Clearly, many people had already considered its scandalous 38 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: for a woman to wear trousers. In their eyes, it 39 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: was a rebellious act that marked one as a nonconformist 40 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: the police decree just made that view official. Although it 41 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: was a product of its time, the anti pants law 42 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: had disturbingly long legs pun shamefully intended. It stuck around 43 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: long after the revolution had ended, and the Paris police 44 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 1: made sure people remembered it. In the eighteen eighties, they 45 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: handed out flyers reminding women of the public that the 46 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: ban on pants was still in effect. A decade later, 47 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety two, the law was loosened slightly to 48 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: allow women to wear pantaloons, provided they were holding the 49 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: reins of a horse while doing so. The law was 50 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: amended a second time in nineteen o nine to allow 51 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: for another travel based exception. Women could now wear pants 52 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: when holding the handlebars of a bicycle, how generous. A 53 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: few more allowances were informally given during the World Wars 54 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: when women took on new jobs in the war effort, 55 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: but in the end the law outlasted the war both 56 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: of them. Interest in the law was renewed in nineteen 57 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: thirty three when German American actress Arlene Dietrich dared to 58 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: wear pants in Paris during the voyage to France. She 59 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: had been photographed wearing a white pants suit while aboard 60 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: the ship. It was quickly reported that Paris police had 61 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 1: seen the photos and issued a warning that the actress 62 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: would be arrested if she wore men'swear while visiting the city. 63 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: Those reports were never confirmed, and there's no record of 64 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,720 Speaker 1: Dietrich being arrested in Paris, which surely would have been 65 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: front page news if it had happened. Still, even if 66 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: the law wasn't being enforced, it was on the books 67 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: and clearly on people's minds too. Culturally, the mainstream view 68 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: of women wearing pants didn't begin to shift until the 69 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. That's when fashion designers like Eve San Laurent 70 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: began featuring women's trousers and fashion shows. This helped promote 71 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: the idea that there's nothing shameful or inappropriate about a 72 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 1: woman and pants. Gradually, as adherence to the anti pants 73 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: law faded, people started forgetting there was a law at all, 74 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: which is how it managed to survive all the way 75 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: into the twenty first century. Finally, in a group of 76 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: Green Party lawmakers introduced a bill to do away with 77 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: the no pants law and others similarly outdated judicial rulings. However, 78 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: in an unsettling turn, the Paris Prefecture, the descendant of 79 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: the body that originally issued the ban, objected to revoking it. 80 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: They argued that it wasn't worth the hassle of repealing 81 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,799 Speaker 1: such a laughable law, especially since it wasn't being enforced. 82 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: The bill stopped there for the time being, but thankfully 83 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: in the matter was taken up again by najatte Valu 84 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: bel Kassim, the French Minister of Women's Rights. After getting 85 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,600 Speaker 1: the law repeat old, the minister wrote, quote, this ordinance 86 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: is incompatible with the principles of equality between women and men, 87 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: which are listed in the Constitution and in France's European commitments. 88 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: The document is nothing but a museum piece. It's absurd 89 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 1: that a law dictating what women could wear remained on 90 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,159 Speaker 1: the books in Paris for two hundred and thirteen years. 91 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: But the story is also a reminder of the freedoms 92 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: we take for granted today. Plenty of other places, both 93 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: then and now, place restrictions on personal liberties, some as 94 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: simple as the right to dress how you want. That 95 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,720 Speaker 1: fight for freedom of expression will go on and on, 96 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 1: which is why it's nice sometimes to reflect on a 97 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:53,479 Speaker 1: story like this one where the reason for fighting in 98 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: the first place starts to look so ridiculous that everyone 99 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: just stops. I'm Gabelusier and hopefully you now know a 100 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. If 101 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: you looked what you heard, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, 102 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if 103 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, you can send them 104 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: to me at this Day at I heeart media dot com. 105 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler May's for producing the show, and thank 106 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow 107 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: for another Day in History class. For more podcasts from 108 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 109 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.