Livre d'Or

I mean, there are of course reasons why a camisole type tank top is a clothing option available to a woman/female presenting person living in certain geographical locations, eg. culturally, those locations consider it inappropriate for women to expose their chests, but okay to expose arms and shoulders; culturally, also they consider this set up the most "normal" way to do that. There also might be climate reasons (you see a lot more tank tops in the American South than in the northeast).

And then there are reasons why a specific person might buy the tank top, ranging from "it was on sale" to "I agree with these specific conditions for public decency" to "I liked the color."

But I think that suggesting that there's some sort of moral imperative to think about your deeper reasons for choosing clothing is falling into this trap where clothing of women in particular is seen as symbolic, often of their, their family's, or their society's morals. I mean, do you think that there's also a moral imperative for men to consider why they wear T shirts? The answer may be yes, and from what you've said it sounds like it would probably be yes, but for a lot of people it's going to be no, because women's clothing choices are much more likely to be "marked" morally speaking.

To give some examples of female clothing being symbolically marked, I'm reminded here of an essay I read a while ago by a Muslim woman about how every female Muslim blogger feels they HAVE to address their position on hijab eventually. I'm also reminded of one of my sisters telling the other she was dressed like a prostitute when they were teenagers in relation to going outside together. A tank top is never allowed to just be a tank top when it's worn by someone who's read as a woman, is it?

For some people, that kind of thought exercise is interesting and important, but for some people it's boring or irrelevant or a reminder of all the times they had to justify their clothing on moral grounds or had clothing rules enforced by other people on moral grounds. I'm much more concerned about whether someone's "thought about why they do things" when we're talking about things that have the potential to hurt other people.

Ultimately if I don't want to analyze all the complicated reasons why I wear a T shirt when it's hot out but don't expose my calves, I don't have to, and I don't think that negatively impacts either my morality or anyone else's state of being.