Backlash to Senate hoodies is nothing new

+ why that Spanish soccer kiss is a laughing matter US Edition - Today's top story: John Fetterman might be the first to try to bare his legs in the Senate, but shorts have been ticking people off for almost a century [View in browser]( US Edition | 30 September 2023 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Late Wednesday night, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution mandating a coat, tie and slacks for men on the Senate floor. It ended a week of brouhaha and handwringing over Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to relax the chamber’s dress code to allow Sen. John Fetterman to wear his trademark hoodie and gym shorts before the storied body. This is a tune fashion historian Deirdre Clemente has heard before. [Shorts, in particular, have a long history of eliciting outrage](. Whether it’s Dartmouth students baring their legs during the Shorts Protest of 1930 or country clubs forcing women to wear trenchcoats over their shorts on their way to the tennis court, traditionalists will often appeal to values like “respect” and “decorum” to preserve existing fashion mores. And yet everyday people simply pushed back by continuing to wear shorts – so much so that it became impossible to regulate. Even though the Senate has reined in Fetterman’s perceived excesses, Clemente wonders just how long the newly official sartorial standards of the Senate will last. “Despite the buttoned-up outrage and jokes from Susan Collins about wearing a bikini on the Senate floor, fashion is born of culture, and culture is dynamic,” she writes. “And cultural forces are almost impossible to beat back.” This week we also like articles about [Supreme Court justices who defy]( “liberal” and “conservative” labels, the importance of avoiding historical narratives that [airbrush the cruelty out of the history of American slavery]( and the [dangers AI now pose during elections](. Nick Lehr Arts + Culture Editor The Shorts Protest of 1930 brought more than 600 students to the steps of Robinson Hall at Dartmouth College. Courtesy of Rauner Library, Dartmouth College [John Fetterman might be the first to try to bare his legs in the Senate, but shorts have been ticking people off for almost a century]( Deirdre Clemente, University of Nevada, Las Vegas As fashion norms change, what people wear in public becomes ground zero for hashing out new ideas of race, class and gender. A Black actor in 1974 impersonating an enslaved man in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. George Bryant/Toronto Star via Getty Images [Why separating fact from fiction is critical in teaching US slavery]( Eric Gable, University of Mary Washington; Richard Handler, University of Virginia Though it is a fact that some enslaved people learned valuable skills, it’s a myth that they had the same path of upward mobility that white laborers enjoyed. The intersection of politics and social media is fertile ground for AI-powered disinformation. AP Photo/John Minchillo [AI disinformation is a threat to elections − learning to spot Russian, Chinese and Iranian meddling in other countries can help the US prepare for 2024]( Bruce Schneier, Harvard Kennedy School ChatGPT and its ilk give propagandists and intelligence agents a powerful new tool for interfering in politics. The clock is ticking on learning to spot this disinformation before the 2024 election. - [Lost in the coffee aisle? Navigating the complex buzzwords behind an ‘ethical’ bag of beans is easier said than done]( Spencer M. Ross, UMass Lowell If you’ve decided to look for coffee that’s better for the earth or the people making it, you might need some help translating all the industry lingo. - [Feinstein’s death raises the question: How are vacant Senate seats filled?]( Gibbs Knotts, College of Charleston One US senator has died, another is facing criminal charges and one more is dealing with health problems. Who replaces a senator who is no longer in the seat? - [Soccer kiss scandal exposes how structural sexism in Spain can be a laughing matter]( Erin K Hogan, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Maria Garcia-Puente, California State University, San Bernardino The jokes, memes and skits came thick and fast – but behind the humor were serious points. - [The story of Ohio’s ancient Native complex and its long journey for recognition as a World Heritage site]( - [American Climate Corps: Biden’s new green jobs initiative delivers more promises than details]( - [Your microbes live on after you die − a microbiologist explains how your necrobiome recycles your body to nourish new life]( - [Supreme Court supermajority will clarify its constitutional revolution this year, deciding cases on guns and regulations]( - [Sea glass, a treasure formed from trash, is on the decline as single-use plastic takes over]( - [Just 3 Nobel Prizes cover all of science – how research is done today poses a challenge for these prestigious awards]( - [Wildland firefighters face a huge pay cut without action by Congress – in the midst of strenuous, dangerous work during fire season]( - [Microphone check − 5 ways that music education is changing]( The Conversation Quiz 🧠- Here’s a question of [this week’s edition:]( Let's see how closely you're following the presidential debates. 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