Formality’s mask grants freedom from full personal responsibility for one’s appearance

Evidence

This exclusion of the personal reaches into even the most external matters; a lady would not want to appear in such extreme décolletage in a really personal, intimately friendly situation with one or two men as she would in a large company without any embarrassment. In the latter she would not feel herself personally involved in the same measure and could therefore abandon herself to the impersonal freedom of the mask. For she is, in the larger company, herself, to be sure, but not quite completely herself, since she is only an element in a formally constituted gathering. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 375

Categorization

• XREF: The impersonal freedom of the mask in a large company directly parallels how the urban crowd frees the flâneur from full personal accountability — a resource for the Julius essay. — connects to: Identity functions as a costume adaptable to context.; Veiling functions for converts as emancipatory protection from sexual objectification. — Margaret Hodson, Baby Jihad, 45; Conformity to fashion can shield and protect an individual’s inner difference. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 734 (+3 more)
• QUESTION: Simmel says formality frees rather than constrains — worth chasing how the mask of civil inattention becomes liberating rather than isolating in the modern city.

Related

• Conformity to fashion can shield and protect an individual’s inner difference. (similarity 0.85)
• Appeals to quality over quantity mask class privilege (similarity 0.84)
• Exclusive social circles can transform a stigmatized identity into a chic asset. (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Conformity to fashion can shield and protect an individual’s inner difference. #corroborates (0.65) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 734
• Identity functions as a costume adaptable to context. #expands (0.60)
• Freedom grows by ceding outward conformity while guarding an inner core #corroborates (0.55) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 736
• Veiling functions for converts as emancipatory protection from sexual objectification. #exemplifies (0.50) — Margaret Hodson, Baby Jihad, 45