What makes a skirt manly v feminine

[moonshadow]

Well I can say one thing Anthony.... your colors match!

[Grok]

Good grief Grok and s1893,

You're giving me a migraine over your agonizing over what "society" (whoever that may be) will and won't accept and how best can we get more men to wear skirts so we'll feel more comfortable and ...


Stop worrying about how to impress others to copy you; the best way you can do that is, to the best of your ability, present your genuine self without doubt, (visible) fear or self-consciousness. You're just wearing YOUR clothes.

Do that and the rest will take care of itself.

Agreed. And as we are a vanguard in a period of experimentation, we can have fun trying new things/inventing the future.


And enjoy standing out from the crowd, doing our own thing.



Sorry. This topic-what makes a skirt masculine or feminine-has been discussed before. My thought is, okay, define these categories if you like, and then bend the rules and do something subversive.

[crfriend]

[... A]s we are a vanguard in a period of experimentation, we can have fun trying new things/inventing the future.

Indeed. Be the change you want to see in the world. -- usually attributed to Ghandi. Or, another quote I quite like, Scientists discover the world that exists; engineers create the world that never was. -- Theodore Von Karman

I attempt to embrace both at once.

Dare.

[GerdG]

A lot of my skirts have front fly zippers. They are much easier to work when you are putting the skirts on. But other than that I don't understand why you would need a fly in the first place..

Of course you can't use the front fly zipper on a skirt like on pants. But the same way women don't need a front fly zipper on their pants. And in fact, when women started wearing trousers they were closed at the side or at the back, probably to make the point that they were not wearing male's garb.

[GerdG]

With regards to length I think looking masculine versus feminine is much less an issue than that other highly social construction decency. In fact, short can look very masculine considering how all historical examples have women wearing skirts to the ankle or lower and the short skirts are always on men (and often on men carrying swords and shields). Indeed, short skirts show off muscle rather than hiding it, thus giving a more masculine overall impression.

Miniskirts are associated with females specifically by being associated with flirtation with exposure, something society accepts from women more readily than it accepts from men. Words like "flirty" and "daring" and "hot" used with regards to miniskirts say it all. Someone seeing a man in a miniskirt may wonder if he is trying to flirt with exposure as females do with miniskirts. This brings a sense of femininity to the act of wearing a miniskirt, perhaps, but not necessarily to the "look" of it. I think, however, any potential disapproval would not come first from a sense that wearing a miniskirt is too feminine for a man, but from the sense that is is too sexually exposing for a man.

Short skirts – some 2000 years ago and today. Are they just short skirts or could they be regarded minis?

[Caultron]

...Short skirts – some 2000 years ago and today. Are they just short skirts or could they be regarded minis?

Interesting parallel on the two photos, there.

I'd call those knee-length, not mini, though. Unless there's an official definition somewhere that makes me wrong.

[denimini]

Not mini, but a good comparison.
This is more mini length

10 Roman Gladiator Statue Jogja Kasongan Art-15.jpg

May be if one can touch the hem with arms by side it is a mini ???

[Daryl]

Good grief Grok and s1893,

You're giving me a migraine over your agonizing over what "society" (whoever that may be) will and won't accept and how best can we get more men to wear skirts so we'll feel more comfortable and ...

Get over it! Thanks to the Gay Liberation Movement that transformed into the Pride Movement and is now the Equality Movement most Americans accept and support diversity. I'm more than accepted in my church and my apartment project; as the "Cheers" theme goes, "everyone knows my name." Over the last several months I've only rarely worn pants. No problem.

Don't let Trump's and the most despicable of his followers' bullying fool you; most people are accepting and supportive of people who are different.

Amen and hallelujah. My experience is pretty much that too, BUT, there is a reason so many of us think in terms of what will be "accepted" and it's that market acceptance is on our minds, and it clearly is on the minds of people willing to invest money on the supply side. So, thinking in terms of "doing our bit for the cause", overlaps a lot with thinking about our personal degrees of social comfort (you know, in society). If thinking about these things and discussing them causes migraines, then, um, go shopping?

(Oh no Daryl you did NOT just employ the female retail-therapy stereotype!)

[Daryl]

Dirty, not flirty in a mini
Relaxing after a hard day's work, showing no more leg than the typical "Stubbies" shorts.

Good for you, because if there's anything people worry they might see too much of, it's legs.

[Daryl]

Not mini, but a good comparison.
This is more mini length

10 Roman Gladiator Statue Jogja Kasongan Art-15.jpg

May be if one can touch the hem with arms by side it is a mini ???

I'd accept that as an excellent working definition. And that gladiator looks awesome and manly. I just worry about how much ironing his skirt requires!

[crfriend]

May be if one can touch the hem with arms by side it is a mini ???

I'd accept that as an excellent working definition.

Actually, that was the defining characteristic of a "miniskirt" in the 1960s, and remains the criterion of where I differentiate between a mini and a simple short skirt.

And that gladiator looks awesome and manly. I just worry about how much ironing his skirt requires!

I doubt that they much worried about it.

[DonP]

Good grief Grok and s1893,

You're giving me a migraine over your agonizing over what "society" (whoever that may be) will and won't accept and how best can we get more men to wear skirts so we'll feel more comfortable and ...

I very much care what others think when I am out in public wearing a skirt. I don't want to be considered a freak or an eccentric. I don't even want to be noticed. I would love to see at least one other man in a skirt and preferably, many others.

[crfriend]

[...]I don't even want to be noticed. I would love to see at least one other man in a skirt and preferably, many others.

They're out there, they're just not being noticed.

[Caultron]

...I would love to see at least one other man in a skirt and preferably, many others.

Keep an eye out. I see about a half dozen a year.

[Grok]

I remain unconvinced that's necessary or even desired. In the US, certainly, and likely elsewhere, masculinity has fallen into strong disfavour and men in the modern world are little more than sperm-donors, wallets, and should-be prisoners. The only time the notion really enters is when women want to purloin styles that have been historically masculine in the past couple of hundred years.
So, with overt masculinity being reviled by (what passes for) modern society, adhering to the notion makes little sense; you're going to catch stick for it anyway,

I can see where a young man-if he intends to raise a family-must, nevertheless, conform to an image of traditional masculinity.

However, if you are an older male, you age into a time when there is no point in staying locked in that stultifying little box.