The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Clippings from news sources involving fashion freedom and other gender equality issues.
Disaffected.citizen
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 433
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 6:16 am
Location: UK

The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Disaffected.citizen »

I just stumbled across this article (full copy below) dating back to 2013 in The Telegraph, but couldn't see that it has been posted previously:
In a week which has seen Paris legally permit women to wear trousers, and a South Korean airline criticised for forcing its air hostesses to only wear skirts, Dr Brooke Magnanti explains the continued allure of the expressly feminine garment.

Let's face it: skirts are dreadful. Sure, they can look nice enough and are just the thing for hot weather or piping the battle-weary across Culloden Moor (though as often as not they look like shapeless sacks and kilts are on the downswing of the fashion pendulum). But as far as fit-for-purpose clothing goes, they are a nightmare, an absolute nightmare.

I say this, of course, as a fully-paid-up skirt-wearing sort who's had more dresses than I have hot meals. I spent the majority of my school days in a uniform skirt even after the girls were allowed trousers. That doesn't change the fact that they are pants. Or not pants. Oh, you know what I mean.

With news in the last week that Paris has finally got round to overturning its 'legal archaeology' law forbidding women in trousers from worrying the city's oh-la-la image, and the announcement that South Korea’s human rights commission has urged the country’s second largest airline to abandon its policy of making women in the crew wear skirts, you might think we've seen the back of the skirt.

Far from it: have you seen the high street lately? Try and find a well-cut, flattering pair of trews (trousers) that doesn't cost the earth and you'll most likely come home empty handed. Meanwhile the babydoll-plus-leggings combo just runs and runs. From the 1950s onward, eschewing skirts may have been a visible sign of women's lib, but we still like a little sugar in our tea and even the most femme-averse gal will have a dress somewhere in the back of the closet she knows she can 'just throw on' when she has to.

That's the dirty secret about skirts. Why would even people like me who love a pair of jeans still reach for the dart-waisted A-line even in the 21st century? Because not only are they easy for the fashion houses to churn out with minimal tailoring, they're easy to put on and wear. This is not the same as being easy to work in, or walk in, or run in. But in that bleary-eyed quarter hour between rolling out of the sack and getting an indifferent mug of instant coffee down yer, they require very little thought. Or ironing. And if in a sturdy enough and dark enough fabric, you can skip the odd trip to the dry-cleaner's too.

Don't believe me? Just have a gander at what every 'Gap Yah' girl chooses to fill her rucksack with for that all-important jaunt round the globe. Skirts, naturally, and usually of the generous cut and stain-hiding print that Sienna Miller made briefly fashionable back in 2003.

Given all those advantages, it's strange to me that skirts are still considered (aforementioned kilts aside) an exclusively feminine garment. As far as I can tell, most men's approach to clothing coordination consists of "grab the nearest thing that goes on fastest." My husband would walk around in his dressing gown all day if that was compatible with health & safety on the worksite. And is that really qualitatively any different from, say, a DvF print wrap? Add a hi-vis vest and helmet, and you're away.

With the last vestiges of enforced sartorial femininity finally falling away, perhaps it's time for a new campaign for clothing freedom. The gents surely envy us the ease of the skirt: let's see if they can take it like a man.
Whilst I am not sure everything rings true, either when it was written or now, at least it poses "the question" for men!
User avatar
hoborob
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 346
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:03 pm

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by hoborob »

If you really think about it, which takes more "guts" to do, Wear a skirt out as a male or bow to peer pressure and wear a pair of pants?
Kilty
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 956
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:47 pm

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Kilty »

hoborob wrote:If you really think about it, which takes more "guts" to do, Wear a skirt out as a male or bow to peer pressure and wear a pair of pants?
It takes guts to wear a skirt, even a kilt which is universally recognised as a man's garment. Denim skirts are the easiest to wear, but to save aggro it is easier to fall in line with everyone else and go for the bifurcated option :cry:
User avatar
Fred in Skirts
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 3988
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:48 pm
Location: Southeast Corner of Aiken County, SC USA

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Fred in Skirts »

kilty wrote:
hoborob wrote:If you really think about it, which takes more "guts" to do, Wear a skirt out as a male or bow to peer pressure and wear a pair of pants?
It takes guts to wear a skirt, even a kilt which is universally recognised as a man's garment. Denim skirts are the easiest to wear, but to save aggro it is easier to fall in line with everyone else and go for the bifurcated option :cry:
Why worry about all of the crap dished out by your subconscious mind and just wear your skirts. Most of the perceived problems lay not with the great unwashed but in your own head. When I banished my fears and worries about wearing skirts and started to wear them all of the time I am now a lot happier.
Who do you let control you???
Me, no one or any thing controls me I do as I will do when it comes to what clothes I wear and when and where I wear them..
"It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for what you are not" Andre Gide: 1869 - 1951
Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind and the ones that mind don’t matter.
User avatar
moonshadow
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 6994
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 1:58 am
Location: Warm Beach, Washington
Contact:

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by moonshadow »

Fred in Skirts wrote:Why worry about all of the crap dished out by your subconscious mind and just wear your skirts. Most of the perceived problems lay not with the great unwashed but in your own head. When I banished my fears and worries about wearing skirts and started to wear them all of the time I am now a lot happier.
Who do you let control you???
Me, no one or any thing controls me I do as I will do when it comes to what clothes I wear and when and where I wear them..
AGREED!

That's the different between "men" and "free men".

The strongest shackles and chains are those of your own mind! I've often wondered as I study the history of slaves, African, Hebrew, etc, with so many slaves and so few slave masters, what was to stop the slaves from just throwing their tools down, stringing up the masters and killing them?

Simple... their minds were enslaved.

You all hold the key to unlock that shackle, it's right in your hand, all you have to do is put it in, and turn it!

FEAR is the only enemy! And if you should die doing what you love, by God it's better to die happy and free than to live miserable and enslaved!

As for me, I fear not the sword, only the shackle.

Our creator made us to be free, to not bend our knee to anyone on this Earth! Why do we? Get off your knee, there isn't a man, woman, or child alive today worthy of worship or fear. We're all mortals, nobody among us is God, NOBODY! Anyone who claims to be, kill him, if he arises in three days then I'll eat my hat!

Once again, I want to clarify, this isn't directed toward you, Fred, but to the general audience. I know you're not afraid.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
User avatar
Fred in Skirts
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 3988
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:48 pm
Location: Southeast Corner of Aiken County, SC USA

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Fred in Skirts »

moonshadow wrote:Once again, I want to clarify, this isn't directed toward you, Fred, but to the general audience. I know you're not afraid.
Moon you have my number :lol: No I am not afraid of anyone who does not like the way I dress. I am prepared to fight to the finish anyone who dares to try to tell me I can't wear my skirts or dresses any where I want. Now don't take me wrong I am not going out looking for a fight I just won't back down.

I believe in free speech and wearing what I want is a form of free speech. Political correctness is not free speech it is enslaved speech. So I don't worry if it offends you, GET OVER IT!! :twisted:

(not talking to you Moon) :lol:
"It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for what you are not" Andre Gide: 1869 - 1951
Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind and the ones that mind don’t matter.
User avatar
Jim
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 1551
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:39 am
Location: Northern Illinois, USA

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Jim »

moonshadow wrote: The strongest shackles and chains are those of your own mind! I've often wondered as I study the history of slaves, African, Hebrew, etc, with so many slaves and so few slave masters, what was to stop the slaves from just throwing their tools down, stringing up the masters and killing them?
I'm not going to look up references now, but I remember reading the US had some slave rebellions, most brutally crushed. That was the main point of the "militia" mentioned in the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution. I think a few instances the slaves escaped to the north and remained free, but were usually caught.
User avatar
crfriend
Master Barista
Posts: 14432
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 9:52 pm
Location: New England (U.S.)
Contact:

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by crfriend »

Jim wrote:I'm not going to look up references now, but I remember reading the US had some slave rebellions, most brutally crushed.
There were several of them,
That was the main point of the "militia" mentioned in the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution.
No. That was in response to the stipulation that the standing army allowed by law to the Federal government was positively tiny, hence the various militias of the assorted States had primacy. Recall that at the time when the building blocks were being laid for the foundation of The (occasionally seen as "These") United States there was much suspicion over granting too much power to a large centralised entity (and rightly so as history has proved).
I think a few instances the slaves escaped to the north and remained free, but were usually caught.
It was more than a few, and it caused much friction in the mid 19th Century.
Retrocomputing -- It's not just a job, it's an adventure!
User avatar
Jim
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 1551
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:39 am
Location: Northern Illinois, USA

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Jim »

crfriend wrote:
Jim wrote:That was the main point of the "militia" mentioned in the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution.
No. That was in response to the stipulation that the standing army allowed by law to the Federal government was positively tiny, hence the various militias of the assorted States had primacy.
Well, I'm no historian, but here's one analysis supporting my point http://www.rawstory.com/2016/07/the-sec ... e-slavery/ It starts out:
The Second Amendment was ratified to preserve slavery
Thom Hartmann, AlterNet

The real reason the Second Amendment was ratified, and why it says “State” instead of “Country” (the Framers knew the difference – see the 10th Amendment), was to preserve the slave patrol militias in the southern states, which was necessary to get Virginia’s vote. Founders Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison were totally clear on that . . . and we all should be too.

In the beginning, there were the militias. In the South, they were also called the “slave patrols,” and they were regulated by the states.

In Georgia, for example, a generation before the American Revolution, laws were passed in 1755 and 1757 that required all plantation owners or their male white employees to be members of the Georgia Militia, and for those armed militia members to make monthly inspections of the quarters of all slaves in the state. The law defined which counties had which armed militias and even required armed militia members to keep a keen eye out for slaves who may be planning uprisings.
....
User avatar
Daryl
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 1219
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:25 am
Location: Toronto Canada

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Daryl »

hoborob wrote:If you really think about it, which takes more "guts" to do, Wear a skirt out as a male or bow to peer pressure and wear a pair of pants?
I found that the more I wore skirts the less guts it took to wear them. New cities still make me a little self-conscious because I am acutely aware of the opportunity some people may take to exercise power through violence, feigning some kind of morals policing as a rationale, and each city does have a slightly different character. Even that is pretty fleeting nowadays though. Mostly I just keep calm and wear skirt everywhere. I even travel without "just in case" trousers sometimes.
Daryl...
User avatar
Daryl
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 1219
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:25 am
Location: Toronto Canada

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Daryl »

Daryl wrote:I even travel without "just in case" trousers sometimes.
By which I mean "travel out of town" not that I usually keep trousers with me "just in case".
Daryl...
User avatar
denimini
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 3224
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:50 am
Location: Outback Australia

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by denimini »

Daryl wrote:
Daryl wrote:I even travel without "just in case" trousers sometimes.
By which I mean "travel out of town" not that I usually keep trousers with me "just in case".
That is a good test, travelling away with only skirts packed. Never thought I would do it but now I have to remind myself to take pants if there is a formal occasion to attend.
Anthony, a denim miniskirt wearer in Outback Australia
User avatar
moonshadow
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 6994
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 1:58 am
Location: Warm Beach, Washington
Contact:

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by moonshadow »

A tee shirt and pair of cargo trousers remain in the trunk of the car, not so much for "shameful" reasons, but simply practicality. If I should find myself wearing one of my longer, or more delicate skirts and be in a situation of having to manage a vehicle repair, change a tire, etc, it's handy to have a pair of "work clothes" on hand.

There is also the chance that there could be a family emergency or other matter that would require my immediate attention, to which I may not be able to drive home to change first. For example, my father having a medical emergency and they're "calling the family in". That side of the family has no idea I wear these things, and such a day wouldn't be a good day for to out one's taboo skirt wearing.

But really, every skirt wearer (women too) should pack a pair of work clothes with them, especially on long travels.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
User avatar
Daryl
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 1219
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:25 am
Location: Toronto Canada

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Daryl »

denimini wrote:
Daryl wrote:
Daryl wrote:I even travel without "just in case" trousers sometimes.
By which I mean "travel out of town" not that I usually keep trousers with me "just in case".
That is a good test, travelling away with only skirts packed. Never thought I would do it but now I have to remind myself to take pants if there is a formal occasion to attend.
When I do wear trousers now, say, taking my mom to Christmas service, I often forget to do up the fly. New habits have supplanted old habits to some extent.
Daryl...
User avatar
Fred in Skirts
Member Extraordinaire
Posts: 3988
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:48 pm
Location: Southeast Corner of Aiken County, SC USA

Re: The Dirty Secret About Skirts

Post by Fred in Skirts »

The last time I flew to Colorado I did not pack any pants or shorts just skirts. I found that even with 5 skirts and 10 shirts or blouses my bag seemed not to be as full as it was when I packed 5 pairs of pants. I figured that if I could not wear a skirt then I was not going to do what ever I set out to do. I had no bad reactions at the airport coming or going and no bad reactions while in Denver and surrounding areas. :D
"It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for what you are not" Andre Gide: 1869 - 1951
Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind and the ones that mind don’t matter.
Post Reply