I knew when I purchased the cat eye sunglasses at one of our stores for $1.00, that eventually someone would say something about it, in a playful teasing way.
I love cat eye glasses, I always have, and I always wanted to wear them going all the way back to when I first started wearing sunglasses as a teenager. Yet much like everything else... this style was a woman's style, and I just wasn't "brave" enough. Since I've started wearing skirts and dresses, one of the side effects of this is I've started wearing other accessories normally reserved for women.
Glasses, and sunglasses in general are a very interesting subject when we start to think about what's for a man, and what's for a woman. Glasses, unlike clothing garments didn't even exist until very recently in the history of humanity. Nobody in biblical times wore either as they weren't invented yet. It's not mentioned in any religious text of "thou shall nots". So really what makes glasses gendered anyway?
Talk about arbitrary.
So I made the purchase and started wearing them on sunny days. And since it's always sunny and pleasant while at work, it means I get to wear them all the time while working!
Finally after I had them about a month, a co-worker who we'll just abbreviate as D.V. (out of respect on this public forum) finally made a wise crack about it. Now D.V. is somewhat of a dunce anyway. I swear he has a child's mind, and is VERY alpha. The type of guy that waddles up to you while you're working and snatches your hat or the pens out of your pocket and won't give them back. He's enormous, weighing over 400 lbs, HIGHLY conservative, and an general idiot. He basically runs parts and does other "gopher" work as he can't be trusted to handle more involved task. He has 5 children and is about my age. He attends one of those churches where all men keep their hair groomed, and wear long trousers and dress shirts all the time, and women had better NOT be caught in anything other than a skirt or dress.
Worst part about it is, he lives in Bristol, and that's where I stomp a lot on my days off. So being caught skirted by him is going to happen eventually. Now being the company idiot, there's really not much he can do. He's physically harmless. But I expect him to make the most of this discovery, get himself out from under the microscope at work, and basically tease the living hell out of me for it.
He is the one who I spoke with a while back regarding men wearing skirts. We weren't able to carry our discussion further because someone interrupted, but the last thing he said was "guys that wear skirts are gay, and gay people go to hell".
Yeah... this is what I've got to look forward to.
So anyway, I wear my cat eye sunglasses right in front of him the other day, and he points at me, smiles and laughs.... "you and your girly glasses!"
To which I got back in his face, smiled and said "Hay man, I wear what I WANT to wear, I happen to like them".
He started to laugh, and called me a "girly boy".
So I decided to own it. Later when my boss had to leave town, he left me sort of in charge of things here. That meant he answered to me. A fact that I reminded him of later when giving him instructions on what to do in the warehouse. I looked at him and said, "Guess what D.V..... girly boy's in charge now!"
It felt good to stand up for myself. Granted their just sunglasses, but still, the ice was cracked. I hope I can handle my skirt outing with the same level of confidence. "Hay... I wear what I WANT to... you're approval is not needed nor requested".
"Girly boy indeed... but with bigger balls than you'll ever have D.V.! You can't even manage your own life, and now you're going to tell me how to live mine???"....
Oh yes.... bring it...
But anyway... should I ever have to go the route of prescription eye wear, I'm seriously considering doing what I've always wanted to do.... go with 60's style cat eye frames... for the same reason I wear skirts.... I like them, and I CAN!
Pictured below... me in my "girly glasses"....
(Cropped from a group photo.)
