I have dropped him a brief email, citing my previous role in which equality was a frequent topic of discussion in many of the groups I attended. We'll see if there is any response.crfriend wrote:It might well be interesting to see how he'd respond if a boy did show up one cay in a skirt and how the lad would likely be treated for having the audacity to push boundaries.greenboots wrote:I know the headmaster (though he does not know of my personal interest) so I suppose I could ask a provocative question
Another school with gender neutral uniform
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
I'd like to see that!greenboots wrote:Thank you for your comments. I acknowledge that the absence of gender comments will likely not herald a rush of males wishing to wear skirts to school. However, I see it as a positive step that males in skirts is not automatically linked to transgender.
I know the headmaster (though he does not know of my personal interest) so I suppose I could ask a provocative question
I totally agree that it is a positive step because the automatic linkage to transgender is absent. That's bigger news than we might appreciate, I think.
Daryl...
Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
"Should" is a particularly useless word. We can agree on it all we want but it won't change marketing or manufacturing reality. Probably none of the skirts being made are in fact "unisex" (ugh) but adapted to female body norms/averages. When demand justifies it, they will make a boy's skirt, just as the manufacturers of jeans eventually did when girls first began wearing jeans. Girls wore jeans made for boys until the manufacturers and marketers saw the opportunity. I personally think that the fashion of dungarees riding hips, not mounted at the waist, came from girls finding that boy's dungarees did that on their hips quite naturally. Boy's jeans eventually also rode hips more than waists.Stu wrote:I think there is a qualitative difference. You are choosing to wear garments designed for women as a lifestyle choice. Children are mandated to wear uniform for school and the schools are implying that all uniforms are for both sexes. If boys are to be expressly allowed to wear skirts, then suppliers should respond either by making skirts for boys or (more realistically) marketing those which they do supply as "unisex" and removing the specific term "girls'".Daryl wrote: I don't expect my local women's plus-size shop to de-gender their catalogues and displays, only to treat me equally as a customer, which they do.
Daryl...
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
Tight clothing like close-fitting jeans are quite unlike school uniform.Daryl wrote: "Should" is a particularly useless word. We can agree on it all we want but it won't change marketing or manufacturing reality. Probably none of the skirts being made are in fact "unisex" (ugh) but adapted to female body norms/averages. When demand justifies it, they will make a boy's skirt, just as the manufacturers of jeans eventually did when girls first began wearing jeans. Girls wore jeans made for boys until the manufacturers and marketers saw the opportunity. I personally think that the fashion of dungarees riding hips, not mounted at the waist, came from girls finding that boy's dungarees did that on their hips quite naturally. Boy's jeans eventually also rode hips more than waists.
When it comes to children under about 14-years, there is no appreciable difference in body shape between boys and girls. Take an average 12-year old boy to a school outfitter and he would have no problem being fitted with a uniform for a girl of the same age. There are plenty of examples of boys donning school skirts. I agree that it would be unrealistic to expect manufacturers to make school skirts expressly for boys, but I see no reason why retailers shouldn't market existing garments as unisex. They needn't use the word "unisex": just call them "school skirts".
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
In point of fact, they oughtn't use it at all and simply label the garments as "skirts". Done. Why does everybody get their knickers in a twist over this?Stu wrote:They needn't use the word "unisex": just call them "school skirts".
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
crfriend
These are skirts specifically for school and part of a somewhat generic British school uniform.
These are skirts specifically for school and part of a somewhat generic British school uniform.
Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
They do need to specify that they are kids' sizes. But yes, mark them as children's or kids' skirts, or as Stu suggested, "school" skirts.crfriend wrote:In point of fact, they oughtn't use it at all and simply label the garments as "skirts". Done. Why does everybody get their knickers in a twist over this?Stu wrote:They needn't use the word "unisex": just call them "school skirts".
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
crfriend wrote:In point of fact, they oughtn't use it at all and simply label the garments as "skirts". Done. Why does everybody get their knickers in a twist over this?Stu wrote:They needn't use the word "unisex": just call them "school skirts".
"Because that's the way we have always done it"
Only in recent history memory has skirts been a female exclusive garment.
People younger than 50 remember women being able to wear skirts, dresses and trousers.
People 50 to 70 remember women in trousers probably a rare sight.
People that are 80 plus probably remember when women could only wear skirts and dresses.
Can I get any one to second this notion?
Does that sound about right?
Would you imagine if there was a 250 year woman alive today might she exclaim " George Washington and Thomas Jefferson looked really sexy in their powered wigs and breeches."
Fashion is ever changing. Just because we can't remember it doesn't mean that it never happened.(I hope leggings as pants dies quickly)
We can bring back men in skirts, as men in skirts. We however need to draw the line in the sand, and stop society from pussifying us into wannabe women. They will force us into that box if we let them. Then there will never truly be men in skirts like in the past.
Just sissies in skirts.
With the exception of skirts everything thing else I wear is from men's department.
I know some will disagree with this following statement.
When we wear other items from the other side of the asile with our skirts, we are only encouraging the wanna be woman sissy stereotype further.
Mishawakaskirt @2wayskirt on Twitter
Avoid the middle man, wear a kilt or skirt.
Avoid the middle man, wear a kilt or skirt.
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
I have no problem with this statement. But I'd like to add, a free man wears whatever he wants and doesn't require the approval of whatever "social customs" dictate. Thus if a man wants to wear trousers then good for him! If he wants to wear a kilt or other "man skirt" again, good for him. If he wants to wear a frilly ballerina tutu or some other feminine number, hey... it's his body. The free mind of a free man cares not.mishawakaskirt wrote:We can bring back men in skirts, as men in skirts. We however need to draw the line in the sand, and stop society from pussifying us into wannabe women. They will force us into that box if we let them. Then there will never truly be men in skirts like in the past.
Just sissies in skirts.
A free man doesn't need a "trans" label or "Q" added to his identity, a free man doesn't get hung up in others who assign this to him. He just does his thing and doesn't waste the mental energy worrying about it.
Isn't worrying about maintaining an appearance of "masculinity" ironically an act of submission? ("I can't wear that... what would my friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, etc say??") Men worry themselves to death over how they are perceived by the community at large. If you want "pussification", look no further.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
Also I couldn't care less about advancing "men in skirts" to other men. If other men like having their balls pinched every time they sit... they, it's their nads not mine....
I have no interest in proselytizing this to anyone. If some men see me and want to emulate this, that's fine, if not, that's okay too. I've got nothing to prove to anyone.
I have no interest in proselytizing this to anyone. If some men see me and want to emulate this, that's fine, if not, that's okay too. I've got nothing to prove to anyone.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
Amen!moonshadow wrote:Also I couldn't care less about advancing "men in skirts" to other men. If other men like having their balls pinched every time they sit... they, it's their nads not mine....
I have no interest in proselytizing this to anyone. If some men see me and want to emulate this, that's fine, if not, that's okay too. I've got nothing to prove to anyone.
I feel the same way!!
"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.
Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind and the ones that mind don’t matter.
Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
No. I do care. I want to leave things a little better for future generations.Fred in Skirts wrote:Amen!moonshadow wrote:Also I couldn't care less about advancing "men in skirts" to other men. If other men like having their balls pinched every time they sit... they, it's their nads not mine....
I have no interest in proselytizing this to anyone. If some men see me and want to emulate this, that's fine, if not, that's okay too. I've got nothing to prove to anyone.
I feel the same way!!
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
I fall on this side of the equation as well. If I'm going to make the effort -- and it is an effort -- to be "out of the ordinary" then I'm going to do it with some pride [0] and panache. I want to be an example that can help others overcome their fear of the unknown and be worthy of emulation.Dust wrote:No. I do care. I want to leave things a little better for future generations.
There's enough hate, fear, and BS out there: have the guts to commit random acts of beauty. Be the change you want to see in the world, lead by example.
[0] Is that word still usable in that context?
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
Ah, but that's the magic of it [wearing skirts], they say all that needs to be "said" without saying a word. I need not hold an "opinion" on why I do it, the simple act of doing it speaks more than any essay I could come up with....crfriend wrote:I fall on this side of the equation as well. If I'm going to make the effort -- and it is an effort -- to be "out of the ordinary" then I'm going to do it with some pride [0] and panache. I want to be an example that can help others overcome their fear of the unknown and be worthy of emulation.Dust wrote:No. I do care. I want to leave things a little better for future generations.
There's enough hate, fear, and BS out there: have the guts to commit random acts of beauty. Be the change you want to see in the world, lead by example.
As they say, "actions speak louder than words".
Thus by my simple act of wearing my clothing of choice, I pave the way for others who may choose to do the same.
However, I reiterate: I don't seek followers, I seek my right to choose. I don't care if anybody follows my lead.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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Re: Another school with gender neutral uniform
While I do not care if anyone likes my style or choice of the clothes I wear. I still wear them for all of the world to see. I enjoy my skirts and so wear them with all of the confidence I have. But wearing them and being confident should be enough, if others want to try them then let them. If they ask me questions I try to answer them with truth and confidence. I do not try to tell others they need to try them nor do I care if they don't.
As with everything else we should show by example not by threats.
As with everything else we should show by example not by threats.
"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.
Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind and the ones that mind don’t matter.