Gender-neutral school uniform collection, including a 'shirtskirt', launches in Taiwan

[thoth51]

https://www.asiaone.com/asia/gender-neu ... Z3w6BeTc0g

[Uncle Al]

I'm not sure how long this will last but,



Uncle Al

[trainspotter48]

i can't quite see it surviving the impromptu soccer games in the yard during breaks!

[crfriend]

I had to fiddle with the timing on things to get a good look at the primary image before the anti-anti-advert bits kicked in, but I quite like the long(ish) pleated version. It'd be hard to keep clean to be sure, but that's something I'd wear in a heartbeat. The short one too, at least in summer.

[partlyscot]

Not a bad job.

[Raakone]

I wish the "shirtskirt" existed at my school back where I was from elementary to high. Taiwan is definitely doing something right here.

If offered, I imagine those boys who are more athletically inclined would probably choose the pants option. Either that, or, if the shirtskirt is the only non-PE uniform available, they may take to wearing something underneath. I read that in American Samoa, one of the few places where the boys' uniform includes some kind of skirt (the ie lavalava, or sarong), it's now trendy for many of them to wear "hip hop shorts" underneath, some also wear a t-shirt underneath the uniform shirt, I guess to "shed" at the end of the school day.

[Big and Bashful]

They look really good, nice choice in garments and all looking very wearable, although white is a bit of a dirt magnet!

[howardfh]

It looks better than I thought it would, although too long to be practical for football in the yard! Third photo down it looks better on the boy than the girl!

A personal plea from me - socks should either be knee-high (or above if you're a fashionista) or rollde/folded down at the ankle. Not neither one nor t'other. That goes with skirts or shorts. Not even tennis players....rant over

[Stu]

They look OK, but they are not terribly practical in view of their colour and length. In the UK, they would get very dirty very quickly.

On a similar note, I noted that a primary school in my locality had made a song and dance about changing their uniform to make it gender neutral. The changes appeared minimal, but I did notice on their information page that children (girls and boys) would henceforth have a choice between trousers and a "kilt" in charcoal grey. There was a photograph in the prospectus showing a boy in trousers and a girl in this so-called kilt - no surprise there. The "kilt" could be worn with white, knee-length socks, or tights in either a "natural" colour, barely black, or black. This supposed "kilt" had no pleats and was not wraparound, and it appeared to fasten with a short zipper at the back. In other words, it was an old-fashioned A-line skirt of the kind that girls have traditionally worn for school since forever, but re-branded as a kilt just so the school could say it had a gender neutral uniform. How many boys are going to wear an A-line skirt and tights for school? None - and the school knows it. How many on here would have worn that in their school days had it been allowed? None, I suspect - even if they might secretly have wanted to. In other words, the school is showing how progressive it is and yes, you can wear the girls' uniform if you want, boys, but expect massive social ostracism and humiliation if you do.

[Grok]

Indeed, Stu. It is a cynical form of Virtue Signalling by the Powers That Be.

[Shilo]

I really do like some of the styles shown and would wear them myself. There is no chance I’d be mistaken for a school pupil. I agree that white is not a very practal colour though

[Big and Bashful]

They look OK, but they are not terribly practical in view of their colour and length. In the UK, they would get very dirty very quickly.

On a similar note, I noted that a primary school in my locality had made a song and dance about changing their uniform to make it gender neutral. The changes appeared minimal, but I did notice on their information page that children (girls and boys) would henceforth have a choice between trousers and a "kilt" in charcoal grey. There was a photograph in the prospectus showing a boy in trousers and a girl in this so-called kilt - no surprise there. The "kilt" could be worn with white, knee-length socks, or tights in either a "natural" colour, barely black, or black. This supposed "kilt" had no pleats and was not wraparound, and it appeared to fasten with a short zipper at the back. In other words, it was an old-fashioned A-line skirt of the kind that girls have traditionally worn for school since forever, but re-branded as a kilt just so the school could say it had a gender neutral uniform. How many boys are going to wear an A-line skirt and tights for school? None - and the school knows it. How many on here would have worn that in their school days had it been allowed? None, I suspect - even if they might secretly have wanted to. In other words, the school is showing how progressive it is and yes, you can wear the girls' uniform if you want, boys, but expect massive social ostracism and humiliation if you do.

Currently, I don't think any boys would, when I was a school kid, no I wouldn't. Why not? because I do not like to stand out, and no other boys wore skirts, I had enough to contend with by being a foot taller than the rest of the class, wearing glasses and being shy. School kids invariably pick on outsiders and give them a hard time. However, if the uniform code allowed it and if society hadn't been busily telling the male half of the UK population that skirts were not for them then I think things would have been very different. I think that if skirts were a "normal" option for boys, as well as trousers being a normal option for girls, there may have been much more mixing of garments, if a boy in a skirt was just normality, then they wouldn't have automatically been ridiculed, which would have led to more male skirt wearing, there probably wouldn't even have been a need for sites like the Cafe.
The odd thing is, if it wasn't for seeing all those girls in school in skirts and how they had to be far more aware of what their skirts were doing and how they behave, when us boys just had to wear something as boring as trousers I would probably never have been curious enough to actually try wearing one. However, the fascination started there, the first experiments with my Mothers skirts when she was out (my sister had long since left home), borrowing her nighties as well, then once I left home I found somewhere that sold nightshirts. That kept me comfortable at home until I moved to Scotland and thanks to a wedding or two I got serious with kilts, then there was the Cafe, then there was Midas clothing, then EBay and other sites that sold skirts big enough for a large male who liked to be comfortable. The future's bright, the future is flappy!

[Sinned]

I was born in the mid-fifties so the "swingin' sixties" was my time when growing up. I had the long hair of the time and was among a group ridiculed by the headmaster for having it. If skirts had been available as a school uniform choice at the time then would I have worn one? Probably, as my parents were quite progressive and laissez-fair and I was quite "rebellious" and outgoing enough to try. I had the normal accessories of the period - flower pattern shirts and ties, afghan coat, necklaces, hairband and so on. I wore bright clothing and things that definitely made me noticeable so standing out and being seen didn't bother me. I'm certainly not the shy type and talking in front of a large group doesn't faze me. The men wearing skirts that, I have now learnt, briefly impinged on the fashion scene didn't break into my consciousness then otherwise I may have tried a skirt at that point in time. Wearing skirts and dresses has been a thing for me all through my marriage. When my wife would be out I would often try her skirts and dresses on [0] as I like the comfort and look of them. I don't remember being particularly interested in her tops but she is/was well endowed so that's maybe why - they just wouldn't have fitted. But hey, that's in the past.

[0] Although I'm taller than her, in terms of dress and waist sizes we were similar then. Not now, but we were then.

[moonshadow]

On a similar note, I noted that a primary school in my locality had made a song and dance about changing their uniform to make it gender neutral. The changes appeared minimal, but I did notice on their information page that children (girls and boys) would henceforth have a choice between trousers and a "kilt" in charcoal grey. There was a photograph in the prospectus showing a boy in trousers and a girl in this so-called kilt - no surprise there. The "kilt" could be worn with white, knee-length socks, or tights in either a "natural" colour, barely black, or black. This supposed "kilt" had no pleats and was not wraparound, and it appeared to fasten with a short zipper at the back. In other words, it was an old-fashioned A-line skirt of the kind that girls have traditionally worn for school since forever, but re-branded as a kilt just so the school could say it had a gender neutral uniform. How many boys are going to wear an A-line skirt and tights for school? None - and the school knows it. How many on here would have worn that in their school days had it been allowed? None, I suspect - even if they might secretly have wanted to. In other words, the school is showing how progressive it is and yes, you can wear the girls' uniform if you want, boys, but expect massive social ostracism and humiliation if you do.

That's actually pretty clever. Calling a skirt that's clearly not a kilt a kilt... The girls won't mind, and the liberal pencil pushers get their way too without making the inevitable headlines that ultimately just gets everyone in town outraged at one another...

Pure genius!

How many on here would have worn that in their school days had it been allowed?

I guess if it were allowed and socially acceptable I might have.

[Faldaguy]

by moonshadow » Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:07 am
Stu's comment:
..... In other words, the school is showing how progressive it is and yes, you can wear the girls' uniform if you want, boys, but expect massive social ostracism and humiliation if you do.
That's actually pretty clever. Calling a skirt that's clearly not a kilt a kilt... The girls won't mind, and the liberal pencil pushers get their way too without making the inevitable headlines that ultimately just gets everyone in town outraged at one another...

Pure genius!
How many on here would have worn that in their school days had it been allowed?
I guess if it were allowed and socially acceptable I might have.

AND it is precisely that "...and socially acceptable" that seems to be the barrier -- BUT, is the barrier in our mind, or the publics? I think most of us MIS who have ventured beyond our homes have found the barrier was pretty much exclusively in "our own minds". Therein lies the battle!