My personal opinion on MUGs

[Big and Bashful]

You know, gentlemen, it strikes me that what the men-in-skirts movement needs is a really rich, cool designer who can dictate to men all over the it's fashionable for men to wear skirts -- of whatever type.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me from what I've read that the two most powerful forces that brought women to the point of wearing trousers were (a) World War II, during which it was seen, in the US anyway, as more patriotic to wear slacks instead of skirts and (extravagant, rare) stockings, and especially (b) Yves St. Laurent, who decided that "Women want to wear trousers. To be fashionable, all a woman needs is a pair of trousers, a sweater, and a raincoat." I honestly don't know whether there was really any great desire on the part of women to wear trousers like men did, until they were told by fashion designers that it was The Latest Thing. Maybe men in general won't realize that skirts -- whichever type of skirts -- are a good thing for them to want to wear, until they have a big public fashion face telling them that it's The Latest Thing.

Yeah, I know, men have the reputation of not following fashion... but y'know, in a lot of cases that reputation isn't deserved. What else but fashion-slavery explains that undignified phenomenon amongst many young men, where they wear pants with the crotch down around their knees (which, to my eye as the mother of a son, resembles nothing so much as a kid with a loaded diaper)?

Just a thought.

Cheers, and no intent to inflame anyone's temper or take anyone's side, 'cause to this woman's eye, men in all kinds of MUGs look great!

Inertia

I agree wholeheartedly! I know Midas are doing their bit but there must be room for someone else to have a go, I know there are a few others, but most seem to offer high priced fashion items instead of practical clothes, I think that many womens skirts, just re-cut to fit a male figure and maybe a higher build quality so that they last a bit longer, would be a good start.

[JRMILLER]

OK, here's the solution.....

Do we have any bio-chemists in the group? If so, develop a new strain of fungal infection that only attacks males, is completely resistant to modern drugs and can only be controlled by the ventilation afforded by skirts. Then, infect every toilet seat you can find. Men will be forced into skirts and by the time the drug companies come up with a cure, the new style may have caught on.

Why didn't I think of that before?

[Since1982]

Ok...I'll comment. Since I seem to have become a target in this, even though I said I'd not respond, I think I have to.

Sasq said: I see it as someone who wants to swim but finds the water colder than he likes. That person has two choices if he/she really wants to swim: 1) wade into the chilly water inch by inch allowing each part of his body to get accustomed to the cold, or 2) go for total immersion and plunge right in.

Skip, you seem to me a wader. I'm guessing you consider skirts on men a groundbreaking movement that warrants a cautious approach, building incrementally awareness of a changing male fashion consciousness that leads to, if not acceptance, at least tolerance.

I wear skirted garments every day, everywhere. I've been referred to as a "wader". Please define: 2) go for total immersion and plunge right in.

Does this look like a "wader"?

[Sasquatch]

Please accept my apologies for any offense taken at my earlier comment. I should not have named individuals in my response. My intent was only to highlight opinions that seem to remain diametrically opposed, and fashion sensibilities that seem, IMHO, to reflect different ends of the spectrum of opinion expressed in the initial post. I should have confined my remarks to a short opinion from my own point of view. I will now attempt to do that.

I generally choose to publically wear skirts that do have colors, styles and fabrics that are, IMO, masculine. That's my personal choice - I'm not dressing that way for any greater cause than my own tastes. The debate begins at the "IMO". Who decides exactly what is "masculine", and how "masculine" is masculine enough?

But I also have a garment or two that are, even in my own opinion, somewhat feminine. I don't wear these in public, but there may come a time when I want to. I am the same man dressed either way.

My reasoning for rejecting both the essentially femme styles and the argument put forth (that popular acceptance is best promoted by sticking to the more masculine styles) is pretty similar. First, I don't see any merit in replacing "Trouser Tyranny" with any other tyranny that dictates how I should limit the way I dress or suggests that I'm not dressing as I really want to. Second, when you step out that door you're on your own. No one deals with the consequences of your choices but you.

Mostly, life is too short to be a martyr for a relatively trivial cause. Dress as you want and let others do the same.

I strongly recommend closing this thread.

Sasq

[Since1982]

No offense taken Sasq. I think of myself as your friend, I hope that never changes.

[Peter v]

(Hopefully this won't let any more worms out.)

It seems to me that our biggest issue is that most people in Western societies have never seen a man in a skirt in Real Life, except (a) in a kilt, usually on special occasions, (b) as a joke, or (c) when the man was trying to pass as a woman. Except at events with Contra dancing, I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've seen a non-tranny man in a skirt. (That includes seeing South Pacific twice.)

Maybe, rather than hanging around in the Cafe and speculating and squabbling about Which Style Is More Acceptable, we should just get out more in our skirts, kilts, dresses, or whatever we wear, act normally (whatever that is ), and get people used to the idea.

I think the biggest thing that has lead to the acceptance of gays & lesbians in the US over my lifetime has been so many of them being "out" and about; as people learned that they aren't 3-headed space aliens (except in the Hallowe'en parade ), but just people who shop in the supermarket and rake their lawns and worry about their kids getting into college, people have mostly stopped being afraid of them and drifted into a live-and-let-live attitude towards them.

Maybe if we do the same thing, we'll come to be seen as just harmless eccentrics. Actually, it would be a real first step if we came to "be seen" at all.

Thank you. That is what I have been trying to say in various postings. If there is any significant recognisable presence of men to the public wearing skirts in a manly way, that in itself will give people the reference they can use. And even now anybody looking with his eyes and mind wide open can see if a man is being manly in a skirt, being a man in other finer skirts / garments or if he has boobs, great hair, and is made up to look as a woman, irregardless if he is wearing a skirt or not, and then know that the last man is then a travestite. So also the correct definition of what being a travestite entails is of importance, at least for those people who are interested. And that may even be one of or the most important thing to do first, as when people know you are not a travestite, then there remains only men in skirts. And until proven otherwise, men are still men no matter what they are wearing. Just as women are always women, whether in pants or skirts. Again, making people aware of a movement, to which they are oblivious, the freestyle movement, and having all the nuances of skirt wearing in that, will make people aware that there is something structural on a larger scale going on, and they will then want to see which nuance that the man before them in skirt is presenting, in that new freestyling. It is the looking which is so important, as people see but don't look, and thus just say O just some freek or travestite because they are so unaware of what is going on outside of the conventional lives they leed.

[Sasquatch]

No offense taken Sasq. I think of myself as your friend, I hope that never changes.

No problem, buddy.