Considering we're back to one of the most frustrating and therefore annoying topics ever to chew up space in this forum, the state of Sinned's marriage as measured by his "MOH's" acceptance of his skirt wearing, I'd say this post has about run it's course. Before we do, I'd like to clear up a few things.
Each of our "free men," "mavericks," and "MIS's" have complained bitterly about the societal double standard that accepts women in pants but stigmatizes men in skirts. Even I bump into it, suffered from it for decades and endure some ongoing pains because of it. Consequently, we will ALL benefit by it being consigned to the trash heap of the history of Western culture. As my 2nd signature line suggests, laws alone will not bring about that happy day, but where there are places where the law can right wrongs, they do help to change societal values and beliefs.
In his speech to the virtual Democratic National Convention, Pres. Obama cited how color-blind our younger generation is. Every single member? Of course not! However, throughout middle school and high school my stepdaughter, whose complexion is about the color of mayonnaise, had a best friend whose complexion was close to the color of bootblack. And none of her peers thought a thing of it. They were both integral members of their core group of friends who did EVERYTHING together. Indeed, Kellye, my stepdaughter, hesitated to get involved with the fellow who is now her husband until he won the approval of her friends. (They loved him from the getgo because he's a terrific person.)
That didn't happen by accident. If it was, that sea change in attitude would have occurred ages ago. It happened as the long-term result of the post-WWII Civil Rights Movement, the laws that were passed and the unrelenting effort of the advocacy groups that passed the landmark Civil Rights Acts of the mid-60's when a former school teacher from Texas was President.
We and the people who identify as being members of the LGBTQ community are facing a similar challenge. We men who wear skirts are not going to gain acceptance by distancing ourselves from the rest of the LGBTQ community under the forlorn hope that somehow we don't belong with them and that we deserve more acceptance and respect than they do.
The points I was trying to make are:
- If we want to gain society's respect we first have to attain critical mass, that is have enough of us, including allies, to be noticeable.
The LGBTQ community has quite clearly attained that critical mass.
Despite what Dust said, the members of that community accept us, recognize us for who we are and have plenty of room for us in their movement. Ralph is quite right; the various terms in the gender lexicon are poorly defined and cover a lot of disparate behaviors.
There is one or another of those labels, and labels can be useful identifiers, that any one of us could be comfortable with.
The advantage to doing so is that we would be allied with organizations that are succeeding in affirming the legal rights of people who don't fit the Gender Binary, seeing to it that those rights are enforced
And gaining the acceptance and respect of the people who are covered by that rainbow colored umbrella.
If anyone has thoughts on or responses to those points that they haven't expressed yet, I welcome them. If you have some other topic you want to discuss, please start your own thread and let this one die its natural death.
PS: What I found distressing about all of the attention that Sinned draws to his marriage is that he doesn't seem to do anything to change his situation despite all of this time of suffering with it Other members have posted numerous suggestions for addressing his problems, most of which were well-founded and all of which were met by "Yah but ... " And then Dennis has the audacity to call an issue that has drawn 9 pages of responses "boring!"
Dennis, please, either do something to change your wife's feelings about your wearing skirts or learn to live with her non-acceptance, but whichever you choose, please stop with the caterwauling! I'm sure none of us need any more of it.