This is also the reason why it's so important to lead in the matter by actually going out among the general public and demonstrating that the stereotypes are incorrect and any suspicions in "the eye of the beholder" are wrong. We can whimper about "Why can't we wear nice stuff" until the cows come home (or are sent to be turned into hamburger), but nobody else is going to take up our mantle, so it's our responsibility to do so. If we want to change the way that society views us, then it falls squarely on our shoulders to get out there, hold our heads high, and defy -- utterly, to the point of discrediting -- the stereotypes and shallow thinking that can be pervasive.DALederle wrote:[... T]he idea of men in feminine style clothing has always be presented as either a joke or crime. You have either lost a bet or you are pervert. The ground work for postive male images in feminine attire has never been made.
And that is one of the problems MIS-MIK face in trying to seperate us from the CD/TV culture, which was the only male in skirts most of the public knows about.
He'd likely never seen a guy in a skirt before, so his reaction was understandable, especially if there are no visual cues from your backside that can override the quite obvious skirt. Note that he apologised -- this would have been a splendid occasion to chat for a few moments and to demonstrate that a bloke in a skirt is the same bloke as when he's wearing trousers.I was at a Ren. Faire wearing an earth tone, broomstick skirt and had a man address me as "m'am" until turned around and looked at him. Then he apologized and called me sir! I wasn't wearing heels or anything else feminine, just the skirt.
Dennis -- Please do not think I'm singling you out for a "thumping" here; I most certainly am not. I'm trying to highlight that any time one tries to change a society's (herd's) notion on something it's going to be difficult, and it takes exemplars who are willing to take the occasional lump for their efforts.