Polls Polls Polls

[skirtingtoday]

I have been gathering a series of polls about men in skirts over the years and wondered if there was any difference in opinions over time. here is the first batch taken around the years 2000-2003

Web links are attached for info but I have generally summarised the results.

1 Year 2000 http://www.destinyslobster.com/unbifurcated/index.html
A quick poll asking “Men, would you ever wear a skirt?
Result 31% Yes
28% Maybe in Scotland
14% I already do
25% No chance
So in summary I would say 75% positive

2 Also year 2000 http://surveycentral.org/survey/4392.html
Question asked “If women wear trousers, is it okay for to men wear skirts and/or dresses (as an alternative option to wearing pants.. not as a replacement)?”
Result
47% Yes
17% If designed for the male physique Yes
11% I don’t care what is or isn’t acceptable, I’ll wear what I like!
4% Yes but with reservations (see under comments)
5% Not at this moment in time
10% Absolutely not
3% The very idea on men in skirts is against nature
3% Other (whatever that means)
So again I would say that is around 79% positive with another 5% “on the fence”

3 From Year 2002 http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/68756/results
Question asked “Should men wear skirts” This poll asked a series of questions summarised below and had between 4700 and 5000 replies (approx 2500 for women only questions)
Result (Men only response)
72% Yes – we should get the same freedom choices as women
19% Yes – I find them more comfortable to wear.
2% Maybe – I’m not sure
1% No - Definately (sic) not
4% I wouldn’t wear a skirt but if other guys wear them, I have no problem.

Result (Women only)
49% Yes – Guys should have the same choice as us girls
26% Yes – I like a guy in a skirt
13% Sure – I have no problem with that
7% Don’t really care either way.
2% No – Skirts are only for women.

So again in summary 97% of men and 98% of women are positive or at minimum OK with it.

Other questions in this poll are :-
Are men gay if they wear skirts (96% say NO)
Are women lesbian if the wear pants (96% say NO)
Should men enjoy equal rights on clothing (95% say YES)
For Women only Should men be totally unrestricted in their choice of ALL types of clothing.
(92% say YES, and a further 5% say “I don’t really care”)
Men only question Should us guys be free to wear whatever we like (88.5% YES, 10% I wouldn’t but if other guys do, then great)

So even more positives – and look at the dates of them again.

4 And another poll this time from 2003 - http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/117494/results
Again it is a series of questions but I’ll let you see the results for yourselves.
Generally though the poll gives positive results in the 90’s for all questions.

[skirtyscot]

Hmmm, ST, I recall you have said you are a surveyor, but I now think that this is to hide your true identity, and you really a statistician! I trust you will be applying proper linear regression techniques to the full set of polls to determine whether or not there are any clear trends.

If I am right (and hopefully even if I am wrong), you know the dangers of self-selected polls. I doubt that men's skirts enjoy such high approval ratings in real life.

That last poll was a bit off-the-wall. Two observations on it: most men claim to wear panties under their skirts - make what you will of that - and I couldn't help wondering if the whole thing was invented so the pollster could ask the final question!

[skirtingtoday]

No SS - not a Surveyor but a Structural Engineer. Linear what? Even without that, the opinions hardly seem to vary at all over time and with different questions being asked it is almost impossible to make any coherent sense of them.

I have absolutely tried not to self-select the polls or (in other words) cherry-pick the favourable ones. I search through Google and pick all in the first 3 pages (I have another 6 more polls to follow these initial 4) and of these, I have only found one definite thumbs down poll so far.

Yes I did wonder about the final questions - you could be right there!

[crfriend]

I have absolutely tried not to self-select the polls or (in other words) cherry-pick the favourable ones. I search through Google and pick all in the first 3 pages (I have another 6 more polls to follow these initial 4) and of these, I have only found one definite thumbs down poll so far.

It's not that you're cherry-picking the ones you're using but rather that the respondents self-selected to participate in the polls in the first place. Given that, there's no way to ensure good methodology -- even if you yourself use rigourous methods. As they say in the computing field, "GIGO", or "Garbage In, Garbage Out" (although occasionally you'll see it as "Garbage In Gospel Out").

After having read more "Internet Polls" than I care to remember, the only take-away I had was that unless they were properly refereed the level of self-selection of the participants renders them less than useless.

[skirtingtheissue]

I wouldn't take any Misterpoll poll seriously. There are notoriously weird polls there, and even if some polls are serious, they are only answered by people who search the site for a particular topic, so are not representative of the general public. Poll creators often have an erotic thrill or excitement about the topic, shared by many of the respondents. The guy who created this poll created 3 others and covered the topic of "what do you wear under your skirt" in depth. For example one question reads "Are you forced to wear this type of undergarment under your skirt?" (http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/118901/results). The guy wrote "I have for years, worn womens clothing long hair, permanents, passing for a girl after being forced to dress as one for punishment as a 8-9 year old and Actually grew to love it." in remarks for the 117493 poll. Click on "messages" to see endless discussions that any Misterpoll poll generates... often quite warped.