IMPLICATIONS

[Stu]

There is a brilliant video on You Tube by a Canadian (??) female expert in fashion through the ages who calls herself "Snappy Dragon" talking about the history of men wearing skirts and how they were never originally intended just for women and girls. However, her summing up at the end, from 21.00, is absolutely brilliant and it applies wonderfully to all three categories I listed. Wear what you feel like wearing, what makes you feel good, and ignore the freakin' gender conventions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL4NPEbTEgE

[robehickman]

There is a brilliant video on You Tube by a Canadian (??) female expert in fashion through the ages who calls herself "Snappy Dragon" talking about the history of men wearing skirts and how they were never originally intended just for women and girls. However, her summing up at the end, from 21.00, is absolutely brilliant and it applies wonderfully to all three categories I listed. Wear what you feel like wearing, what makes you feel good, and ignore the freakin' gender conventions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL4NPEbTEgE

I agree, her roleplay-based presentation style is very entertaining, and running across this video is one of the things that pushed me to start wearing skirts myself. Yes, wear what you like.

I thought that she was discussing contra regarding the 'skirts for everyone' workshop she talks about in that video, and I accidentality confirmed that as she appears in a dance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D650GZoFZg8

Have been watching a ton of contra videos recently to get a general sense of how common male skirts are in practice.

[robehickman]

If you look at the instances where males wearing skirts have been publicised by media outlets, it has been things like 'train drivers protesting not being allowed to wear shorts', and 'school boys not being allowed to wear shorts'. In both cases the goal is 'to be allowed to wear shorts', not 'I'm wearing a skirt because I want to wear a skirt'.

To have any lasting impact there needs to be a clear motive that one is wearing a skirt, because wearing a skirt is the end goal.

The problem is the direction of travel to trousers for all, both male and female. In the school where I am a governor, the change in uniform policy to gender free, giving the boys the opportunity of skirts and dresses, was in response to a request by girls to wear shorts, which were originally only allowed for boys. I suggested just having a range of clothes which were acceptable for any student, which was accepted.

I think the object should be to allow choice in how anybody dresses. So in discussing a uniform, resist the move to everybody being in trousers, just give everybody a range of clothes to choose from.

I don't think you will ever get back to Roman times when all males and females were wearing skirts, mainly because the women are not in skirts any more and appear not to want to except for odd occasions. However, there are now so many guys wearing skirts for religious or culture reasons, here in London, that me or you just fit in with no problem.

I'd agree that choice is important and work needs to be done to normalise the idea of boys wearing skirts and dresses in that setting so that they aren't just immediately attacked for doing so. Skirts and dresses are very practical in hot weather for anyone.

The gender split in skirts vs trousers though, is just one example of a plethora of senseless rules that society is forcing on people. The way that society is set up is absurdly controlling - it expects people to behave in a very limited way, and when someone is incapable of doing so, which countless people are due to biologically evolved neurodiversity, it just turns into a organised torture system.

It would take too long to explain here, but I shared my thoughts on that in the following two articles:

https://robehickman.com/mental-speciali ... ive-autism
https://robehickman.com/living-with-per ... r-autonomy

[Grok]

She mentioned that Medieval men wore hose like garments. We are seeing something similar in the present, but with women wearing leggings as an alternative to trousers. A sort of second sartorial revolution, after the switch-from-skirts-to-trousers revolution.

[timemeddler]

ever notice how many of these videos of men wearing skirts on youtube are done by women? The handful with actual men are all stand alone videos without much followup videos.

[Damon]

Both of these threads are exactly the sort of discussion that Skirt Cafe exists for.

I am definitely a Screwdriver.

75 and more years ago it was still quite common, even in England, for boys of the middle classes to wear kilts on occasion. I did quite frequently. But I would have been most reluctant to wear a dress or anything girly.

I am still happy to wear a kilt or a modern variant like the Sport Kilt Recon model I am wearing at the moment. And I would probably like other skirts and dresses, but I don't have the courage.