(Oscar here, popping out of his trash can, charging into battle with his mop-bucket helmet, garbage-can-lid shield, and broom-handle lance....)
OK, I think you're saying you want to somehow make skirts, kilts, dresses, etc., more acceptable for men.
Do you really mean it? Or do you just want to whine and blame at random?
If you really mean it, then, for starters, you'll have to drop stuff like
DALederle wrote:...It has been the constant or nearly constant sight of women wearing pants, which began with WWII, that has allowed our perception of women wearing pants to become and every day standard in the western cultures of the world. And even the eastern cultures are slowly swinging to the concept of pants for everyone.
For one thing,
why are
women suddenly to blame for what men choose to do? It's not
women who are making you afraid to walk out the door in your kilt or your miniskirt and pantyhose. Women have, at great cost, achieved the freedom to dress as
they wish, and now you're blaming them for
your real or imagined lack of freedom to do the same? Do you realize, you've just offended half the human race, including many of your natural allies?
For another, this change has
no correlation with men's freedom to wear stuff other than trousers. If anything, the opposite. I can assure you that back in the days when women were required to wear skirts/dresses (1950's, 1960's), it was far
less acceptable for men to do much of anything out of the ordinary. Men got beaten up for having hair down over their collar. Wearing a skirt would have gotten you arrested in many places. Even kilts could be a problem if you ran into someone sufficiently narrow-minded. (Remember Stonewall?)
DALederle wrote:In order for men to be accepted wearing whatever we want we need to be seen in publilc wearing????????????????????????? Fill in the blanks according to what you want to wear.
This is the first place where you make any sense.
DALederle wrote:The skirted men's march a few years ago didn't really make a difference.
Even the million man march a few year back didn't get a million men out. More people attended this last inauguration then at the million man march.
So what's the answer?
For starters, how about giving up the fantasy that it's going to be easy? What happened in Washington on Tuesday was the result of the struggle by millions of people over 3 and a half centuries. A
lot of people dedicated and sacrificed their lives to bring us to this point. And you expect a few hundred guys in their spare time to make a significant social change happen from scratch within your lifetime?
Actually,
I think it's a major social change that I can go to my neighborhood grocery store, or do my laundry in the apartment laundry room, or take the train and subway, while wearing a skirt, and nobody who sees me even mentions it. Nobody threatens me, people treat me like a normal human being, the cop on the corner, instead of arresting me, stops traffic so I can cross the street. And it's not just skirts. People with bright purple Mohawk haircuts walk up and down the street with impunity. Gay men live together and go out openly as couples, even holding hands, and nobody bothers them. Unimaginable 40-50 years ago.
It would be nice if I saw more men in skirts or even kilts, but you can't have everything. I can't control what other men wear. I wouldn't even want to. If they want to wear trousers, let them. If they really want to wear skirts, but are afraid to try, well, I try to offer an example that it's possible, but ultimately, it's their choice and they are the ones that have to deal with the consequences, whatever they are.
And ultimately, that's what freedom (fashion or otherwise) is about.
(OK, time to crawl back into my trash can.)
Thanks for all the fish.