Diversity week.

[Brandy]

Well I had a good day yesterday at work. If you live in corporate America there comes a time every year where you have to endure the corporate ritual of celebrating “diversity”. Which tends to be activities dreamed up 2000 miles away by a think tank and sold to the corporate board. As such “diversity week” tends to be very bland and washed out carefully chosen Politically Correct activities.

One of the best activities was the Friday lunch “Diversity Band” which is a pickup band made up of the local employees the lady who is the lead vocalist works in my group. She happens to be a very nice Lady whom I enjoy working with. On her way home Thursday night she stops for a moment to ask if I’ll be at lunch tomorrow to hear the band play? She also mentioned that she would keep me in mind when picking her outfit. In the past when she has worn some very nice skirts I’ve complimented her on them.

So this plants a thought I should wear a skirt also! So I pick out a nice Hawaiian shirt my khaki UK, I also wore camel color 70D PH, support hose actually, and closed toe Merrill sandals.

Only a couple people saw me Friday morning most of them have seen me in a UK before. I do not normally wear UK at work. I never know when I’m going to be in a cold computer room or under a desk pulling cables.

At lunch was very different, there are many people I know there and while standing in line waiting to be served a Lady I worked with comes up and puts her arm around me and asks “I thought kilts were for special occasions?”, “yes, diversity week.”, Ohhhh mmyyyy !!! we had a good laugh. While that was going on there was this 20 something woman just staring at the UK with eyes like a deer in head lights. There were several more encounters like that. I went to have my lunch and listen to the music. They were actually pretty good. “My” vocalist can actually sing pretty good. I left just as they finished.

Back at the office a half hour later I hear “Nice Skirt” in loud female voice as she walked past in a complimentary voice. She had never seen me in a kilt before and now understood my compliments better. I popped around to her office and we had a nice chat. Oh yes she has husband and two children.

So it was agreed I added some "diversity" to the day.

-- Brandy

[r.m.anderson]

Brandy !

BRAVO !!!

Never met a sourpuss in a Kilt yet!
And Kilts are an excellent ice breaker as well as a conversation starter!

Thanks for sharing your ''Diversity Event".

"Kilt-On"
rm

[Since1982]

Perfect for a Diversity Event...verrrrry diverse indeed!! I do believe Utilikilts are already making at least "their" product "mainstream".

[Ray]

An excellent outcome, Brandy - well done!

I wore a kilt to the office one day - it was a charity dress down day. I met the secretary of the CEO, who rolled her eyes; however, before she could get beyond "typical you", one of the senior boardroom directors walked past and said "superb! I love the kilt!". You should have seen her face ...and indeed mine (very smug and grateful at the same time!)

[Grok]

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[RyeOfTheDead]

According to scholars, we are living in a time similar to the Hellenistic Age. This was a cosmopolitan period.

It has occurred to me that cultural appropriation might come to crossdressing.

What would it be called? Cosmo-crossdressing? Trans-crossdressing?

Fashion?

[Since1982]

Brandy said: While that was going on there was this 20 something woman just staring at the UK with eyes like a deer in head lights.

THAT is one of the best things about a man wearing any kind of a skirted garment. I've had the fun of seeing that lots of times. They never say anything, do anything or cause any problems, they just stand there like the D.I.T.H. and usually have their mouth hanging open like a habitat for any passing flies. I just wish I'd gone public with my skirts 40 years sooner.

[Grok]

Re: Trans-crossdressing

In reference to international affairs, I have come across the term "transnational". (Between or across nations). That is the term from which I have borrowed the prefix "trans-"

Though come to think of it, this wouldn't be obvious. It might seem like one is trying to combine the terms "transvestite" and "crossdressing."

So I would vote for "cosmo-crossdressing"-cosmopolitan crossdressing.

[crfriend]

I would vote for "cosmo-crossdressing"-cosmopolitan crossdressing.

How about striking the term "crossdressing" completely? In this context, it's meaningless, and it's a divisive and sexist term anyway that more than a few folks find offensive. Note the masthead: "Skirt Cafe is an on-line community dedicated to exploring, promoting and advocating skirts and kilts as a fashion choice for men [...]"; conflating that with crossdressing is self-defeating.

"Cosmopolitan fashion" could work, as could "cosmopolitan costume" (although "costume" carries some unfortunate connotations). (Note that there is also the potential for confusion with the magazine Cosmopolitan which might cause problems.)

I think the sooner that the discriminatory term "crossdressing" (and it's pseudo-scholarly synonym "transvestism") is struck from the lexicon the better. Of all places, why is this being batted about here? Unless, of course, the intent is to be inflammatory.

[RyeOfTheDead]

Of all places, why is this being batted about here? Unless, of course, the intent is to be inflammatory.

Excuse me, but I think the only one being inflammatory here is you. Your post is unnecessarily harsh in response to Grok, IMO. I actually took the intention of his message to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, a reference perhaps to the silliness of terms like "metrosexual" which basically implies that any straight guy who cares about his looks is "acting gay."

Maybe the suggestion is, that since in your and others opinions here, people already mistakenly call what we do crossdressing, that such a term as "Cosmo-crossdressing" be something that takes the pre-conceived notion and spins it in a new light. Personally I don't really care for the suggested term either, which is why I made my silly one-word answer to it.

[crfriend]

Of all places, why is this being batted about here? Unless, of course, the intent is to be inflammatory.

Excuse me, but I think the only one being inflammatory here is you. Your post is unnecessarily harsh in response to Grok, IMO. I actually took the intention of his message to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek [...]

Please rest assured that my intent was not to inflame passions with that comment, but there have been more than a few cases in the past where repeated deliberate use of the term "crossdress" has been used to that end, and after one sees enough of that behaviour one gets rather exasperated with it. The main thrust of my commentary was around framing the notion of getting "worldview" garments accepted on Western men, and "worldview garments" happen to include quite a few skirted designs.

It's worth noting that language does not just provide the vehicle by which we communicate, it also tends to frame the way we think. Those who control language also control the way that those who use that language perceive the world around them, and how they contemplate notions and ideas. This is not lost on the overall power-structure. Let's not play into their game by using their language in the way they use it.

[...] the silliness of terms like "metrosexual" which basically implies that any straight guy who cares about his looks is "acting gay."

I'll be perfectly candid in that I don't "get" the need to separately label guys that actually care about how they look from guys who don't. On the face of it, the word is nonsensical: "... metrosexual? Do you mean that you have sex with cities?" On the term "gay" -- and the power of language to shape the way we think -- in this day and age, if one mentions to a eternally optimistic and cheerful person that he "has a gay outlook on life" he's likely to get a punch thrown at him. The whole advent of "Political Correctness" is a grand exercise in the reshaping of thought through the manipulation of language: if words that are key to describing certain ideas are eradicated from use, ultimately the underlying thought will perish (or, at least that's what the purveyors would like to believe)

"Crossdressing" as a term -- as sexist and as discriminatory as it is -- has its place in the lexicon. It's just that its place is not here because what we're trying to achieve here is different from the "dictionary definition" and the one in the diagnostic standards manual.

Maybe the suggestion is, that since in your and others opinions here, people already mistakenly call what we do crossdressing, that such a term as "Cosmo-crossdressing" be something that takes the pre-conceived notion and spins it in a new light. Personally I don't really care for the suggested term either, which is why I made my silly one-word answer to it.

It might work that way, but I suspect that once the rules of "herd mentality" get applied all that'll emerge from the filter is "crossdressing" and the other portions will get lost.

[Since1982]

Carl said: metrosexual? Do you mean that you have sex with cities?"

Naww, in my upbringing, metro was used in either "metropolitan" or "taking a ride on the metro busses." So, instead of having sex with cities, you "could" be having sex with BUSSES. HAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHHAAHAHHHAHHEHEHEEHEHEHEEHHOHOHHOH OH OH OH!!








my bad.

[RyeOfTheDead]

Please rest assured that my intent was not to inflame passions with that comment, but there have been more than a few cases in the past where repeated deliberate use of the term "crossdress" has been used to that end, and after one sees enough of that behaviour one gets rather exasperated with it.

But it wasn't in this case. Frankly this speaks to a problem I have with these forums in general, but I will start a separate thread for that discussion.

[...] the silliness of terms like "metrosexual" which basically implies that any straight guy who cares about his looks is "acting gay."

I'll be perfectly candid in that I don't "get" the need to separately label guys that actually care about how they look from guys who don't.

I agree, hence why I discussed the "Silliness of terms like 'metrosexual" and put the phrase "acting gay" in quotes, as if to suggest it wasn't my own sentiment.

[Brandy]

Time for me to comment on my own thread.

In the context of diversity week and this thread, the term "cross dressing" has no place. In a diverse work place the term its self can be considered condescending and demeaning. I believe it would be possible to bring a HR (Human Resource) case of work place harassment, if used in a consistent and repetitive manor.

So let's retire the term from this thread. I'm sure it will pop up elsewhere. Since I was there, there was never a hint of that kind of thinking or comments even among workmates that have been there 5, 10, 20+ years. This in its self says how far society and my company have progressed. One of the goals of “diversity week” is to remind all employees the people with whom they work have a vast and rich cultural back ground. In a working environment what maybe funny and worth a joke in one culture is a deep insult in another. At work we need to work together and be tolerant of one another and work across cultural divides. I may not agree with some of what passes for “diversity” but I/we now belong to a sub-culture that is not very widely represented.

One of the things that is apparent is the need for people to be able to classify what they observe into categories and when a new experience out of normal context comes along how difficult it can be to process. The one thing that was apparent when Pam (admin from 5 years ago) came up and she and I had such a friendly, joking and positive exchanged it affected everyone around very positively. IF there were going to be any negative comments from that group it was effectively killed. So now there are another half-dozen folks with a new experience filed under man-in-kilt at work, with smiles and happy feelings.

As for P.C. “Political Correctness” with all the bad connotations in this case I used it to an advantage. P.C. in this case helped suppress negative remarks and allow positive remarks more room. This was actually a good thing. I would also have to say the Utilikilts have done an effective marketing as a UK is now well recognized as a male garment.

[RyeOfTheDead]

I will concede that the topic went off from the original one, though I can see why Grok thought it was still on topic, as he was relating his cosmopolitan article to your success at the office.

However, I fail to see how the word "crossdresser" has no place in the discussion of a company's diversity week. The word may be used in a derogatory way, but so can "Gay" or heck, "Jewish." Does that mean those words have no place in the discussion of diversity in the workplace? Just because there aren't any crossdressers, that you're aware of, in your diverse work place doesn't mean there aren't in others.

*Note, I edited this post to remove things that are more relevant to the discussion of the thread that AMM created in regards to the crossdresser debate, and moved them to there.