skirtcafe.org

I'm planning a few trips next month, a 2 hour round trip train ride, and a 2 hour round trip plane ride... seriously thinking about going skirted on both. Comments and or suggestions?

Me too, up to Scotland next week - though how long the journey up to Carlisle will be in a coach I hate to think., then on to Inverness the next day. Then several train excursions, being a railway 'nerd'. Some of it I plan to go either kilted, skirted or trousered, depending upon my moods. As I shall be with the same fellow travellers for six days, doing it all in a skirt would, for me, be sending out the wrong message as to why I wear a skirt instead of trousers. Skirts, or kilts, to me are just another form of useful clothing.
Obviously go for something comfortable for sitting in. Being more a kilt person the pleats can get somewhat creased on long hauls depending upon the material. But the length is usually just right for me. If you are using knee length or ankle length skirts there should be no problem. Stay calm. Don't worry about any strange looks or stares. The image is bound to be unusual to others who don't know where you're coming from, or why - that is, if they notice at all anyway. Allow them their right to be surprised, confused, impressed, unimpressed, disinterested, as you are allowed your own feelings about anything. But we all have a life to enjoy in our own way. If someone should throw a 'why the skirt?' question at you, and that will be almost likely if a conversation is struck up with a traveller seated next to you, I find that it's best to keep the answer simple and avoid providing a lecture on the whole issue of male skirt wearing. My usual line of thought in the answer, if wearing a skirt at the time, is that I wear them sometimes as a change from kilts. The word trousers doesn't come into it. If they do get mentioned, then I explain that a skirt or kilt makes a change from trousers. And leave it at that.
Once you've done the trip/s you'll probably see that there isn't any reason to worry yourself about it. Folk are too tied into their own routines to be bothered by what others are wearing, male or female. I hope that helps. Just sit back and enjoy your travels!

Pete

Interesting connection we have! I would like to make this weekend my first outing in public with a skirt, but it's the open house for the railroad club I just joined, and I can think of all kinds of "wrong impressions" coming from that. Us railfans and model railroaders are seen as oddball enough, much more so when one is even further "out there"

In your first time out skirting, you will notice a few odd looks or double-takes, the "Did I really see that?" look but the real hurdle is getting over your own misgivings.

Remember, there is nothing wrong in wearing a skirt - it's just different. The social pressures against it are strong but all of that is in your head. My advice is look confident in your manner and go for it!

However, I can see why you may think that a group outing such as your rail club may not be best place to start but once you have been there a few times, it would be a better time then. I have yet to breach that particular hurdle with my golf mates though I am quite happy on my own or with an acquaintance or chance meeting occasionally.

It is also difficult for me as my wife is absolutely against skirt wearing - even in the home

Mugman,
Your comment "...I wear them [skirts] sometimes as a change from kilts" is perfection.

Thanks John. That simple, unexpected, response usually shuts people up.

Pete

I used to attend model railway shows as a trader (it was my means of income for a while), and every year a guy would turn up in the briefest pair of hotpants I've seen. So it goes to show that even the railway obsessed section of our community can allow for choices. Something I think we should all bear in mind when we choose not to follow the usual herd of oil stained jeans and fast fading club logo'd T shirts. The custom from the guy in the hotpants was welcomed like any others.

Pete

Further to my post above, I have been skirted in virtually all forms of public transport - buses, taxis, aircraft and trains - though not boats.

All of these were gradual small steps after getting more comfortable wearing skirts in public going to shops, garages, market places and shopping malls. In fact I find that the busier the place, the less looks you get from others - probably because they are more concerned about what they wish to buy than being distracted by a skirted man.

Some men will be quite capable of public transport at once and others it will take some time. It all depends how you feel but having done it myself, though more gradually, there is no problem I have encountered in any public transport. Some second looks but that is about it and that's not your problem.

On sunday, I left my house and family to go on a business trip to Ireland. Walked through the neighbourhood, got on the train, went to the airport, got on a plane (the guy for security at the airport complimented my kilt - weird thing was he was being sincere!), got in the taxi, got to the hotel, went to the Guinness Storehouse (got one comment from a woman about the usual underwear question!).

All-in-all - nothing much in comments or indeed looks!

I suspect people are beginning to not care at all!!!

Here in Texas there are a lot of men who wear shorts, and there are some that wear them even in the wintertime. So the vast majority of people don't even notice when I wear denim skirts, which is what I wear instead of shorts. I almost never get any double takes.

John

FYI - My favorite responses to "The Question" are as follows.....

"Nothing is worn under the kilt--It's all in working order"

or

"Socks and shoes of course"

and lastly....

"Good girls don't ask - "Naughty girls find out"

All will usually bring a smile and a chuckle, and when you
can get them(the questioner) laughing a bit then the "ICE"
is broken. Then it's on with normal discussion.

Uncle Al

In my humble opinion, I think that anyone who wears a skirt on a plane is nuts. Look around, there are always a few but not many. How will you manage when you have to climb over someone to get to the aisle and go pee --- or someone else is climbing over YOU?

Skirts on a train... just fine.

Elizabeth wrote:In my humble opinion, I think that anyone who wears a skirt on a plane is nuts. Look around, there are always a few but not many.

This writer's opinion holds that airplanes are the modern ethical and moral equivalent of buses (or old-school steerage) with the added "plus" of barotrauma. Then there's the humiliation of the security theatre at boarding time. Unless it's a catastrophic emergency that mandates that I get there NOW -- and be worth risking my health from bad cabin pressurisation -- I do not even contemplate flying. I gave that up more than a decade ago, thank you, due to the amount of time spent off work due to sinus problems.

How will you manage when you have to climb over someone to get to the aisle and go pee --- or someone else is climbing over YOU?

That's actually easily managed by taking the length of one's garment into account. Hint: If one needs to use the "facilities" frequently and isn't in an aisle seat, don't choose a mini. When I flew, I always went for outboard in exit rows; this provided legroom (the modern seat pitch is shorter than my femurs) and a potential "out" if things got hairy on the ground (i.e. no fire outside the exit).

Skirts on a train... just fine.

I need to do that sometime, with the proviso that it won't be one of my floor-sweepers if high-level platforms are absent (i.e. in the eastern USA outside the northeast*); then it'll be a midi. In thinking about it, I do this several times per year in midis when going sailing as I get to deal with Boston's trolley (a quaint term for "tram" that has to do with the electricity-collection device) system that has low platforms.

* Intercity trains in the Eastern portion of the USA consist of single-level carriages that can either operate at high-level platforms, at which one walks on or off the conveyance at a single level, or where there is a steep flight of stairs onboard that one needs to negotiate. Trains in the western portion of the USA all operate with low-level platforms and the carriages are so designed that there's only about a five or six inch difference between carriage and platform.

Elizabeth wrote:In my humble opinion, I think that anyone who wears a skirt on a plane is nuts. Look around, there are always a few but not many. How will you manage when you have to climb over someone to get to the aisle and go pee --- or someone else is climbing over YOU?

I always ask the other person to move out of the way, or I move for them. Who climbs over the other person's legs in such a restricted space?

The time when skirts most clearly beat trousers for comfort is when sitting down for long periods. Driving is the most common example, but sitting on a plane must be another. I will be catching a plane in a few weeks' time and intend to be skirted. Must admit to being slightly nervous about going through airport security, but plenty of people here have said that wearing a skirt there has not been a problem.

skirtyscot wrote:I always ask the other person to move out of the way, or I move for them. Who climbs over the other person's legs in such a restricted space?

Sometimes, and unfortunately, this can come down to a matter of geometry.

As an example, albeit one that is outside the 90th percentile, I cannot sit normally in an airline seat: my knees must be raised because the distance between my seat-back and the rear of the seat in front of me is shorter than the length of my thigh-bone. Aggravating that, is the the fact that the overhead luggage compartments are many inches lower than my height, and this generates a plethora of problems. If I am the poor bastard in the center seat, everybody suffers. What am I to do? "Scoot back" in my seat (impossible) or stand (thereby blocking somebody else because I'm bent over)?

Flying, for me, in so many ways, is a lose-lose proposition.

I will be catching a plane in a few weeks' time and intend to be skirted. Must admit to being slightly nervous about going through airport security, but plenty of people here have said that wearing a skirt there has not been a problem.

Best of luck to you, sir!