Carl, I understand the point you're trying to make, but I think you're picking at this to the point where it's starting to bleed.
You're asking for the moon. But the thing is, many skirt wearing men
do simply identify as
skirt wearing men. Many of them do indeed make the headlines. Most people continue to "sir" me, even in respect. Some ask for my pronouns and I respectfully answer accordingly.
We're a world of all types of people, women in pants, men in skirts, transgender people, nonbinary, gender-fluid, etc, we all share in the same bandwidth, that being the freedom to decide our own destiny and direct our lives accordingly.
It almost sounds as though you're arguing against the very notion of being transgender. That doesn't sound like you as I've always felt you to be generally tolerant. So I'm just assuming your issue is with perhaps
trans* articles being posted on a "
men in skirts" website?
Yes, I agree, it would be nice if people, including employers would respect men's right to express themselves however they wish, or at least afford us the same liberty that women and females enjoy, but we have to play the cards we're dealt, and unfortunately the former just isn't the world we live in right now, and I don't know if that's going to change any time soon....
OR IS IT? In the last few weeks I've just pushed the envelope a little further with regards to certain family and even my employer. It's been a week now, and nobody is asking me what my "preferred pronouns are". Nobody is walking on egg shells around me, scared to death to offend the "transitioning woman" they now realize they have to work with. Nobody is ma'aming me. I've not had that awkward call from human resources. It's literally like nothing happened at all.
I think they just realize and accept that everyone is different, and we don't have to make a big fuss about every little thing that somebody does..
We live in a world that simply didn't exist just a decade ago, I myself have personally worn skirts, and otherwise expressed femininity in situations that I would have never dreamed possible during the first 30 years of my life, and I must give credit where credit is due, and that is the overall tolerance of society in general to a wide variety of concepts, not the least of which, being the transgender issue. But that's not the only piece to this tolerance puzzle, "men in skirts", and general equality of the sexes have also played a part.
It really is a good time to be alive. Not just with gender equality, but literally with everything and everyone, race, sexuality, religion, you name it. Tolerance and acceptance is increasing in countless ways, but we must accept that we have to share space with people who may not view matters in the exact way we do. We all have our place in the discussion.
And you know what, things
are getting better every day. [0]
To conclude, I understand we all have things that set us off, my pet-peeve is skirt wearing men who cut their damned heads off or otherwise shield it on photos. In my view it makes skirt wearing men look "pervy" as though this is some fetish that we should be ashamed of. It's a notion that I personally feel sends a far worse signal that anything coming out of the trans-community. And side note: even most trans-women and other non-binary folk don't hide their faces in photographs. But it what it is, and despite my general annoyance at this, I must respect their right to pose for photographs as they wish. I try not to pop off every time I see one, and in fact, I normally just blow right past the photo and make no remark at all.... sometimes.
[0] Just not in Lebanon Virginia... the community here has it in HARD REVERSE with the pedal to the floor!
