Do Skirts Bring Us Closer to Ourselves and Others?

[skirttron]

Modern technology is great, but it can alienate us from ourselves. Consider the difference between riding a horse and driving a car: In one case you are astride a living, breathing co-creature and in the other, the world passes by as though in a movie.
It occurred to me while happily and bekiltedly schmoozing with friends that skirts bear the same kind of comparison with trousers. Trousers are like the car - you feel less vulnerable, more insulated, and less in touch with both the world and yourself. Trousers were built for fighting more effectively and insulating the wearer from his environment.
Perhaps this goes some way to explain why I, at least, always have a much better time in a skirt or kilt and feel warmer and more in touch - I am not insulating myself from others.
... Or perhaps all this is off the wall, I don't know.

[binx]

More "open" when around people? Certainly a conversation starter. I don't know about warmer though. A lady came up to me while wearing a Sportkilt at a checkout and told me "It's too cold for skirts". But she did suggest tights with it...I assume women are the experts when it comes to wearing skirts in this season?:rolleyes:

binx

[iain]

Yes, I'd go along with that theory completely: you're more open and therefore vulnerable, which has a lot of appeal to the opposite sex.

It immediately puts a lot of people at their ease, which means you get conversations started out of thin air, and you light up a lot of people by just appearing as you are.

Standard dress of trousers etc is a defence, there's no doubt about it. So when your guard goes down, yobbish people might try to take advantage with a cheap shot, but you can't go changing your behaviour to please them.

[ChristopherJ]

I don't agree with the concept that trousers were built for fighting more effectively. I would have thought the kilt (or other forms of skirt) were far more effective as warrior attire simply because they are less restrictive.

I certainly agree that wearing skirts can bring us closer to ourselves (as men) - as the openess and vulnerability that other posters have mentioned applies first of all to ourselves. It's hard to hide behind classic male ego defence mechanisms while wearing a skirt!

Whether this brings us closer to others or not is debatable. I'm positive that most relatively young women are perfectly comfortable with a man who wears a skirt - but that might not be true of older women - say in their 60's or 70's. I'm not sure on this as I haven't put it to the test.

As for men - well, I've found that younger men don't care at all - while some older men can be quite aggressive about me wearing a skirt. Perhaps I should tell them that I am a SKIRT WARRIOR! :shoot:

[Departed Member]

I don't agree with the concept that trousers were built for fighting more effectively. I would have thought the kilt (or other forms of skirt) were far more effective as warrior attire simply because they are less restrictive.

Tr*users were designed around horse-riding, or so the historians seem to be agreed on. Don't forget that the garment most associated with the so-called "Braveheart" times, the 'Great Kilt' or 'Plaid', was put aside, i.e., taken off before the fighting started! They would have only been wearing the long shirt (Scottish equivalent of the Irish 'Leine') in battle. That said, a pleated, or 'kilted', skirt certainly is less restrictive than tr*users, any time!

I certainly agree that wearing skirts can bring us closer to ourselves (as men) - as the openess and vulnerability that other posters have mentioned applies first of all to ourselves. It's hard to hide behind classic male ego defence mechanisms while wearing a skirt!

I'm not sure about what concepts of 'open-ness' or 'vulnerability' we are talking about here. Physical or mental (or both)? I'm no different a person whatever I'm wearing. I don't change my persona by garment. Certainly, my wife's best friend says I come over far more relaxed while skirted, but that is almost entirely due to the removal of the (crotch) pains I'm forced to endure while tr*usered! It's all about 'how' you wear something, not so much the 'what'. Kilt-wearing, reading some of the posts at X-Marks, seems to actually fuel aggression, especially in North American wearers - that surely is more a 'male ego defence mechanism', than is normal in your average tr*user-wearer?

[skirttron]

On trousers being better-designed for fighting than kilts, I saw a TV report from WWI on a history program, where a member of a highland regiment said in an old clip that fighting in kilts was a nightmare because they got wet and cold and chafed against your legs when you were climbing over trenches. The earliest reference to trouser fighting I saw was of the Persians in the time of Darius.
Interesting piece of history from Merlin about fighting in long shirts, I learned something there.
By the way, outside working hours I recently revealed my kilted self to colleagues with no negative comments, which I'm quite pleased about.

[Charlie]

I don't do fighting (as in wars) but have worn a wet kilt and wet trousers while out walking, at different times :rolleyes: The wet kilt is preferrable because it doesn't stick to your legs like a clammy pair of trouser does :yuck:

Charlie

[AndrewH]

And in response to the "it's too cold for skirts" comment, I find a long skirt with a slip under it, over opaque tights, much warmer than one layer of trousers!

[Departed Member]

And in response to the "it's too cold for skirts" comment, I find a long skirt with a slip under it, over opaque tights, much warmer than one layer of trousers!

Even without the tights, still significantly warmer (and far more comfortable!) than tr*users. In any case, UK temperatures are just about right now, to consider Kilt-wearing as an option, too.

[Milfmog]

Even without the tights, still significantly warmer (and far more comfortable!) than tr*users.

Agreed. And am I the only one here who does not wear tights? They just replace one inseam with another and, for me at least, a significant part of the comfort of skirts comes from not having anything restrictive around my "undercarriage".

Have fun,


Ian.

[AndrewH]

I prefer hold-up (thigh-high) stockings for just that reason, but sometimes they are a bit uncomfortable round the tops.

Actually, I really prefer real stockings with a belt - but my wife is not ok with that, though she accepts the tights or hold-ups.

[binx]

I left out my response to the tights comment, which was that I told her I wear wool kilt hose when it's "real cold out".

binx

[Departed Member]

I prefer hold-up (thigh-high) stockings for just that reason, but sometimes they are a bit uncomfortable round the tops.

They've got to be far healthier to wear than tights! The only snag appears to be that they don't make these with 'extra' lycra, or particularly opaque. For that, the only option may be as stated below:

Actually, I really prefer real stockings with a belt - but my wife is not ok with that, though she accepts the tights or hold-ups.

Having been recommended to wear heavy duty lycra stockings/tights some years ago after nagging problems with calf muscles (esp. at this time of year), and having tried both, I would definitely vote for "stockings". As Milfmog remarks, "They (tights) just replace one inseam with another". However, in common with AndrewH, I have a similar spouse problem! Periodically, she returns from shopping and presents me with a pack of 60 (or70)D black opaque tights. I've tried to explain that stockings are more 'sensible', not just because of my ongoing 'downstairs' health problems, but if you ruin one leg, the other becomes 'spare' for the next pair!

[skirttron]

I don't wear tights either because after a while they make me ache in the wrong place. I agree hold-ups are better, but I have not tried wearing these openly - I'm a bit worried they might slip out of place for one thing, and for another, one (but not the main) reason I wear kilts and skirts is they are better for your skin by not contacting it so much. Anyway, I know I mentioned the cold, but I have worn my kilts in zero degrees celsius with no trouble at all. If were a WWI soldier, though, and had to do trench warfare in the snow, you know I just might be persuaded to wear trousers until the armistice instead.