Men in skirts? (An addendum to yesterday�s entry)
November 03, 2003 ~ 5:17 p.m.
The reaction to this entry was actually very reassuring. And one huge reason it�s reassuring is that all the positive�even admiring�feedback came from women. In fact, the only feedback came from women. I am quite relieved. Thanks to roklobster, livefan91200, screenvixen7 and verdant-life for their kind and comforting remarks. Apparently, my foray into transvestism had great sex appeal going for it.
Meanwhile, sixweasels and buenacabra chimed in, saying they hoped to put their husbands through the same scenario someday. Good luck, ladies. I hope you will. No man should have to go through this sort of thing alone.
Furthermore, during an instant messenger conversation with purplebowie just hours after I posted the daring entry, she opined that I should dress like that every day�I kid you not, dear reader. �You need to show off those great legs,� she wrote, and I don�t believe it was said in jest. Blushing, I declined the suggestion, but she told me of men she knew who actually wear skirts. Are we headed towards a sea-change in fashion? In another twenty years or so, will it really be a case of anything goes? Will the term �transvestite� die out, as it would no longer be rare to witness men parading up and down the pavements in formerly female-only attire?
In retrospect, I was able to put myself in the shoes�literally�of a cross-dresser, even if for just one night. It was quite a revealing experience�and I�m not just referring to the mini-skirt. For me, it really exposed the correlation between society�s standard of acceptable clothing and the way that has changed so drastically over time. From the Greeks, to the Romans, to the Byzantines, to Europeans of the 12th-15th century A.D., Western men have worn tunics, skirts and hosiery and high heels. All this was not only men�s wear, it was macho men�s wear. Just look at any full-body portrait of Henry VIII. Look at the way he showed off his legs, and imagine those pleated skirts swishing as he strutted around his court like a peacock working his mojo. And this was one hard dude.
Even during the time of the American Revolution, Western man exposed his calves with silk stockings. In the meantime, women continued to wear what they always wore: long dresses. But then, roughly a century later, the age of the ultra-puritanical Victorians was ushered in and since then, men�except for a few Scots�have been limited to trousers. As women started exploring greater fashion options, they revived the hosiery and skirts and high heels for themselves and since the middle 20th century, such attire is now ingrained into every man, woman and child as clothing made exclusively for women.
Up until Friday night, I had never given any thought or credence to arguments suggesting that men should wear skirts. I was happy being a man and loved my jeans, and I still am and do. But one lingering thought remains�if the women leaving me complimentary messages regarding my stint in drag are sincere (and I have no reason to believe they're not), it can only mean one thing: they approve. Even the wife licked her lips and purred several times during my half-an-hour ordeal. If women consider this sexy, then this begs the question: why are we men so reticent to take back the fashion that for several centuries was ours?
It�s ironic that I would end up in drag only a few months after writing this entry. My libertarian, live-and-let-live attitude still stands, even though I never in a million years imagined at the time that I would be forced to take the subject of �deviancy� with such urgent seriousness.
But I�ll happily stick to my trousers, thank you very much. I�m sure men would appreciate the freedom of a skirt, and even Mick Jagger once commented that it doesn�t take much to get a man in a frock (dress). But I�m not going to be the one to launch this revolution.
I remember in 1989 telling a friend that I would not start wearing spandex running tights until I regularly saw other men wearing them; at the time, it was predominantly women who were wearing them. But as the �90s progressed, the tights fast became a unisex workout garment, and I had no longer had any compunction about donning them for a sprint around town.
If other men start wearing skirts on a much more regular basis, I suppose I shall as well. It would make an alternative to pants, a freedom women take for granted. After all, one has to roll with the fashion (not to be confused with becoming a slave to it), and so if men in skirts ever becomes a reality, you can count me in. What the hell.
If the latest notes in my guestbook are any indication, it�s what the ladies want. Even polls conducted in the street have revealed that women would not mind sharing their skirts with men.
But please don�t count on me to start the fashion revolution. That�s all I ask. Now if you�ll excuse me, I�ve got a pair of Wranglers to wash �
P.S. Things should be back to normal on this page starting tomorrow. I promise.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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