I don’t think they’re disgusting as long as they aren’t abnormally long – as in much longer than most women’s nails. Then again women’s nails that are a lot longer than average are somewhat disgusting as well.
Of course, lengthened nails on women with short hair doesn’t even warrant a second thought, whereas long-ish nails on men look perfectly normal only if their hair is also long. It still isn’t disgusting, just weird.
Not really inherently gross or anything, but it says one of two things:
Neither trait is all that desirable in a guy. The latter is like a guy wearing high heels. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but no one wears heels because they’re good as shoes. They wear them because they want others to notice how attractive they are, or because they’re socially expected*. As a society, we’ve accepted that this is ok for women to do. For a guy to adopt the same behavior pattern, he has to go out of his way and call even more attention to himself. It’s just not a trait that is very prevalent among my friends.
I don’t like long nails on men or women, but they’re particularly icky on men. Maybe it’s because most women with long nails paint them, while the guys I’ve seen don’t. The longer the nails, the ickier I think they are. Watching people of either gender trying to perform basic tasks (like picking up small objects) with those long talons is just excruciating (plus I always have it in the back of my mind that they’re gonna break, which really squicks me out.)
Not homophobia–in fact I think I might be slightly more inclined to not be squicked out if the guy had longish nails but they were painted (especially if they were painted some gothy color like black). If I see a guy with long unpainted nails I think he’s either too lazy to trim them or he’s some kind of hippie throwback type.
Cleanliness is most important, but when it comes to dead keratin hanging off the human body (nails, hair), for me it’s more about shape and grooming than length. Just like hair, there are good and bad long nails.
All the straight guys I’ve ever seen who wear their nails longer practice benign neglect in this, and usually other aspects of grooming, and let them ‘grow out’ into an ugly, irregular spade shape. No matter how clean they are, it looks terrible and skeeves me out. Same as when I see unmanicured, badly shaped, longer nails on women (which is rare). I know some gay men that wear them longer but they shape them neatly and it looks nice. I also have met a lot of guys from Asia and Central America with the one very long pinky nail; they file it to shape it, and it doesn’t bug me.
These days I usually wear my own nails on the longer side, and without maintenance they will grow out into that ugly spade shape, as I have blunt rather than tapered fingertips. I file them twice a week to keep them oval, and often paint them.
I used to habitually wear my nails cut down to the quick, and I’ve found that nails grown to the end of or slightly past the fingertips are much more useful when working with the hands. Much longer than that they are a liability though.
I hate long nails, but I can’t play guitar without them. It’s unfortunate. I’ll trim them really short sometimes, but then I have to wait until they grow back to play again.
The fretting hand nails of course have to be trimmed constantly to be as short as possible.
You complain about other people having a “binary gender identity system” yet in the next sentence you also associate long nails to femininity. :rolleyes: Pot, meet kettle.
You’re getting way too worked up over something as dumb and pointless as fingernails. Not to mention that you opened a thread that’s over 1 1/2 years old. I did, however, enjoy your typo of “plane ignorant” and think that would be a good username. Overall I give your rant 1.5/10.
Long nails on guys, eh? What about long nails on male zombies? 
I heard that the nails appear to grow even after death.
If I see a guy with long nails I’ll check both hands first, as he could be a guitar player. If both are long I’ll wonder how he keeps them that way during a 12 hour shift down’t pit. If both are long and painted I’ll be quick to make an assumption.
I’m a guy, and I don’t like to see long nails on guys if it’s because they are careless or like the way it looks. I don’t think it’s gross or disgusting; I find that an odd reaction. But it does make me wonder, the same way I’ll never understand why people get pierced tongues.
I play the guitar and the nails on my right hand are longer than average, and I keep the left hand nails pretty short. I dated a girl who was a little turned off until she noticed my left hand, and figured it out. I have short nail beds so my right-hand nails are a little more noticeable even though they barely extend past the fingertips, just because there is so much of the white part.
Skipping any further zomby-isms, I’ve found the “Guys with long nails” thing to be a “Black” and/or “Old Man” affectation. Also hermits, but mostly older hermits.
There’s a distinction between “creepy” and “gross”, and refusing to be friends with a guy with long nails. I think “creepy” and “gross” are descriptions of reactions. They’re not choices of behavior, like having a rule that excludes long nailed friends. It’s probably excessive to spontaneously offer reactions like this, but people are posting answers in an opinion thread about long nails on men.
I have a reaction not far from"gross". I associate long nails on men with nails scraping on chalkboard, and with getting my own nails torn or chipped or damaged while doing rough work (I’m a straight cis male, 56, and I often work with my hands). All these phenomena give me the willies. I think it has to do with the ways nails can be physically uncomfortable.
I think you make a good point about the gender binary. I don’t really like long nails on women, but I don’t have much of a negative reaction either, and I think this is social conditioning that is predicated on their being well defined and distinct genders. That is, I think this social construct has gotten me to give long nailed women a pass, while I have a reaction to long nailed men. It is interesting that if people whose gender expression is male grow their nails long to express something feminine, I don’t like it. But I think it’s about nails per se, and the fact that I seem to make an exception for women. If people who expressed as male also wore a little makeup, or dressed in somewhat feminine clothes, or did other things besides long nails to express a little femininity, I don’t have a negative reaction. Of course, if they express enough femininity, they have stopped expressing a male gender identity altogether. Which is also fine; I’m happy to take people as they express themselves.
To answer the OP, I don’t think this is homophobia, at least not for me. For one thing none of my gay male friends has long nails (and neither do my lesbian and transgender friends, at least not that I have noticed). For another thing, I’m not aware of any homophobic reactions on my part, and this one I’d be aware of.
[QUOTE=nikonikosuru]
You complain about other people having a “binary gender identity system” yet in the next sentence you also associate long nails to femininity. Pot, meet kettle.
[/QUOTE]
I was thinking the same thing.
[QUOTE=meta4ia]
No wonder the transgender community is treated so poorly around the world. Normal sucks. Long live people who are proud enough to be who they are.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, please. I don’t like long nails on males or females and at least 10 other people stated the same in this thread. I’m not say people shouldn’t wear them, I’m saying they gross me the fuck out. People should be exactly who they want to be, but people shouldn’t expect everyone to always love all of their choices. I’m a heavily tatted female and that grosses lot of people out. I love expressing myself as I see fit, but I certainly don’t look down on others who don’t share my love of body art.
Not liking long nails doesn’t automatically translate into a hate for the transgender community. That’s ridiculous.
This. Couldn’t be more tidily said.
I ( a 52-year-old white male) have kept my pinky fingernails long for several years now, for no real reason other than a personal quirk. (Not a cocaine user…) I have enjoyed reading the reactions of people in the thread. Interesting!