Lately, I’ve been seeing stories about Susan Sarandon’s son who with some of his band mates will wear dresses. I don’t really have an opinion one way or another other than if it makes someone happy and comfortable, go for it.
However, this made me remember back in the late 70s I believe on the show Real People they covered a man who was trying to make it acceptable for men to wear skirts. I recall video of him walking in a downtown area with a sportcoat with a long grey skirt. I believe he also had long hair with a matching long beard. I don’t know whatever became of him and his quest and so far haven’t found anything online about him, only “fetishy” type sites.
I don’t recall his reasoning but am curious if there is some benefit that a skirt or dress might have over pants or even shorts. If I had the option to trade long sleeve shirts and a tie (because I can’t bring myself to wear short sleeves with a tie) for a skirt, I’d go for the skirt with a short sleeve shirt, especially in Texas in the summer.
I’m curious if there are many men out there who would go for a skirt or dress type clothing if it was seen as socially acceptable to do so?
So in the non-airconditioned office during a heatwave, many of the females were in short-ish skirts, gauzy/skimpy tops and sandals. A bunch of the men asked if they could wear smart shorts, but were denied.
It was pointed out that, for an employer that was quite uptight about equalities in general, the dress code was actually pretty sexist, but this issue was avoided by devolving the decision to team managers, then shutting down the conversation by refusing to talk about it.
The conversations along the way were quite interesting and I had several senior managers squirming to rationalise their first responses, having said things like “Well, nobody wants to see men’s legs”.
<blink blink> Are you really telling me that the female dress code is based on the notion of wanting to look at bare legs?
<squirm>
In the end, I pointed out that, whilst I could potentially find myself disciplined for failing to observe the male dress code, there was absolutely no way that the organisation could acceptably chastise me for finding something comfortable from within the spectrum of acceptable female dress code.
There would be no way they would even dare to ask me why I, a big hairy man, was wearing a dress - because this might be construed as gender-based harassment; it would be a much bigger can of worms to open up.
I didn’t follow through with it, of course, because I am not a brave person.
That’s really annoying. A dress code should be equally applied to all people. Sometimes it’s more harsh on women, but it’s also bad when it’s harsh on men. Also as a woman in the office I’d be happy that I could wear shorts, but grossed out that it was allowed because people wanted to see my legs.
Wearing a dress would have made a statement. But I would think it would have been effective just for you to wear some nice shorts from J. Crew or wherever, and a good polo shirt or something else appropriate, and see what happened. Especially effective if you had a female friend in the office who had worn a similar outfit and ask why there are unequal standards.
This would have been a great thing for someone in the office to quietly send a tip to the media about. If they ran a story about it, you would have been wearing shorts within a few days.
That is a gross dress code, and I’m sorry you had to put up with it.
I often wish men could wear a dress; I feel bad for my SO because it’s easy for me to put on a cool sundress in the 95 degree heat + 75% humidity, but he always has to wear shorts or jeans. Of course he might end up looking better than me in a dress.
I thought I was the only one who remembered this episode of the show. Of course, the reason I remember it was that it set my father off on a rant about un-manly men and “queers” and “fags” that kept me from telling him that I am Bi until the day he died.
On the other hand, as a female I don’t see any technical difference between my wearing jeans or shorts and a man wearing a skirt, but I don’t have the societal approval issue.
Seems every few years or so the fashion industry tries to convince men to wear skirt/kilt type business wear or dress shorts. Makeup too. Never seems to catch on.
I’ve always liked those utilikilts, but they’re pricey and I have a feeling I wouldn’t get much wear out of them.
No real interest in skirts or dresses here. In particular, if it’s short enough to require crossing my legs when I sit, it’s right out.
Part of me thinks that it might be nice if robes came into fashion here. The Arab style is perhaps not as interesting as what Moses wore in the Ten Commandmants…
I wear skirts in hot weather like we’ve been having this week. As far as being socially acceptable, I have long since internalized an expection that generic average people will not find me socially acceptable and, while I don’t actively resent them for it personally, I also don’t give a rat’s ass.
No one has ever given me any confrontational grief about wearing a skirt. I’ve gotten more flack over wearing shorts and/or having long hair, to be honest.
Some unsolicited advice:
• don’t step over things you’re accustomed to being able to step over in pants. especially those velvet rope-thingies that are used to direct queues of customers.
• some of them have pockets. most of them are not very good pockets and you should not put your house keys or wallet in them.
• you can get a nice skirt, especially a used one from a thrift store, for something akin to 1/400th of the price of a “utili-kilt”. it’s your money.
I even know how to tie my own tie. I’m surprised how many men in their 20s and 30s come in and have no idea how to tie one. When there is an interview or something, I have become the default tier. I should probably start charging.
I find it surprising that we really don’t dress for the climate we’re in. I was at the store over the weekend and they are already stocking winter wear. I can’t remember the last time I wore my heavier coat. Oh, wait, I do remember, it was when I went skiing in Colorado several years ago.
