While the ice surface is below freezing, most indoor rinks have an air temperature somewhere in the 60s F. When I figure skated, my partner wore tights under her skating dress, and we’d practice three to four hours a day. She never got cold. Heck, we’d often end our practice sweating.
I’d guess that women today, wearing pantyhose and miniskirts, find the same as my skating partner did: close-fitting hose trap the legs’ heat, and keep the legs from freezing.
I’m surprised it’s as warm as 60. At my curling club, optimal temperature is 40 degrees at chest height. There are people there who play in short sleeves. All the sweeping keeps us warm; I’m sure your skating did the same.
I was being a bit facetious. Figured cold weather and mini skirts had to be a reference to figure skating.
A male friend who worked for nearly 10 years as a glacier guide always wore shorts while on the ice, as did almost all the other guides; thermal layers on top, and shorts.
He reckoned it was fine, once you got used to it, and it worked better than any other combo. Long trousers got wet, or if they were waterproof they got sweaty. Bare knees got a bit chilly, but so long as your core was warm, no problem, and after a while you stopped even noticing it.
I assure you, those women were cold.
They were simply acting as if they were not cold and suppressing any signs of suffering.
In the mid-40s (granted not quite near-freezing), I can wear shorts and a long-sleeve shirt and be fine but then people will think I’m cold. I don’t care about that but sometimes I put on pants anyway just in case it is colder than I thought it was going to be.
That all applies to walking outdoors, however. If I’m indoors just sitting around, anything below 70F will make me put on at the very least a sweater and pajama bottoms, sometimes a hat or multiple layers.
I’m an old man, but I just wear a hoodie all winter. My car is heated, as is my garage. I drive to a store, which is heated, or to work, which is heated. I’m only outdoors for a minute. Even if it’s 10 below zero, I just walk quickly.
And you’ve not been arrested yet?
Of all the body regions, the legs can best stand exposure to cold. They have a better surface area-to-volume ratio than the extremities, and don’t require the blood flow and warmth (with the resultant heat loss) that the torso and head need for the organs inside to function properly. If there’s good insulation covering the butt, abdomen, chest, neck, and head, one can be quite comfortable even if the legs are chilled.
It’s really not analogous. t-bonham is referring to sperm production. Vaginas and vulvas don’t have processes going on that depend on a particular temperature range.
[hijacking thread] The ice used for figure skating is warmer than the ice used for hockey and curling usually. It allows the skates to dig in but a stone or puck won’t glide far or fast on it. [/hijack]
I was in 9th Grade when the styles went from micro mini skirts to maxis. I remember seeing Jane C in a maxi and I thought 1) that’s not really flattering on her, B) I’ll bet it’s warmer than a mini, and III) going up stairs has got to be tricky. Those were the days when girls could NOT wear pants, only skirts or dresses.
As a college freshman, way way back in the day, I had to wear skirts as it was a campus requirement*, and they had to be short as it was a fashion requirement.** So I had on boots, tights (not insulated tights), then my skirt, my sweater, and my coat, which probably came to within a couple of inches of my knees but in any case was longer than the skirt–but not a lot longer.
Yes, while walking from class to class in the winter, my legs were cold. I actually think this caused me to develop subcutaneous fat around the knee area. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
By the next year we had occupied the Dean’s office and changed the dress code so no more of that crap. Short skirts in warm temperatures only. If you wanted.
*We were allowed to wear pants on campus after 4pm on Friday and on weekends. Otherwise, skirts. Like, if you were leaving your room, for instance to go eat lunch in the cafeteria.
**They didn’t have to be short skirts. But that’s what people were wearing, that year.
I once spent 6 weeks in Sydney during their winter and no matter how cold it got, plenty of men wore shorts. Although Sydney is quite mild, still one day the high was 8C (about 46F). You do not see women in miniskirts during a Montreal winter.
I’m a guy and I wore shorts and a t-shirt until temps went down to around 0 (F). Maybe the mini skirt chicks are just like me. We are too hot to get cold.
Ah memories. . .many the morning waiting for the school bus wearing a mini. Legs so red from the cold it looked like I was wearing rose color tights. Skirt so short if I dropped something I had to ask someone to pick it up for me. Back then our skirts were not long enough to be under our butts when we sat in class. But we looked good:D
This is weird but I’ve seen some evidence:
You can join up the dots.
I’ve been told pantyhose are surprisingly very warm.
Miniskirts were very popular at my junior high. All the girls wore pantyhose. We weren’t really seeing that much skin. 
Sadly, the ankle length maxi dress was popular a couple years later. Just as I started dating.
This boggles the mind, because in the days girls could only wear skirts or dresses there’s no way in hell mini skirts would have been allowed. Even when I was in high school, long after the “no pants on girls” days, shorts weren’t allowed for anyone and skirts could only be so short (something like no more than two inches above the knee, and a lot of the parents thought that was way too short).
It’s common here for schoolgirls (!) They wear thick tights / stockings.
Not without consent you can’t!