A few afternoons ago I was about to check my email when I saw this page. The first thing I noticed was the mention of male pixies, which always interest me. Then, I saw it.
My eyes! They burn!
As someone who regularly wears mismatched sweatshirts, skinny jeans, sweatpants, and sandals, I really don’t know much about fashion. But this, this was definitely wrong. When I laid my eyes on it, I couldn’t explain why – I couldn’t even really formulate a logical thought – but I knew it deep down. Deep down, in my intolerant, unaccepting, horribly superior mind, I knew that this was absolutely sickening.
One commenter made the valid point “he’s gotta have a vagina.” This statement exemplifies what I find so sickening about this picture. Obviously, the person in that picture is a man. And yet he’s wearing a dress, a garment equipped by women. What? I am so confused. It’s like if a woman were to wear pants or something.
But, I should be serious. I think it’s alright for girls to be tomboys if she has a mother to look up to and for boys to occasionally touch a Barbie doll when monitored by a parent who understands gender stereotypes. In no way does allowing a little experimentation harm anyone. However, this picture poses a threat to us all. Who knows what could happen if we allow that type of thing to run rampant in our streets? If we allow men to dress like women, soon enough they’ll be staying at home with the kids while mothers go out and have successful careers!
I was raised by a mom and a dad. A woman and a man. An XX and an XY. This seemingly innocent “fashion statement” could destroy the foundation of my all-American family, as well as that thing in my eye sockets that lets me see stuff. It’s time to take a stand against men in miniskirts, once and for all.
the quiet voice 
What a get-up! But I agree with your point 100% – more power to him! Otherwise, we have a major double-standard on our hands.
Exactly! I hope others understand that as well.
Okay, so here are my thoughts about the entire photo gallery overall!
I’ve always been amused with most fashion shows, because in my opinion a lot of the designs seem over the top and ridiculous. It’s kind of like the “ohmygosh, what have they come up with this time?”. But the moment I saw the picture on yahoo’s homepage, I thought to myself “oh boy. Get ready for a lot of ignorance.” When I saw the designs, I thought they looked weird. If you scroll past the first few, a guy is wearing wood arranged kind of like a windmill, and I still think it looks strange and kind of amusing. I don’t think they’re weird BECAUSE some of the men are wearing clothes that are typically deemed as women’s clothes. That just happened to be the case.
And I knew there would be ignorance because not many people would be thinking this way; they would simply be mocking the fact that the men are wearing “women’s” clothes. As I go through the comments I get so frustrated at the close-mindedness of some people.
I guess what I’m trying to get out is that even I can see the designs as silly, the same way I perceive many other designs to be; but not for the misguided and misogynist reason as most others.
Yeah, I agree with you entirely on this one. Perhaps the only truthful thing I said in my original post was that I knew nothing about fashion – I really don’t know much, and in terms of whether something looks “good” or not escapes me every time. Thus, I know what you mean when you say everything in general looks ridiculous; it’s just that some people take that too far by saying things like the “he’s gotta have a vagina” comment or saying that men wearing women’s clothing is “wrong.”
This post got a giggle out of me. I believe that a person should be able to wear whatever clothes they want but the garments that the models are wearing are clothes that I wouldn’t even wear. But if a guy feels confidant in wearing a dress than I have no problem with that 🙂
Agreed! I’m not even sure if the models choose what they want to wear, but either way, it’s their freedom of expression to enhance themselves through their clothing in whatever way they see fit.
I’m usually indifferent to things like this, as I respect that they’re different and that’s how they want things for themselves. But now that you wrote about it, I got to admit, this gave me quite a good laugh. I still believe weird people are awesome, but still, having guys wear clothes like that is a little too extreme for me. I do admire their boldness though.
Yeah, my entire post is just a satire about the people who are against men wearing women’s clothing or other outlandish outfits – I support their decisions 100%. There’s nothing wrong with wearing whatever you want to wear so long as it doesn’t negatively affect anyone else; in this case, people were just overreacting. Thanks for your thoughts!
I can understand that people want to express themselves and I respect that, I really do. The guy wearing the dress is weird and funny in a way but personally I think it’s going over too much. I’m like, “Dude, if a dress make you feel comfortable then that’s okay,” but I will agree that it would be something of a horror to see more men in mini skits and the likes walking down the streets. The image is somewhat disturbing.
The reason I think there isn’t much controversy over girls in pants as opposed to men in dresses is because … how do I put it … Men have been forever – as far as I can tell – the symbols, embodiment or the image of strength, confidence and power and it just just wouldn’t do to see them decked out in female garments because this would go against these perceptions. Women, on the other hand, for one reason or the other aren’t on the whole (because there are societies who disapprove) being badgered about their wearing boys’ clothing maybe because it doesn’t really matter that much, and when I say this I’m not down playing their part in society, it’s something that just is.
I think it’s all linked to traditional roles and we see those same roles being challenged today. The change must come but some things should remain, should be a constant in a world that is rapidly changing and one that is becoming more insane as the years go on and something like what I’m considering to be ‘gender stability’ is one that we should have if we want to cling to some degree of sanity.
Essentially what I’m trying to say that is it’s okay for people to be gay, straight or bi, to dress colourfully even if the colours don’t conform to their gender, fine, but men in skirts and dress is pushing it too far because even if the times have changed their part in society is still important as it was before and they need to keep that balance before it’s really the women who really do indeed ‘wear the pants’. Interesting post, it made me think more about this and led me to Wiki cross-dressing:
It does not, however, necessarily indicate transgender identity since a person who cross-dresses does not always identify as being of a gender other than their assigned gender.
The term denotes an action or a behavior without attributing or proposing causes for that behavior. Some people automatically connect cross-dressing behavior to transgender identity or sexual, fetishist, and homosexual behavior, but the term cross-dressing itself does not imply any motives.
– Wikipedia
So those photos of the guys could either be just a fashion statement or an encouragement for men to express of who they believe they are. Or something like that.
And I meant to add in the end that which ever it is, I still can’t really warm up to the idea.
Ha ha Devina – my entire post is making fun of people who criticize guys for wearing dresses or skirts! I didn’t mean any of it seriously, hence the “satire” in the title. In my true opinion, men and guys should wear whatever they want to no matter what. Sure, society needs stability, but how does men wearing dresses take away from that? There’s no harm being done, even it what they wear does look a little odd.
I appreciate your perspective though, so thank you for sharing it!
Oh no, I was aware of that! But I couldn’t leave it alone 🙂
Against?
If you’re asking for whether I’m against guys wearing dresses, I’m all for it – my entire post is a satire on those who are against it.
Oh! Sorry, I am slow 😀
No you’re fine, thanks for reading and commenting!
Very poignant, and I agree with the absurdity of our culture and its double standards. Having said that, the dude can’t pull the skirt off. Wrong color. Wrong cut. He doesn’t look happy. And that’s really the issue. While there may be plenty of people who can’t stand seeing a man in a skirt, the rest of us just want to make sure he’s looking his best if he does. =) You’re an interesting writer. I’m glad I stumbled upon your blog.
Yeah, I suppose the dress itself isn’t exactly flattering. Then again I can’t discern whether almost anything is flattering so I’ll take your word for it. I’m glad you think I’m an interesting writer, I hope you’ll enjoy reading more of my posts!
Very much enjoyed reading that! Although must say, I’m shuddering at the thought of a boy child interacting a Barbie doll … can you imagine the sort of chaos that sort of lax parenting could unleash on the world??
I know! Soon enough girls will enjoy playing with action figures like Superman and Batman and then we’ll all explode and die… *shudders*
Man, I almost feel sorry for the poor guy! Haha I guess that if you get paid to be a model, you gotta do what you gotta do! Funny stuff!
Nerd With Taste
I’m sorry but I don’t know where you stand on this. So you have a problem with guys that wear woman’s clothes? & you feel that it would “Harm the foundation of the American family?” Please explain so I can give my input. Xxx
Branden, no, it’s the other way around. In the title I included the word “satire”, which means that I’m taking what people usually say about the issue and exaggerating it. Guys can wear whatever they want – I don’t have a problem with anything in that area.
Oh ok, thank you Thomas! I hope I didn’t upset you
Of course not! I’m glad you asked for clarification – I would hate for you to think that I’m some close-minded bigot.
Once again thank you! Also I was wondering if you would do a book review on “Fahrenheit 451??” I would love to know what you think about it<3 I have one more favor but I feel like a bother but here's my favor, Can you watch this video and tell me how you feel about the gay community praising manlier gays & how if your a tad bit feminine or full on feminine you are shunned or not given the light of day. I feel like he will explain the problem in deep so please watch it and write back thanks!! XXXXX 🙂
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QZMZF54V3DA
Hi Branden! I will try to read Fahrenheit 451 asap but I cannot promise to read and review it soon, solely because of how many books I’m juggling right now. And thank you for sending me that video – I’ve actually written a blog post about this issue (https://thequietvoice18.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/flamingly-feminine-and-unapologetically-gay/) but to summarize my feelings I believe that no matter how feminine you act or how masculine you act at the end of the day no one should be treated with prejudice or ostraciziation. It’s irksome to me that gays would castigate other gays just because they’re more feminine; I understand if you don’t want to date a feminine person, because that’s your choice, just like people are allowed to choose if they only want to date Christians, blacks, etc. but to treat feminine people with prejudice or hatred is not okay. Four words: live and let live.