I heard of the "man skirt" phenomena. But I thought it had only touched the upper-echelon of fashion; that is, I thought it had never made it past the runways since Marc Jacob's obsession with them became made obvious in his collection. Apparently, this is not the case. The man skirt trend has even reached Lambert Airport [scary, right?]. While part of me wants to say, "Skirts are comfortable, and, hey, if girls can wear trousers, guys should be able to wear skirts," the larger part of me SCREAMS, "Men in skirts just look stupid and like they're trying to be something they're not." [This being said, I find traditional kilts acceptable in the proper setting.]
For me, this man skirt phenomena puts the issue of total gender equality in a new light. It's one thing for women to take on more masculine fashions, but it is a completely different thing for men to take on female fashions. Is trying [I say trying, because I think it will fail...miserably] to make skirts an acceptable and normal part of guys' wardrobes a way of respecting femininity or actually taking away from femininity? I'm sure that designers would all say that it's about the clothing, the movement, the fabric, and that there should be no gender discrimination when it comes to fabulous clothes. I, however, feel that men stealing away skirts [however ridiculous they look] from being solely feminine is just a way of further asserting male dominance rather than a way of respecting femininity. When a woman wears a properly fitted pant suit and blouse, she looks undeniably feminine because it can be cut and shaped in such a way to accent her feminine figure. When a man wears a skirt, he looks like he went into his overweight grandmother's closet and pulled out something that he thought would provide a nice breeze of sorts.
Man skirts, therefore, do not demonstrate any kind of respect for femininity. It simply mocks it. I'm sorry---you can't make a skirt look masculine. Society is ingrained with the idea that skirts are feminine, and trying to make skirts a male fashion trend just emphasizes recent notions of eliminating the idea of true femininity. You cannot create equality by having all feminine characteristics sucked into male trends to make them acceptable. Not at all. Likewise, you cannot create equality by having all male trends sucked into the world of women. We must learn to embrace differences, embrace men and women as separate, and respect each other. We must accept the skirt as feminine and find it beautiful as such, not needing to be embraced by men to be completely acceptable.
Forcing the breakdown of visible gender differences, like by having men wear skirts, will only create a facade of solution. Truly, we must learn to embrace femininity and masculinity as separate, but equal, entities. We can't create true gender equality by lumping the two genders together----that just yields one visible gender, not equality.
Thus, women need to embrace being women, and men need to embrace being men. That's why I think it is extremely important for ladies to look back to times when femininity was at its prime for inspiration; they shouldn't look to today when femininity is twisted and rejected by many for the purpose of allowing feminism to endure. True feminism can't exist if we take a centrally humanistic perspective; we must take a uniquely feminine perspective.
Hence, I blame Marc Jacobs for contributing to society's brutal attempts at eliminating femininity's existence [I also blame him for making attractive male models look like idiots on the runway].Let us keep skirts to ourselves, Marc!
I've really enjoyed reading your blog. It's quite refreshing that a young woman feels so secure and appreciates her femininity. I agree with you that feminism and femininty should compliment each other rather than being mutually exclusive.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to men wearing skirts, I think I would look rather stupid in a skirt and would never attempt it. At the same time, I am a somewhat feminine guy, and do enjoy feminine things. I would rather watch a 'chick' flick than the Super Bowl, would rather get a pedicure than go fishing, and would rather read 'Martha Stewart Living' than 'Sports Illustrated'. So while I embrace being a man, I also embrace my feminine characteristics.
While I agree that too many women have lost sight of their femininity in the way they dress, where do you draw the line? I'm never going to wear a skirt, but I do ask my hairstylist to give me a 'short, sassy pixie cut'.
I understand where you're coming from, but this is the same criticism leveled by some feminists against drag queens - it mocks feminity, it holds up ridiculous ideas of feminity, disrepectful towards women, etc. etc. However, I think Judith Butler's response was the best - "the problem with the analysis of drag as only misogyny is, of course, that it figures male-to-female transsexuality, cross-dressing, and drag as male homosexual activities - which they are not always - and it further diagnoses male homosexuality as rooted in misogyny. The feminist analysis thus males male homosexuality about women, and one might argue that that at its extreme, this kind of anaylsis is in fact a colonization in reverse, a way for feminist women to make themselves in to the center of male homosexuality."
ReplyDeleteI.e. Men wearing skirts ultimately is not about feminity, but rather an alternate expression of masculinity - it would be the same as leveling the same change against women wearing a pantsuit, which, I might add, is easily recognizable as feminine.
J.C. Hodges
While I completely understand both the argument and the logic behind the argument presented in the above comment, I still think that skirts are too ingrained in society as a feminine expression. The acceptance of man skirts as an, shall we say, "untraditional" mode of expressing masculinity would take years of reshaping society's ideas. I highly doubt most people (right now) would look at a skirt and think of it as anything other than feminine.
ReplyDeletePerhaps man skirts WILL catch on, though, and become donned by men and women alike, in which case society's ideas would change. But until this shift in perception happens, I think that the argument above proves more true theoretically than realistically.
While I am sure that it will take time to change societies ideas about anything. I also would like to think that people will eventually come around. I think that it is likely that the very same sentiment was shown toward women who first started to wear pants more than 50 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe idea however that somehow a man wearing a skirt has some nefarious ideas about women in general and feminenity is a rediculous assertion. Why do we not assume that women have no respect for masculinity because they wear pants? And that is the problem with the feminist movement or more precisely what it has morphed into from its original stated purpose. Not equality for women and men (which I am for) both, but rather equality when it benefits women and a laizze faire attitude toward something when it benefits men.
This is of course a form of bigotry which few dare to call out. Becasue the underlying issue with all bigots irregardless of what they are for or against is that they never see their own bigotry in themselves.
Masculinity and femininity are intrinsic to who you are, and are certainly not defined by what you wear nor should they be, nor should either of the previous be defined by others opinions especially when they are based on narrowminded principles or otherwise.
I am a heterosexual rugby-playing Englishman, who has on a couple of occasions worn a kilt. I attended a black tie dinner in one as some joker had nicked my trousers and replaced them with a kilt. The other occasion was to attend a wedding in Scotland.
ReplyDeleteI can assure all men who have not worn one, that not only was it extremely comfortable and seemingly very attractive to women but I felt very masculine at the same time.
If the modern day designer were to bring in man-skirts and get the high Street to stock them, with some clever marketing, it would add a whole new dimension to what is currently a very boring male fashion culture. At some point this will happen and some people will make a lot of money from them!
I say, go for it, but keep them masculine looking! As I said, I felt great in it and I ad the confidence to wear it.
Anyway, men all over the world have a national dress that does not revolve around trousers and men have gone into battle wearing a skirted garment. Hardly feminine!
Finally, look at the design of men and now work out how come we design clothes to squash what should not be squashed! No wonder the fertility rate of the modern man is reducing. Perhaps tight hipster jeans are the reason!
there was a time in our western society when women wearing pants was seen as an assault on masculinity, insults were thrown, etc. true, women are coming out of being oppressed by male authority. but, dont you think that the fact that men are starting to accept things traditionally seen as feminine into their sphere as greater equality? many men still believe that being or acting femenine is degrading as if somehow being femenine is inherently less valuable than being masculine. A man taking on fashions from women (although if you look at the rest of the world lots of men wear skirt like garments) shows that men are starting to value women more and see them as inherently equal
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