Why is it considered degrading for a man to wear women's clothing? - forum thread with excellent responses

Demonspawn · 2011-09-27T15:31:31+00:00

A lot of clothing has to do with sexual acceptance.

Men accept women dressing in non-feminine ways and will still mate with them.

Women do not accept men dressing in non-masculine ways and will refuse to mate with them.

Kuonji · 2011-09-27T14:16:31+00:00

Our entire society is keen on telling men what to do and how to behave.

Don't worry, feminism is fighting to bring that to a halt. Right, guys?

silverdrake3 · 2011-09-27T13:30:37+00:00

This post by Ajita Kamal is particularly good.

theozoph · 2011-09-27T14:47:32+00:00

I think gender roles are still very much enforced whether you are male or female. A woman wearing pants will not be subjected to the same level of prejudice as a butch lesbian.

As the Jessica Parker example shows, a women wearing men's clothing (with atrocious fashion sense) isn't really wearing men's clothing. She's wearing a feminized version of men's clothing, which is to say she really is wearing women's clothes!

In the same vein, a men wearing a kilt isn't wearing women's clothing, but a male skirt (although he probably should keep it to rural Scotland and St. Patrick's Day ;). IOW, women have expanded their wardrobes in recent times, while men mostly haven't (despite a few bold experimentations by fashion designers).

OTOH, true cross-dressers, like Sam Ronson, drag kings or transvestites, do have their share of prejudices heaped on them, mainly because we assume (whether true or false) that they have a "deviant" sexuality to go with their feminine / masculine appearance.

Therefore, it is no more "degrading" for a man than a woman to cross-dress (and no less). Of course, expect feminists to lie about this to make it seem like a misogynist issue, instead of a balanced gender issue.

venereveritas · 2011-09-27T15:40:32+00:00

I'm just going to say this; there's nothing wrong with a man wearing jeans, skirts, or dresses. There's nothing wrong with him sporting a beard or highlights, if he's got sunglasses or makeup on. A lot of people might say otherwise; that he's a deviant or that he must be gay, but I don't care nor do my opinion really matter on why he's wearing the clothing. Let him/her wear what he/she wants to wear.

One day we'll be more open and supportive of people expressing themselves, and a man wearing "flamboyant" clothing will be acceptable. We need to teach ourselves that it's not degrading for someone to wear something "different". Compliment instead of criticize.

2011-09-28T04:55:08+00:00

It's considered degrading for a man to show off his body, which is what women's clothing is designed to do. 500 years ago, the popular men's fashion was codpieces, basically hilariously stuffed shorts in the shape of humongous dongs. But that was man-cleavage; wear that sort of thing around today, and you'll be liable for disturbing the peace.

Just take a look at any of the "fashionable" menswear out there--covered from head to toe in multiple layers. Showing off calves? Hell, showing off ankles? Ugh. Keep those toes covered, keep those shoulders covered, and for pity's sake, don't EVER accentuate anything you've got between your legs. Because being a man in fashion terms means being an asexual creature.

Women get to show breasts, hips, thighs, cameltoe, nipples, ass crack, cleavage, anything of their bodies that they like. Men can do nothing similar. So yeah--it's terribly degrading to know that every single exposed part of your flesh is considered socially disgusting and needing to be covered so as not to scar the minds of little children everywhere. If only women were considered so disgusting.

toblotron · 2011-09-27T17:51:15+00:00

I think I've got a better answer to this:

Is it degrading for a man who chooses it to wear womens clothing? Nope. Look at all the transvestites - do they do it to degrade themselves? No, they do it because they like it/ get off on it or think they look good in it. The 80's, anyone, when the transsexual look was in? Was that degrading to men?

On the other hand, a man who is forced to wear womens clothing is degraded. -Any situation where a person is forced to do something they obviously do not want to do is always degrading, and men typically have no interest in wearing feminine clothes.

Force a woman to wear something she obviously doesn't want to wear, and I think it will pretty obviously be degrading for her. Possible examples: Pig costume at school, workers overalls at the prom, a big "I'm Stupid" sign outside the mall. - If you imagine that a woman would Like to wear these things for whatever reason, it immediately ceases to be degrading.

Women can look good in almost anything (hence the male clothing cross-gender functionality), depending on their look/s, but men/masculine looks do not work in the same way. (which is kind of a bummer since I'd enjoy more opportunities for variation in dressing, but that just doesn't work for men)

shitterplug · 2011-09-27T15:25:19+00:00

Not really degrading... just ends up making you look like an idiot and/or tard.

brunt2 · 2011-09-27T16:32:25+00:00

Women are more intolerant of men who wear female clothing. If women dated guys who wore dresses then guys would wear dresses. Female oppression, in other words. Women are bigots.

Offensive_Brute · 2011-09-27T13:53:59+00:00

because most men look at this behavior and think, "thats silly. Why would a man want to wear that? Its not practical or functional, and it doesn't even highlight his awesome masculine attributes." Because abnormality is defined by general consensus of what is normal, the man who likes to dress in drag is viewed as weird. As a bunch of weirdos, we all know too well what happens when people perceive you as weird.

Demonspawn · 2011-09-27T13:52:06+00:00

Women dress frivolously; men dress practically. Women try and look like beautiful baubbles; men try and look powerful.

I'll keep my jeans, leather jacket, and car grease, thank you very much. When did men's rights become about our 'right' to behave like useless human beings?

Biological double standard - women can make babies, and thus can get away with being useless.

Title	Why is it considered degrading for a man to wear women's clothing? - forum thread with excellent responses
Author	silverdrake3
Upvotes	5
Comments	32
Date	September 27, 2011 1:21 PM UTC (14 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/kswpd/why_is_it_considered_degrading_for_a_man_to_wear/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/why-is-it-considered-degrading-for-a-man-to-wear.1034035 https://theredarchive.com/post/1034035

Comments