From the Yahoo Utilikilt board...

[g koch]

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/uti.../message/17565


Hi there,

I am a fashion student at the Surrey Institue of art and design and
am currently facing the daunting prospect of writing my
dissertation. The subject of it is...

'why are men in skirts still not widely accepted by society'

i contacted Megan at utilikilts and she said you guys may be able to
help me!

I have a few questions that i hope some of you may like to answear

1. So, why do you wear a skirt?

2. What does your partner think of it?

3. Do you think there are any skirts that are of limits to men?

4. How long do you think it will be before skirts for men are an
everyday sight?

5.Why do you think male skirts are still only worn by a brave few?

6. Is there any occassion when you wouldn't wear your skirt?

7. How do you choose to accessorize it?

Thanks for taking the time to read my message and i look forward to
hearing from some of you soon

Jeanette Phillips

[Avonlea22]

I guess we need to first educate this person that they are NOT skirts, eh?

[Miah]

there are a good number of men that wear skirts that are not kilts. I di agree I like the term Kilt but a Kilt is a type of Skirt. all kilts are skirts, but not all skirts are kilts.

[Riverkilt]

Hey, I responded, just changed the work skirt to kilt.

I think we're on the edge of a fashion boom. That someone's writting a dissertation about it is very cool.

[Blu (Ontario)]

.... all kilts are skirts, but not all skirts are kilts.

The kilt is an un-bifurcated male garment. Skirts are unbifurcated female garments. Men who have difficulties with acceptance of kilts on the home front will go to great lengths to avoid any confusion between the two. As for me, I just don't care anymore. A kilt is what it is. My avoidance of the word "skirt" on this board is more a matter of courtesy to those who tend to have a sensitivity to it.

[zeytoun]

It's just a semantic paradox. Some dictionaries refer to a skirt as an exclusively female garment and a kilt as an exclusively male garment. Given these parameters, you could not logically say a kilt is a skirt. Other dictionaries, define skirt as an un-bifurcated garment without specifying sex. In this case, you could refer to a kilt as a skirt.

Words don't bother me; I am not offended if someone calls my kilts skirts. On the other hand, I am offended if someone doesn't recognize my kilts as male garments.

[Jimmy Carbomb]

'why are men in skirts still not widely accepted by society'

Simple really... and it's the females fault!

If women were nearly as inquisitive and interested in what's under the garment as we are with theirs... then every guy would wear one!

[Dreadbelly]

Hey!

Somebody quoted me and my kilt = skirt logic loop. Woohoo! I must be getting wiser.

[Rigged]

My full answer to Jeanette would be:

In the culture I live in, skirts are what women and girls wear.

Most guys won't wear something called a "skirt" nor will most people take a guy seriously who wears something called a "skirt".

I wear kilts and other traditionally male clothing that don't have separate tubes for each leg. Hence the term, Male Unbifurcated Garments (MUGs).

Some people don't know the difference between kilts and skirts, but there are differences in style and construction from the way skirts are made for women.

The pleats are angled differently, the apron is different (and usually non-existent in women's skirts), the direction of wrap is different, and, most importantly, the intended wearer is different.

There is tradition attached to kilts.

The knee-length wrap worn by men (mainly soldiers) is a style that goes all the way back to Ancient Egypt, through the Greeks and Romans, to the Celts and Scots, the Irish and English and finally to me and the guys here.

If we can get more men to wear kilts, they will become more widely accepted. Then it's possible that at a later time other types of unbifurcated garments will be acceptable for men to wear: Sarongs, caftans, lava-lavas, robes, togas and other types of clothing that men have been wearing for thousands of years in other cultures.

Guys might even be able to wear women's skirts if they want to.

So, assuming that by "skirt" you mean "kilt", I'll answer your questions:

1. So, why do you wear a skirt?

They are very comfortable and practical and I look better in a kilt than I do in trousers.

Trousers have inseams that pinch, bind, and trap heat and perspiration causing itching (jock itch), chafing and lowered sperm count. Then there's the zipper with sharp metal teeth right where a man's most tender parts are.

2. What does your partner think of it?

My wife loves them and buys them for me.

3. Do you think there are any skirts that are off limits to men?

Most men want to look like men and won't wear anything that looks feminine. The limits are set by whoever decides whether or not a guy can wear a kilt or other MUG to the job, family gathering, prom or party.

In that sense, men face the same limits that women faced when they first started wearing pants.

4. How long do you think it will be before skirts for men are an everyday sight?

Since I wear mine most of the time, they already are an everyday sight in my neighborhood. As for the rest of the world, that largely depends on how well they are marketed to men.

5.Why do you think male skirts are still only worn by a brave few?

Because people keep calling them "skirts". Most guys won't touch them because they think of skirts as being women's clothing.

While women have no problem wearing the clothing of men they like, most men have no urge to wear the clothing they find erotic when worn by women. Nor do most men want to be the subject of other men's sexual fantasies. That's why most men won't wear "skirts".

"Kilt" evokes an entirely different and totally masculine image -- among those who know what a kilt is.

Maybe someday the word "skirt" won't have gender attached to it, but for now, in the world I live in, it does.

6. Is there any occassion when you wouldn't wear your skirt?

When I'm told that I can't, like for a job or when I need to be in uniform. I probably wouldn't wear a kilt in situations where I might be upside-down.

7. How do you choose to accessorize it?

Accessorize? You mean what I wear with my kilts?

Shirt, shoes, socks, a belt that roughly matches the shoes. Socks that roughly match the shirt. A sporran if the kilt doesn't have big pockets. I'll probably get a kilt pin for the tartan kilt I ordered -- probably shaped like a sword.

Sometimes I wear a hat. My favorite is a khaki souvenir cap from the Florida Everglades.

[richardljohnson]

Rigged, you summed it up! I'd have to say ditto on the answer from me.

Richard-