I've been kilt checked twice. Both times, permission was asked, granted and nothing I couldn't talk about openly in a family friendly forum was handled.

I've been kilt lifted twice, neither one from the front and both of them by teenage girls in the company of other teenagers. They almost certainly were not drunk, but they very certainly were on the far side of obnoxious.

I don't spend a lot of time hanging out in the bar scene or at concerts where the default state is boozed up. In fact, I'm more likely to attend the symphony than a Flogging Molly concert.

I've never been kilt-checked, handled or in any way abused at work here at the big U. I've gotten my share of sneers from construction workers, unbelieving looks from Hispanic University employees and contractors, and that's about it. Nobody at work has ever said a single unpleasant word, and in fact wearing a kilt to work (I do IT tech support) is kind of handy because while people may not know my name, EVERYBODY knows "the kilt guy".

to Matt... no offence intended, you just happened to be the representative guy I picked, because you commented in the thread. You were the guinea pig so to speak. The point remains... and please believe me that I didn't write it for only you to hear, but for all of us to hear...

because the coin has two sides...

Don't think that everyone who straps on a kilt MUST BE LIKE YOU....a "gentleman"...or a Lebowski, or whatever.

I wasn't able to post online today until now because I was bringing MRs. Alan home from hip replacement surgery, but during the day this thought kept occurring to me. Here on XMarks we need both the more conservative folks, and the kilted Lebowski's. We NEED each other. If the place was all Lebowski's, it would devolve into stupid potty jokes (Ok I exaggerate ) interspersed with some kilt information sprinkled in. If the place was all deadly-serious kilt traditionalists, it would devolve into arcane discussions of kilting minutiae. Both of those end-games are going to seriously put-off a whole, whole lot of people who are new to kilts, and both of them are pretty awful representations of the kilting world. WE NEED EACH OTHER, and all the folks in between, to provide something at least marginally like a reflection of what the diversity of folks who wear the kilt, really are.