Gentlemen, I apologize beforehand for bringing up this subject. And what's worse for feeling that my opinion is valuable enough to take up your time.

There have been a few posts that I have read regarding the question of whether or not women should be allowed (or simply accepted depending on your point of view) to wear what most of us consider a kilt. I'm not talking about kilted skirts and the like that were intentionally designed and made for women, but instead a real kilt by the definitions most of us accept regardless of whether it fastens on the right or the left.

My contention is with the semantics game that can be played with anyone that has a pulse and has been outside their own four walls in the past decade concerning the definition of a garment and how it plays against the definition of masculinity. When I read some of the things that were posted regarding masculinity itself I felt I had to look it up for myself. dictionary.com had this to say...

mas·cu·lin·i·ty (msky-ln-t)
n.

The quality or condition of being masculine.
Something traditionally considered to be characteristic of a male.
If we take the first definition, we could be led to beleive that masculinity or manliness hinged solely upon our projections of manliness, or our masculine traits. It says nothing about the conditions under which those masculine projections are displayed.

If we were to take the second definition as true then some may even say that on first glance, a man wearing a kilt (what is perceived by some to be a feminine garment) projects nothing of manliness or masculinity simply by the wearing of it. But even the breifest look into the culture from which it comes negates this on right off the bat, seeing as how it indeed IS a traditional characteristic of the male. But I don't think we even need to rely on this point to be sure of the masculinity we possess when kilted or otherwise. I'm sorry I'm being long winded, but I promise I am getting to the main point here.

And the point of the matter is, it's not the kilt. The kilt, although by definition of a garment made for men (which is proof enough for me), is made masculine by the wearing of it in masculine ways. It cannot be masculine in and of itself, but instead derives it's innate masculinity from us, the wearers. We are what makes it a masculine garment. The proof lies in each one of us. Are we men when kilted? Are we men when we wear pants? If you were stripped naked would you not still consider yourselves men? Just as you cannot derive courage from another, we cannot derive the trait of manliness from another. Those that try only pretend courage, and manliness, and may as well be left naked when faced alone with none to rely on but themselves.

Then there is the worry that women wearing a man's kilt bastardizes and feminizes the garment to such an extent that for a man to merely put one on to some is out of the question. Why? If this is so then I was wrong earlier when I said that our masculinity is an inherent trait in each one of us. If this is true, then our masculinity must be nothing more substantial than a smudge on our face, able to be wiped away at a moments notice with the faintest of feminine touches. Or it is nothing more than an armband on bare limbs for all the world to grasp at at will, and defrock us of our manhood at a whim.

The same could be said of the custom of highland dress, and that the wearing of the kilt under casual circumstances degrades it to the point of meaninglessness. I say that if this were true, the the holders and guardians of such traditions beleive little more in their institutions than most grown men do in Santa Clause.

The real meat of the thing is the question, is it in your hearts and souls that your manliness lies, burning like a bonfire regardess of what weather may come. Or is it instead a candle that needs sheltering from the merest breeze for fear that a whisper of criticism may snuff it out?

The whole question, in my humble opinion, (to which I thank you if you've been patient enough with me to have read this far) is that nothing can take the masculinity away from a garment that derives that same characteristic from the manliness of the wearer. It's a red herring, and nothing more.

Kilt on.