Why Do Some Take Such Offense...

[Nighthawk]

I had some moron sarcastically say to me "I support you!" I asked "Oh! You support cultural equality? How progressive!" He said "Cross dressing isn't cultural." I explained the kilt to him... and he said "I know what it is. It's a f**king skirt, and only fags and cross dressers would wear one." Should I tolerate that? Personally, I'm not one to put up with stupid people being stupid. Ignorance can be fixed with education. We're all ignorant in some way, and I have had numerous occasions when someone has said to me, in an honest and sincere way, "That's a beautiful skirt." I have corrected those people by telling them what it is and what means to me, and both they and I have had pleasant experiences from it. I just have never been one to put up with people attempting to publicly humiliate others. I would never dream of calling a man wearing African clothing a porch monkey. I simply expect the same courtesy. I grew up with a Scottish grandmother, and one reason I wear the kilt is because she loved them and believed that her culture was worth preserving. The kilt is a thing that is a distinct matter of pride to me and I do not appreciate people demeaning either me or it. And then of course, there's the fact that referring to it in a derisive way also demeans women, as if a skirt is in some way degrading or beneath me. It's insulting and inappropriate on numerous levels.

If you wear because you like the way it looks, that in garners you attention, or you are trying to make some modern statement - then it is a skirt. If you wear it because your ancestors fought, bled, and sometimes died in it and for it - it is a kilt.

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, as the Bard once said. My sister in law says that if it's outside of Scotland, it's a skirt. It doesn't magically change from one thing or another based on wearer or geographic location. By that logic, if I were to take a French poodle to Germany, it could transmute into a Doberman if I wanted. Or if I were a German walking a French poodle, I claim it to be a rotweiller. Explain that logic to me, 'cause I don't get it.