Woman Laugh but Men are Arrested

[mikepalmer]

Has anyone had a perfect stranger (woman) ask them what they are wearing under their kilt? This has happened to me several times, first in my Costco store by a Costco employee, then at a surplus store while shopping for a wide belt. I mean no shame or anything "do you have underwear on" and last week I had a lady lift up my kilt while in the elevator asking her friend if she thought I had the legs for wearing a kilt. I told her she could get arrested and she replied "not a chance" woman are exempt don't you know.

A guy could get arrested for these actions. I am not really bothered but it makes for interesting conversation. PS I always wear dark undies just in case.

[Steve Ashton]

I have related this story before but perhaps it is time to tell it again.

A few years ago I was attending a kilt night at a local downtown pub in Vancouver, BC.

I was sitting in a booth about 5 feet away from the bar where three guys were leaning enjoying a drink. Each of the guys was facing the same way so could not see what was going on behind them.

A woman about my age, who had obviously had more than one drink, began to ask each of the three guys in turn if she could check if they were "regimental".

She approached the first guy and while annoyed he said OK. The lady slid her hand up his leg.

She then approached the second guy. At first the guy said no. Then twice more after getting what I am sure the woman thought was cute "Oh pretty please". Finally the second guy said OK,

The woman then approached the third guy. She starting in with the same request and the same begging manner. The guy said No quite firmly. On the second request he said no again. This time loud enough that everyone within 10 feet could hear him.
The woman then moved to stand directly in front of the third guy. She was wiggling in what I guess she thought was an enticing manner and begging in a little girl voice. "Oh please, pretty please, I just want to make sure you are a 'real scot'." The guy repeated NO again.

The woman then proceeded to reach down for the man's front apron. As her hands full of kilt came up, the third guy reached behind his back and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
In a rather loud voice so he would have witnesses he stated "Maam, my name is constable XXX I am an off-duty police officer. I told you no three times. Do you not understand that no means no?. Please accompany me, I am placing you under arrest."

The woman is now a convicted sex offender and must register where ever she lives.

[CDNSushi]

That is a good story, Steve...

Unfortunately, the world is full of double standards, and this is (often) one of those. It's hard to fight against because many women (and men, for that matter) think that it is not possible for men to be sexually harassed or assaulted. And if a man DOES speak out, he's often seen to be a whiner (at best) or less than a man (at worst).

[Steve Ashton]

There are only double standards when we allow them. perhaps it is time we stopped allowing it.

And someone can only feel like a whiner or less of a man if they feel that way about themselves. That is inside you. You make the decision to feel that way.

"It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier." RAH

[ratspike]

I've been asked quite a few times, almost always by a stranger or someone who doesn't know me very well. When it's an honest, genuine question I don't mind talking about what may or may not be worn under a kilt. Usually though it's someone thinking they're being cute, so my reply tends to be pretty rude.

I've only had someone actually put their hands on me once, a drunk Scottish woman at the annual shindig thrown by the pirate group PDX Yar here in Portland. I briefly though it was someone my wife knew, until I realized that she was yelling at the woman who'd just lifted my kilt. It escalated pretty quickly from there. After ranting at her, along with laying down exactly what would happen if she did it again, I went and found the event organizers and had words. They tracked her down and had a conversation immediately after that. She tried to apologize to me later but I wasn't having it.

[Mikilt]

I have only been asked a few times and I inform them very soberly that I always wear undershorts because going without is darned high on the "Ick factor" scale.

[Willie T]

I had something similar happen to me during my Highland Dancing years. I was probably 14 at the time and I was competing in Estes Park, Colorado. A teenage girl there didn't even bother to ask me. She just lifted up my kilt for all to see! I of course was wearing black underwear underneath which Highland Dancers are required to wear. I can only imagine if a boy or man was to do that to someone of the opposite sex what the reaction would be. I can't understand why some women think that is an ok thing to do. Even if someone is wearing underwear underneath, most people do not wish to be seen in their underwear in public.

[Willie T]

On a somewhat funnier note, both my Highland Dancing teacher and my Highland Drum Major teacher were at some event years ago. I can't remember if it was a Burns Supper or a Ceilidh or something else but my Highland Dancing teacher got very drunk. She had grown up in Scotland and in her youth she was one of best Highland Dancers in Scotland. What happened next was so out of character for her so she must have been very, very drunk. She began teasing my Highland Drum Major teacher and asked him if he was wearing anything under his kilt. She didn't try to lift up his kilt but in her teasing she gave his kilt a little tug. I don't how it happened but his kilt fell right off him in front of a large group of people. He wasn't wearing a thing underneath his kilt. It was a night to remember I'm sure.

[Father Bill]

I think the reason some women in some situations think it's okay is simply and at least in part from two factors.

First is the fact that men have not historically been sexualized in western culture to the extent that women have, so that the exposure of our privates is often considered less shocking than that of a woman's. Women's supposed purity has been considered dsireable and therefore privacy has been part of social custom and mythology for centuries. Consider, for example, the legends of the locked and veiled harem being guarded by huge eunuchs with great scimitars. It is a societal and literary expression of how wonderful and special a woman's modesty has been considered. That comes to us today in the dichotomy we're discussing wherein any man who violates that modesty is subject to automatic and grievous sanctions of which the scimitar is a symbol.

Secondly, society, including we ourselves, has maintained a great mystique about what is or is not worn beneath the kilt, such that it becomes a socially interesting and tittilating question.

Further, in today's world where gender equality has become a (relatively new - in my own lifetime) social value, stories such as Steve's above become possible in ways that would not in centuries past. A woman would have been less likely to be so bold because that was not considered a characteristic of femininity.

Thanks for sharing that one again Steve; I had forgotten it and enjoyed it.

[English Bloke]

I've been asked 'the question' many times and usually reply with some amusing but glib response. Haven't really got a problem with that. I've also been kilt-checked on a number of occasions, never by invitation, more often than not by strangers and not always by women. It really can become quite tiresome but does seem to be the cause of much merriment for both checker and onlookers. Of course no consideration is ever given to me and how I may feel about it.

In a crowded pub, I once retaliated to some bloke by quizzing his desire and motivation to see my exposed genitalia and threatened some proper rough justice if he did it again. He backed off and apologised. I've been accosted in the street by groups of females, I've had women take photos up my kilt as well as wandering hands without the lift, usually in crowded rooms and frequently in front of my wife... and on another occasion, after having my front aprons lifted from behind by some inebriated woman so her female friend in front of me could check my state of dress, I asked the woman why she felt it appropriate to help herself to my very personal space. She replied that I was only wearing the kilt to draw attention to myself and it's probably what I wanted her to do...

An interesting view-point. I do wonder sometimes how long I'd keep my liberty if I were to employ the same forward curiosity towards women as they do to me and used the line "She was wearing a skirt so she obviously wanted me to" as my defence. But then being a Gent, I wouldn't dream of doing so.

I appreciate the mystique that surrounds the garment but bear in mind I'm not a buffed Adonis, I'm a slightly corpulent, middle aged bloke aged plenty-five. Women's interest and lack of inhibition may well be spiked by intoxication but it is a double standard and like I say, quite tiresome. It's certainly not a reasonable excuse.