Who doesn't "get it"in your community?

[davedove]

Given their propensity for comments, I'm still amazed that the human race manages to continue reproducing at its current rate.

Remember, Seinfeld asserts that 95% of the human race is undatable. The only reason people get together is alcohol.

[JackK]

I was dating a lady whose sister convinced her I was gay because of the kilt so she broke it off, being it doesn't matter to me which preference one has, I would have dumped her anyway with that 'tude. Maybe more questions from older (my age) women, but that maybe my generation and/or maybe being in the midwest. Other than this I haven't had a 'group' that doesn't get it.

Jack

[Rigged]

As an example, my lawyer told me just the other day that it disturbs him to see me in a kilt, and he just doesn't "get it." (All he wants to do is blend in, he said.) He was just more polite and used more measured words in letting me know than others I've encountered.

I think this is the attitude most of us encounter most often. What most people don't "get" is why we're not following the crowd.

Some men are just "old-school" and can't deal with the idea of men in anything other than trousers. My father-in-law is in that category as well as the Frenchman who runs the laundry where I take my work uniforms. They tolerate my kilt-wearing, they both know what kilts are, but they don't understand why a man would willingly wear one.

I think, in these men, trousers still symbolize masculinity. I can't convert someone who clings so desperately to the past.

I live in a racially and culturally mixed community and have gotten some interesting reactions from Hispanic men (although an Hispanic woman with three toddlers in tow stopped me to say how great I looked in my kilt and wanted one for her eldest son -- a teenager), and reactions from some Middle Eastern men.

In these cases it comes down to having a cultural context for men wearing unbifurcated garments. Many recent immigrants just don't have that cultural context. I wrote in a previous post about a drunk coming up to me (charging up to me would be more accurate), looking for a fight. He was Hispanic, shouting something at me in Spanish that I didn't understand, although his intent was very clear.

Once he got close to me, he backed down and walked away.

When I was in college, a Middle Eastern classmate made a comment about my kilt. He got angry when I tried to give him a Utilikilts card. He actually threatened to kick my a** if I tried again.

I met up with him a few weeks after that and he was more willing to talk. In his country, men wear a long shirt almost down to the ankles. It's not worn in the cities, except by older men who still cling to the old traditions, but it's common in the countryside. He realized that, in this country, it could easily be mistaken for a woman's dress. Anyway, he apologized for the hostile outbust and we agreed to disagree about wearing kilts and other such garments as regular clothing. Being a recent immigrant, it's important for him to fit into mainstream society.

[David White]

I think, in these men, trousers still symbolize masculinity. I can't convert someone who clings so desperately to the past.

Well said Rigged.

dave

[eighties]

I've caught the occasional giggle from folks of just about all walks of life. Living in an area of the country that idolizes Larry the Cable Guy and Gretchen Wilson I have received an overwhelmingly positive response form those many would call "rednecks". Some have even admitted respecting me for having the b@!!$ to wear my kilts and then wanting to hear me play them some pipes. Nothing blatently negative, at least not to my face.

80s

[Alan H]

Just to clarify, I've only had thre...count 'em three "negative experiences" while kilted. Two were dished up by Caucasian men who were just plain obnoxious....not drunk, just obnoxious people. Obnoxiousness knows no cultural bounds, eh? BTW, I'm very glad that this thread has NOT turned into the racist attack that Colin warned about. That wasn't my intent at all.

My wife, who happened to be with me both times, ripped into the obnoxious guys something fierce. It was a hoot.

The other incident was a rather mild confrontation with two young Hispanic men, who gave me the eye, spoke to one another in Spanish (unaware that my spanish is fair to middlin good) and laughed in my face in the parking lot outside one of the local shopping malls. I kept walking, made agressive eye contact, but yet smiled more-or-less friendly-like and we passed on. That's IT.....not bad for fourteen months, kilted.

So I'm not really referring to "conflict" as in assult or something...more just confusion, or uncomprehending staring...just not "getting it". It sounds like most people don't experience a group of people that don't get it...it's an individual thing.

And to reiterate...not "getting it" about the kilt is NOT, emphatically NOT a condemnation of a racial or ethnic group. There are ethnic and cultural practices routinely engaged in by other cultures that I don't "get", as well. Not understanding something because you've never seen it before is NOT an indication that someone is stupid or racist or bigoted or anything else. It just means they haven't see it before....period.

[Southern Breeze]

Alan-well said. Thats been my observation as well. I've worked with people from Mexico and Central America who had never seen a kilt before. Once they knew what it was and some of the history of it they were ok with it. Of course getting THEM to wear one was a diffrent matter.

[Rex_Tremende]

There are [....] practices routinely engaged in by other cultures that I don't "get", as well.

I don't 'get' wearing one's jeans hiked up only to thigh level. This, too, may solve the crushed nuts problem, but seems to introduce a host of others. I'm really looking forward to the dialog for common understanding, should someone in this particular mode of dress ever say something to me about mine. I've never had the opportunity to ask.

Regards,
Rex in Cincinnati

[Panache]

I have to say that, like Alan, the only constant group that stare at me as if I'm from another planet are hispanic. From all outward appearances I would also say these people are fairly recently immigrated or culturally very insular. I have not been menaced, laughed at, or spoken to by these people. They have just stared in a very disapproving and incredulous way. I really don't take offense because these people obviously have no frame of reference for a man in a skirt-like garment. From my perception of hispanic culture there are very rigidly set rules and definitions for mansculinity and failure to adhere to them is not taken lightly. As I said before, I have come to no harm from these people but it is clear that they just don't get it.

[longshadows]

Rex bring up an interesting point. Sometimes, it's the guy (or gal) who him/herself is in some other way different from the crowd that can respond in a negative way to a guy in kilts: the kid with his pants halfway down his butt, the grossly overweight person, the pierced girl. One would think that anyone who had the experience of "being different," would be more sensitive and empathetic towards some else who is benignly different himself. Doesn't seem to work that way, does it?

Final assessment--people are people: kilted, fat, pierced, gay, pagan, green whatever: some are nice; others are, well, people! :confused: