From the Yahoo Utilikilt board...

[beverlonian]

One wonders if Megan at Utilikilts regards kilts as skirts? Oh dear, there's further to go than I thought

[highlandtide]

$20 says Megan wont respond to her unless the girl gives an exclusive to UK and no other mention of any other type or make of kilt in the report.

[RockyR]

$20 says Megan wont respond to her unless the girl gives an exclusive to UK and no other mention of any other type or make of kilt in the report.

You must know something we don't... Hmmm

Any way Jeanette I would rather you change the focus of your paper from Why Shouldn't, to "Why They Should"

You are starting your paper by feeding the negative side instead of declaring the positive. If you are accepting men in NON not UN bifurcated garments, then you would do better by setting the stage at the opening of your paper with a positive statement.

Would you be willing to post your paper here for review before you turn it in so we can help you with presenting our view? Perhaps the admin "Hank" can provide a non public venue for you to do that so your paper is not seen by those before you want it to be.
What would you think of that Hank?

Thank you!

[Martin Fr]

I'm not a yahoo person, so here are my replies:





1. So, why do you wear a skirt?

It’s better suited to male anatomy. Cool in summer, warm (woolen kilts) in winter.
And far more elegant than most of the ill-fitting garments encountered around town.

2. What does your partner think of it?

Likes it especially if it’s tartan.

3. Do you think there are any skirts that are of limits to men?

From whose point of view ?

4. How long do you think it will be before skirts for men are an
everyday sight?

Could be next year, could be next century. Humans are terribly conventional, espcially male ones.

5.Why do you think male skirts are still only worn by a brave few?

Most men have probably never even questioned why they pull trousers over their legs each day, other possibilities have never even crossed their minds.
I don’t consider myself brave, though knowing that some kilt/skirt-wearers won’t venture out of their own houses, perhaps I am odd in not feeling scared of ghosts.

6. Is there any occassion when you wouldn't wear your skirt?

In cold wind and snow, probably.

7. How do you choose to accessorize it?

?


Martin, in France

[Colin]

$20 says Megan wont respond to her unless the girl gives an exclusive to UK and no other mention of any other type or make of kilt in the report.

I would have to agree with you Hank. I am not a Utilikilts guy, but from what I have seen and heard of Megan, she is a marketing genius with her finger firmly on the ball.

[Hltoppr]

1. So, why do you wear a skirt?

Kilt... but because they're comfortable, because I've always liked 'em and they're not sold at the GAP.

2. What does your partner think of it?

She loves 'em!

3. Do you think there are any skirts that are of limits to men?

To each his own. I'm a "Braveheart" follower in general, so I wouldn't go for a skirt made for women, but sarongs etc. are good to go in my book.

4. How long do you think it will be before skirts for men are an everyday sight?

This isn't a really big concern for me. It doesn't affect my choices very much.

5.Why do you think male skirts are still only worn by a brave few?

It takes someone who is pretty darn sure of who they are to go against what is considered "normal" by the majority.

6. Is there any occassion when you wouldn't wear your skirt?

Technical Rock/High Angle & Mountain rescue...kinda hard to put on a climb harness....

7. How do you choose to accessorize it?

Belt, shoes, socks, shirt....

-H-

[mcnice]

would be better if u say "unbifurcated garment in order to stay in a proper and scientific differenciation. there are as u know maybe cross-dressers, free stylers or bravehearts as we are, which just were kilts.

i like ur research question, but can not really find the matter covered from ur questions. so the answers given won t tell much about which bad experiences we had in public, job or what reactions we got or what poeple tell us how they perceive us... but thats ur and ur profs. matter...



1.
A. first cause i think that manhood needs an emancipation as well as woman needed one 100 years ago to get free from man s tyranny. i m thinking about a modern man model - its all about a self finding evolution of mankind, which is mainly also translated by clothes.

now in opposite what men need is a liberation from himself: from a male constructed image of man connoted to violence, machism, i mean traditional gender models.
in the same way as trousers were a symbol for liberated women ( and i recently read about women in vienna around 1900 who were beaten in the streets for wearing trousers), wearing of the kilt is symbol of men getting free from the myth, that trousers are a male monopol. we should have the choice - emancipation is not a one way road.

B. leads to the second point, much more important from an individual point of view: it is just convenient and logical regarded to male anatomy to wear unbifurcated garments. i ve to quote the author (don t know his name) of the meninkilt.com site:
if aliens would come and should match trouser and kilt to the female and male anatomy withoout having an idea what our social construction is... what u guess would they put together ?

i personaly had to attend lots of sessions and meetings and had to sit during hours and hours in trousers. what made me sick and tired. kilting is best way a man can dress.

so that we all humans live nowadays and for all our history yet in an illogic way of life togehter is for me best shown in the example of what the different sexes are supposed to wear.
-----
concluiso:
clothes or architecture had been threw history a political message and is constructing in the same time images and self-perception. it don t happened by accident that man put woman in skirts which made all activities impossible to her.
now a man wearing something quoted as female, needs a man knowing he is man without model construction from society or elsewhere outside. i mean my girlfriend loves my kilts, but at least i got the idea and it was not her convoncing me to get in kilts.
quoting from rob roy (Movie): honour is a gift, that only a man can give to itself.
the sociological dimension behind kilt wearers for me is, that they are individually strong and self confident and not as men before only strong in the group or macho- minded women tyrans.
so : real men wear kilts ;)

2. she loves it and bought a kilt for her a few days ago.

3. i think i would, although i just wear kilts at the moment, would wear all unbifurcated garments that are made specfically for men.

means: also longer skirts, need to allow spreading legs with an under apron like kilts have, and needs pleats in the back for movement: which is the opposite of girls-skirts.
so without wanting being heretic here, that would be for me long kilts.

4. depends all on a few media stars, merchandising from a few "cool brands. i saw a tommy hillfigger advertisment for american tartans, but seems to be shut down. does anybody know about TH kilts?

but in the rythm from nowadays i give them in the western countries 30 years.

5. we say in german proverb: the top of the spear. a transition, in this case a sociological or life style transition, an evolution of life starts, when it starts by only few. i mean without few we could not talk about a start... it s as dumb for me and we have the expression: the dog bites his own tail...

6. a funeral. i attended last to a funeral in trousers. sad situation needs sad garment.

7. i ve to choose, if this is what u meant, from the internet, because there is no shop within europe selling accessorys to prices which can be seen as normal.
there only exclusive shops, as we have one in vienna, which sells average looking plain leather sporrans for 500 ?, maybe 600 US dollars ;)




i wil also have these days to write a commentary on "modern man" for university. what i am interested in:

as the kilt, wanted or not, crosses traditional boundaries of gender images in the perception of non kilted poeple i would ask the wearers of the kilt on thier opinions concerning emancipation and equality as well as general opinions which could show if one guy is open minded or more traditional.

to match these facts might bring a quite interetsing knowledge of the bravehearts movement.


sorry for being so long in my freaky viennese english ;)

[Blu (Ontario)]

....The pleats are angled differently, the apron is different (and usually non-existent in women's skirts), the direction of wrap is different, and, most importantly, the intended wearer is different.

These are technical differences only. Would I be taken seriously if I suggested that a Pink car with lipstick holder, vanity mirrors, and plush seats was an "FTP" (female transportation device) and not a car? I think not.

.... If we can get more men to wear kilts, they will become more widely accepted. Then it's possible that at a later time other types of unbifurcated garments will be acceptable for men to wear: Sarongs, caftans, lava-lavas, robes, togas and other types of clothing that men have been wearing for thousands of years in other cultures.

What it will take is for men to adapt the right attitude. The identity and methodology of changing those attitudes is beyond the scope of this thread and the general subject matter of this board.

[Rigged]

They are also social and cultural differences.

[Rhino]

I think it's more a matter of perception. Those of us who know what a kilt is, the history behind it, the sheer masculinity of the garment view it one way the rest of humanity see it as a skirt ie female clothing.
This in itself needn't be a problem as a skirt is what it is, it just happens to be made for men in cut and design. I like the fact the double apron and pleats as well as keeping you warm will stop a sword cut
If you examine a pair of jeans you will find the male and female versions are cut differently to exentuate the male or female figure respectively. They're still collectively jeans whether male or female.
In answer to your original questions Jeanette:
1. I suppose all sorts of reasons, I've always considered 'the kilt' to be the epitomy of masculinity and a year ago had the chance to try one.
The real reason I wear one, and the reasons others have given all apply to me too, but the bottm line is because I feel 'better' in a kilt.
Stronger (mentally and physically), prouder, more confident, wiser, just better in every way.
2 My wife loves it!!
3 Have to go with Rigged on this one. Most men want to look like men. On the other hand I know a guy who regularly goes out in a lycra mini skirt. He looks terrible, but it's his choice. The limit I suppose is set by the individual.
4. I hope they're not an everyday sight, thats part of the fun.
5. Again due to perception of skirts being entirely female. Men are trained from birth to not let anything impugn on their masculinity, so if they perceive a kilt as a skirt they won't touch it.
The people who wear kilts, certainly the ones I've met are what I think of as ultra alpha males. Supremely confident in themselves, very self actualised, with absolutley no need to act overtly masculine because they simply ARE.
6. I've stopped wearing it at work (nursing) as it distracted others away from the issues at hand, but wear it for my other job and anywhere else I feel like it.
7.????? I don't think I've ever accessorised anything but I do take more notice of what I wear with my kilts, with trousers as long as my a--e is covered I don't care.
Hope my ramblings help with your thesis.
Cheers Rhino