Why are people ???

[Andrew Green]

I wear my kilts around campus often enough, and no one has said anything negative about it. Most of the guys are like "hey, badass" or "it takes balls to wear a kilt" and such to that effect. Most of my lady associates usually just tell me that I look nice, and for the most part, my professors don't bother much either way... save for a time in SOCS185 when we were talking about race and ethnicity...in which case my professor looked at me and asked "Scottish American?". My reply "Anglo-Scottish"... that was a fun class, with a fair amount of humour (my professor for that one was very knowledgable in the realm of sociology, and quite good natured).

I have rarely gotten negative comments out and about. The one time I did, I confronted the kid on it, and he nearly crapped his pants. Just the whole respect other cultures and what not ordeal... I mean... everyone spouts the whole "respect others' cultures" rhetoric, but only care if it is their particular culture that isn't being respected. So it is a great way to pin someone and make them feel like a jackass for not keeping the mouth shut.

9 times out of 10, I don't care if people are dumbfounded by the kilt. The 1 out of 10 usually ends up in a brief conversation with someone because it is relatively out of the ordinary.

[Jimmy the Celt]

The kilt is a bit of a novelty to the general public, and that is something we have to accept when we decide to wear the kilt. People don't really care what you are wearing, after all [unless it is an offensive image or statement, maybe], and if people think the kilt is strange . . . well, today's youth dresses more strangely than ever--I'd even say they look ridiculous--but they can wear what they like, and so can we.

~James

[johnnym]

I have found that the few who question in a negative tone are usually wearing what looks like a golf bag with their underwear hanging out.

[Jimmy the Celt]

I have found that the few who question in a negative tone are usually wearing what looks like a golf bag with their underwear hanging out.

LOL, too true.

[Rigged]

Most people spend their entire lives trying to fit in. They don't understand people who choose to stand out. It makes them uncomfortable, maybe because it shows them how much of themselves they've compromised for the sake of conformity.

[sav]

...maybe because it shows them how much of themselves they've compromised for the sake of conformity.

Well said.

[Jimmy the Celt]

Most people spend their entire lives trying to fit in. They don't understand people who choose to stand out. It makes them uncomfortable, maybe because it shows them how much of themselves they've compromised for the sake of conformity.

<i>Very</i> well said.

~James

[Mike1]

They don't understand people who choose to stand out. It makes them uncomfortable, maybe because it shows them how much of themselves they've compromised for the sake of conformity.

Rigged, I see your logic and it makes good sense. However, I think threads like this are started because kilted men are not consciously choosing to stand out. Granted that choice is being made, but a lot of fellows don't make it a conscious choice.

Gentlemen, remember your reaction when you saw your first mini-skirt? Or string bikini? Did you stare, or at least make more than a passing glance? The lassies wearing them were simply dressed differently than what you were used to seeing.

Did you think you looked different, the first time you saw your kilted reflection in a mirror? In most locales, society is not used to seeing a man in a kilt. So the stares and looks come as part of the territory.

[Captain]

Gentlemen, remember your reaction when you saw your first mini-skirt? Or string bikini? Did you stare, or at least make more than a passing glance? The lassies wearing them were simply dressed differently than what you were used to seeing.

Trust me... I wasn't staring because it was different from what I was used to seeing... I was staring because I was 13 and there was a whole lot of skin showing!

[nixphotography]

Intresting story, I was eating lunch with my mother and neice. Got ready to leave(I was kilted of course) and as I was walking out the door a young boy of maybe 8 held the door for me. I said Thank you he returmed your welcome(I do live in the south you know ) I went on and got in the car. No big deal till my mother came out and got in also, she said that little boy pulled on his dads sleeve and said did you see that man he's Scottish and wearing scottish clothing. To which the dad replied personely I think he's gay, to which the boy replied no dad he's scottish. See he's wearing a kilt.

True to form I never hear those kind of comments to my face.

The mind of a child is a wonderful thing. They seem to call things like they see them.

Brett