Posted on 05/23/2014 3:51:16 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Schoolboys in France stirred up gender norms when they eschewed pants last week. But men in skirts shouldn’t be a provocative sight…it should be a choice as normal as women in pants.
Last Friday, male students and teachers in Nantes, France launched a campaign to fight the sexism that is plaguing societies across the world through their clothing. The 'Ce que soulève la jupe' (or ‘Lift the Skirt’) movement encouraged boys across 27 of the northwest city’s schools to sport skirts to class instead of trousers.
“We noticed that in a lot of high schools in our region, there are lots of cases of sexism and discrimination, so we thought we should do something to change that, and so we came up with the idea,” the campaign’s organizer, Arthur Moinet, told EuroNews.
Conservative citizens, however, called the skirt-wearing boys “scandalous.” Olivier Vial, president of the conservative UNI party spoke out, saying, “We’ll do any old nonsense in the name of equality…This move is inspired by the Day of the Skirt, whose original aim was to allow women to express their femininity in environments where it was often difficult. But this is just denying feminine and masculine identity.”
While Moinet—and the boys who participated—should be applauded for their efforts to show solidarity and raise awareness for the discrimination faced by women, the response uncovered another form of social discrimination—the intolerance of men wearing skirts—and short shorts, for that matter. Over a century ago, women pushed gender boundaries by wearing their male peers' pants (gasp!). But today, no one bats an eye as we freely strut around in androgynous clothing—something that is now a staple of the female wardrobe. So why is it so unusual—and readily criticized--for the reverse to occur; for men to embrace womenswear?(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Sure and free tampons for all.
I'm very thankful that in this little part of still-red rural Virginia I never have to worry about being confronted with such appalling sights.
I think I have some Scottish ancestry but I don’t think I would feel right in a kilt either.
In France, it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that the “boys” donned lacy lingerie to complete the ensemble.
This IS France, after all.
...a campaign to fight the sexism that is plaguing societies across the world through their clothing....
***
Oh, such bravery! I am betting that the many mohammedans living in France stopped beating their wives for a whole day because of this brave protest.
If this doesn’t work, perhaps they can wage a hashtag assault on the men who are mean to women.
Common sense should not be optional!
What if they called them kilts?
Kilts, according to Robert Heinlein, are more practical than pants. It’s easier to conceal weapons in kilts.
The Celts have had ‘em for a long time; they call them kilts.
What do girls need school for, anyway? Their mothers should teach them how to cook, clean and feed the kids. Their husband should teach them how to please him. < /Islam >
If I remember correctly, pants were invented to protect the legs during horseback riding.
Back in the days I was in highschool, there was a ban on shorts, but the superintendent’s daughter always wore short skirts on hot days,
so the guys in the class below me, in protest to the hypocrisy, wore skirts. One day. They got the ban on shorts lifted.
Probably. I think people wore tunics before pants, or before breeches and codpieces.
My very thoughts.
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