liberation

I don't really get it.
In the 60's women were protesting about the fact they weren't treated equally to men and started to wear mens clothes (pants/trousers, shirts etc). So in general women were becoming more masculine.
But how come men didn't become more feminine e.g. womens clothes, makeup e.t.c.
Yeah men could start washing up and cleaning and growing their hair long but why not as far as the women took becoming masculine?
any one have any ideas?
I know that kiss and T-Rex wore makeup but they didn't influence that many people.
I think that men should start doing these things.
I get called a girl non-stop cos of my hair.

 

you forget about the hair bands.

 

Women have become more masculine but not so extreme yet same with guys have become more feminine but not as far that we are seeing to much make up.Thats part of the reason women can where mens clothing but men can not where womens clothing with out being frowned upon by some others i think some of the other guys still just cant accept that you as a guy are wereing make up.It will either be balanced and we will have many men and women either masculine or feminine at about the same rate or it will just be a role reversal where men typically are more feminine and women are more masculine is my guess for the future either way it is still possibble what you say could happen still.

 

i just wouldn't worry about it much. most men don't dress feminine because, typically, female clothes can't really be adapted attractively to the male form.

 

It seems that in our society (and most societies, I think) women's attributes are regarded as insulting when applied to men, so no man would willingly accept them. On the other hand, men's attributes carry value, and once it became established that women could take on some of them, there was no stopping women from enjoying the freedom.

Part of it is just the idea that any kind of innovation in appearance is automatically female. Anything new is bound to be taken up by women, and far less likely for men, even if it's not really gender linked at all to begin with.

Ever noticed that the number and variety of first names is much wider for girls than for boys? And if there's a name that a girl or a boy might have, over time it becomes exclusively a girls' name.

We seem to like seeing women being glamorous in every area of appearance and manner, while men are kept in uniforms. I wonder why that is. Can it be that we're afraid of male strength and energy, and we believe it has to be held back in socially approved ways?

 

You've never seen a mini-skirt and tube-top on an old Troll .....

 

I think men dress way more feminine these days. Have you heard of metro sexuals?

 

i dressed my older brother as a french maid for halloween one year. he looked better than i woulda. so i don't dress sexy for halloween anymore.

 

and let's not forget the dandies.

 

Yeah- see.

And that harks us back to the 19th century, at least!

I basically think the so-called 60s cultural revolution is mythological bullshit, and never really happened.

Revolutions can't be cultural, anyway. They are always material.

 

Let's not forget the dandies, but let's not forget how long ago they were. What have men been doing since then?

Well, there was Carnaby Street. And the hippies (yay hippies) could be pretty startling. But those things were a while ago.

In the immortal words of Rado and Ragni:

I would just like to say
That it is my opinion
That longer hair
And other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more
Than the man's emergence
From his drab camouflage
Into the gaudy plumage that is
The birthright of his sex!

There is a peculiar notion
That elegant plumage
And fine feathers
Are not proper for the male.

When Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaactually
That is the way things are
In most species.



So there.

 

Why don't you start doing these things then?
Personally, I'm quite contented with not having to put on make up and paint my nails. And what's this about men washing up? Are you implying that all of us are lacking in personal hygiene?

And as for my hair, I started losing it when I turned twenty-one so I don't see the point in letting what little is left grow long when it's just a matter of time when it will be all gone.

 

it's all just fashion, man. i think more men don't dress more feminine because we have openly gay men who like to be very feminine and straight men frequently don't want to give out the "wrong" signals, which is to say, dressing nicely is one thing, but dressing "feminine" might attract the wrong people.

 

I don't see how you can equate women being "liberated" with becoming more "masculine".

Masculine and feminine come from your attitude, not from the color of your underwear or whatever.

To me, what makes a "real" man is that he feels confident with himself, respects others (including women), and leads a responsible life. It has very little to do with the way he dresses.

 

Uh...all those guys have 4-inch dicks.

TRUST ME- I'm a closet gay locker room observer.

 

If that's your attitude, then sorry ... no, I don't trust you.

 

Maybe it's not a matter of feminine/masculine but much more a matter of what's confortable and what's not.

 

I agree 100%.

And, Cherea, all revolutions are cultural. Culture is the totality of what is learned in a society, so a revolution, to be called a revolution, must be cultural. Were the 60's a revolution? I think so, but it might be argued that the cultural change was no widespread enought to be called a revolution.

 

The reason it wasn't widespread is because it did not change man's relationship to the means of production. :biggrin:

Can you tell that I have a materialist bias?