For a somewhat lighter subject, I’d like to discuss the issue of women in pants. For some reason, pants have been cast as “liberating” for the modern woman. Exactly what pants liberate is a mystery to me, but I suppose they do have their practical uses. Pants are essential for horse-riding, mining, hunting in thick brush, fishing, and other rough jobs. Perhaps this is why they are seen as having some symbolic value in terms of gender equality; they are traditional gear for manly pursuits that have generally been off-limits to women. However, given the fact that even your typical urban man of today would hardly be inconvenienced by wearing a skirt and carrying a purse in his day-to-day activities, what purpose could the modern pair of trousers serve in the continued liberation of women? Does wearing pants prove anything anymore? I don’t think so.
My argument with pants on women is largely aesthetic. Not just on the individual level, but as far as society at large is concerned as well. Although fit young women can be quite appealing in a pair of pants, your typical pant-wearing woman – especially here in Seattle – is a slob. In public, there is no social elegance to speak of, but rather a mass of gender-undifferentiated proles, all wearing pretty much the same thing. The women may as well be stunted, wide-hipped and narrow-shouldered men stuffed into denim a few sizes too small.
Just as the American man’s principal weakness regarding the relationship between the sexes is his inattention to the social aspects of manliness, the American woman all too often neglects the sensual elements of femininity. By this I do not mean the obvious physical attributes that distinguish women, but rather the entire package — dress, bearing, tone of voice, choice of words, gait, expression and much more. A brash, loud woman – even a well-built one – stomping around in a pair of jeans, baring her teeth as she laughs (I really can’t stand how American women bare their fangs constantly — it is so far from demure) can be a real turn-off.
In the home, pants are entirely unnecessary. Sweatpants may be the worst offense. The popular image we have of the disgusting American husband sitting on an easy chair in front of the TV, hand in pants and belly sticking out from under the shirt, is more than matched by the wife parked on the sofa like a basking sea-lion in an old T-shirt, sweatpants and flip-flops.
Certainly, it is incumbent on American men to learn to behave in ways that are socially attractive to women (known to some as “Game”), but as part of the deal we should also expect a bit more from women. Women should learn to dress, behave, speak and move more like women. Part of that should include abandoning the default status of pants as female attire. If a woman wants to go herding cattle, prospecting or fly-fishing, by all means she should go to Cabela’s and purchase a sturdy pair of trousers, but what’s the point of purchasing that cheap pair of women’s pants at Eddie Bauer? Why not choose an attractive, feminine skirt?
14 responses so far ↓
1 Chuck // Aug 31, 2009 at 7:38 am
I remember my mom telling me how she wasn’t allowed to wear pants in school until she was late in high school – 1968 or 69.
It always struck me as weird because pants are the opposite of liberating. They’re confining and sometimes uncomfortable. I opt for shorts whenever I can.
You hit on an interesting thing though; pants-wearing is a *huge* lurch in the direction of masculinized women.
2 novaseeker // Aug 31, 2009 at 9:40 am
Well I think it was in part (1) we want to do what the boys do, so we want to wear pants (pants being taken as a symbol of masculine authority and power, I suppose, even though in patriarchal Rome and Greece men did not wear pants) and (2) skirts lead to the “objectification” of women by displaying more female skin (never mind that some “pants” are basically painted on the skin, it seems, revealing much less to the imagination than a tasteful skirt does). Also, it’s the “stick it in their eye” thing –> they know almost all men prefer skirts, aesthetically, on women, so let’s wear pants just to piss them off.
Now, of course, some pants are just very comfortable. I can imagine a woman hanging around the house in sweats or what have you, just as a guy would do. No issues there, really. But aesthetically for out of the house clothing, I think almost all men prefer skirts.
3 Justin // Aug 31, 2009 at 10:25 am
I find it odd how the girls go ape over “jeans days” at work. Most girls are in casual attire to begin with anyway, not even so-called business casual. As usual, large double standards are at work, at work.
4 whiskey // Aug 31, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Women spend a LOT of money on jeans that are cut tight and very revealing. Seven For All Mankind and other expensive jeans can sell for as much as $500!!
What they do is help shape the figure, conceal cellulite (most women over 20 have it) and make a woman’s figure more attractive. Nobody had to sell the low tummy cut jeans with belly shirts to women … they knew it showed themselves off better. Jeans / pants also obviate the need for constant shaving, hosiery, and so on. Even in an office there’s kneeling down to fix a printer or what have you, so they are practical.
Women will generally wear a dress when they have “I feel fat” days, or want to really snazz things up, or what have you. I can’t blame em for pants, they are practical.
MY biggest beef is guys in shorts and sandals. Appropriate at the beach, NOT IMHO around town and certainly not on a workday. Most guys don’t know how to dress.
But bottom line, if you are a hot chick you’ll look hotter in a pair of expensive, tight-fitting jeans than the most revealing dress. Which is why most Hollywood actresses who are young and have it, flaunt it in jeans.
5 novaseeker // Sep 1, 2009 at 5:37 am
MY biggest beef is guys in shorts and sandals. Appropriate at the beach, NOT IMHO around town and certainly not on a workday. Most guys don’t know how to dress.
Lol, shorts and sandals are like my uniform when I am not working (at least in the summer). It’s too bloody hot and humid in DC to wear pants in the summer other than for special events and work (air conditioning on so high that most women wear sweaters).
6 John R // Sep 1, 2009 at 6:01 am
I remember that my grandmother was proud that she never wore pants
7 Alkibiades // Sep 3, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Ha ha, I once commented to my LTR that all the 20 something men and women in Seattle look alike. Same glasses, haircut, shirts, pants, and shoes. Being from Seattle, she didn’t find it amusing.
8 al // Sep 3, 2009 at 8:21 pm
What is with the dislike for teeth?
I actually think most women think that men don’t prefer skirts, unless it’s a mini. Jeans are so ubiquitous and beloved.
9 Welmer // Sep 3, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Al, what’s your reaction when a dog shows you all its teeth?
There’s a little bit of that in the American female’s smile.
10 al // Sep 3, 2009 at 8:48 pm
dogs show teeth when playing/smiling also, though it looks very different. Perhaps I’m not looking at quality of teeth baring.
Generally, I associate not showing with teeth while smiling with one of two things: a. bad teeth (aka embarrassment) or b. lack of genuineness/friendliness.
This is apparently different than others’ reactions. I’m not condemning, I just don’t get it.
11 Warren O'Leary // Oct 27, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Females ” addiction to cross-dressing ” is as perverse as if males took to wearing traditional females clothes and defended their new ” liberation ” as wanting to look really dressed up ! This liberalism in the ” false name of gender equality ” is unnatural; therefore anti-God. What statement are females making ? That they are displeased with their part in the human race ; they need more more self-estem than then looking like little boys while in drag.
12 David // Jan 6, 2010 at 11:46 am
Just as there are pants designed for both men AND women, we have also have skirts/kilts designed for BOTH genders. This is NOT crossdressing, and to say otherwise is a LIE! Crossdressing is defined as WOMEN wearing MEN’S pants, or MEN wearing WOMEN’S skirts.
13 fred // Jan 24, 2010 at 3:45 pm
men wear the pants…women wear the skirts/dresses…get a clue…the more distinction between the sexes (e.g. clothes, hair, voice, smell!, etc) the better
14 Warren O'Leary // Apr 18, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Females without any ” real ” reason to wear menswear named pants, especially blue jeans, is cross-dreessingor transvestism by females. what is good for the ” gander ” is good for the ” goose “; now that is gender equality !
Leave a Comment