Ever wonder about this: Whyis a woman in a suit a business person, but a man in a dress is a transvestite?
ZORRO asked:
Does that strike you as being out of place? Why do women wear suits, is it because they want to be equal with men? Imagine if a man wore a dress to work, the looks he would get, yet a woman gets none.
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because dresses are feminine, and womens suits are feminine as well, why would men want to dress like a woman? Jesi
It’s not often you see a man in a woman’s business suit. I think that is the correct comparison; a man might wear any kind of dress, but you’re specific about a woman in a business suit. What about women in other masculine/male clothes? Babs
Ha! You’ve got a point. Of course when women first started wearing pants in public, or a business pants suit, it was controversial, and some truly mean things were said. But our culture got used to in pretty quickly. Men in skirts, maybe not so quickly, no good reason. It probably goes back to ancient times when it was thought by most everyone that men were superior to women. So when a woman first dressed like a man, she was just trying to assert her own strength. But when a man dresses like a woman, he is denying the old “truth” about the superiority of men. michael941260
Dresses are impractical for some kinds of work. At my job, I wear a uniform, because a dress would be very impractical.
Men look at women in dresses in a certain light. Women wear suits so men will take them seriously. I think that men pay less attention to the fact that they are working with a woman, when the woman wears a suit. Instead of looking at her breasts, they are listening to what she says. If a man wore a dress to work, then good for him. He probably shouldn’t, though, because it’s impractical for most jobs.
Hope this helps! rita_alabama
Too funny, no shit… I was a big person in the financial industry couple years ago.. I was out and also dressed professionally and Sometimes whore a funky tie. If a guy tried to pull that off he would be humiliated. That just a macho thing…. I could care less if they were comfortable . mylife
Women’s business suits are more fitted for a feminine body type than a woman’s dress on a man.
However, men wearing dresses (orskirts, kilts, whatever) isn’t so uncommon if you look at period clothes. Look at the way men’s clothing chnged over time to accomidate hose, then short pants and finally what we recognize today as ‘male’ attire. On the other hand, if you look at woman’s clothing, it doesn’t change form until about the 1920s, when skirts began to get shorter.
I think people just aren’t used to seeing men wear ‘women’s clothing. Partially because of what michael941260 said about gender roles (they’ve become ingrained in our society) but also because it seems to be a more drastic change. kxaltli
You’re right, Dearheart, I just never thought of it that way. I’ve never really liked business suits on women. It makes them look too “mannish” (although I’ll get slammed for that comments…sigh). No, I have no problem with women wearing pants…I wear jeans and culottes as often as possible; but if I can wear pants why can’t men wear skirts and dresses? A lot of them would look better in them than I do…..and in the Middle East the men seem to have that long dhoti (erk..spelling?) that looks rather comfortable. And what about those regimental Scots boys and their lovely kilts? No one’s telling them they’re wearing a dress — at least not to their faces. I figure everyone should wear what they’re most comfortable in for the situation at hand. riverotter7
Interesting – Ellen Degeres always seems to be in slacks and jacket – is she a transvestite? Tab H
Women wear suits because they like the style, it has nothing to do with men. If a man wears a dress then he somehow wants to look like a woman, unless it’s like a kilt or something like that, which is different. Also when women started wearing more “boyish” clothes, like pants, there was a backlash from some people. WaterGoddess
Some men in different cultures, do wear garments that we westerners may consider as dresses. Some wear pants underneath, or shorts.
And they are not gay.
However, there are some people who also are not necessarily gay, but do wear womens clothing, these are called trangendered. Some are & some are not.
Women’s professional attire may seem like a mens’ suit, while at the same time are totally not like a men’s suit to the woman wearing it. Maybe you might like to try one on when no-one is looking?
Not all things are what you might presume they are. Especially when you refuse to look at them from a different point of view.
If you’re gonna go through your life without learning to appreciate the finer facts of what makes the human race so special, you might like to do a little more research before posting such a question in the future. Because some people can be offended. somber_pieces
Some would say it’s reverse sexism… that a man doesn’t have the same opportunity as a woman to wear whatever he wants.
Others would say that it’s regular sexism… that men limit themselves (as opposed to women limiting them) from wearing dresses.
My opinion is that it is purely cultural. Men wear skirts all the time in the native African tribes. The Scottish kilt is very popular in Scotland and elsewhere. Only a few decades ago, it was thought unmanly to wear pink shirts, but that taboo isn’t around anymore.
As for women wearing pants… that started becoming popular in the 1930s/1940s, well before the feminist movement of the 1960s.
I respectfully disagree with the folks who say women who wear pants want to be men. That’s just a ridiculous statement. Just about every girl and woman on the planet wears pants, and they do so because the garment is more comfortable in most situations. bikerchickjill
Well, try telling that to the Scots… cadence_lost
The reason is because we live in a patriarchy. The traits that our society ascribed to men as “masculine” are all the desirable traits. As such, women who have traits of both genders are more successful than other women, whereas men who take on traits of both genders are less or equal to their peers. (By “traits”, I refer to personality traits etc; “aggression” is usually considered “male” in our society for example). In short, everyone figures “yep…why wouldn’t a women want to be ‘masculine?”. Not to get too gay on you, but it really is like “What it feels like for a girl” by Madonna. Atropis
A woman that wears a business suit is still a transvestite. It doesn’t matter what society calls it or that society is biased against men. I blame the feminazi movement for this nonsense. Have you read the Bible? Have you seen in there what it calls a woman that dresses like a man? It says they are an abomination! God hates abominations. Women should look like women and stop being gender benders. It’s a SIN! fuff2005
becasue the woman has to try and prove to everyone she is just as good as a guy crazzykid