This post is inspired by SuggestiveTongue’s Entry.

Men in skirts and dresses
As I said in my comments there, I never understood why it is that girls can wear skirts or pants and yet it’s only socially acceptable for a guy to wear pants. That is with the few exceptions like a kilt or a guy in a dress as a joke.
Lets dial it back to the kilt for a minute. Lets be honest. A kilt is a skirt. Manly Scottish guys have worn them for centuries. The ancient Roman empire also had guys running around in what were essentially skirts as well. Including the soldiers in the Roman army. Both the Greeks and the Romans wore togas which were basically dresses.

Yet somewhere down the line it became inappropriate for guys to wear anything resembling a skirt or dress. Now I can kinda understand the gender association with a guy wearing a dress or a skirt made for a female. But the examples I posted above clearly show throughout history we have had such garments that were tailored for men. So why don’t we today?

I mean shit, it’s not like they are impractical? These guys throughout history used to work the fields and go to war and celebrate in this garb. The fact that women today, half our population can seem to get along in daily life just fine in a dress or skirt also shows their practicality.

So there really is no excuse. But lets move on to other gender expectations.

Make-up
Here is yet another modern day societal norm. Women can wear make-up in public (or not) and be accepted. Men who wear makeup in public usually get crass remarks said about them by other people to other people. Or even comic and scornful remarks said to their face. Unless that is, the make-up they are wearing is not obvious and no one can tell.

It seems a tad unfair if you ask me. It is socially acceptable for a woman to wear make-up to bring out her eyes, her cheeks and her lips, yet men are expected to go plain and natural.

Maybe we should ask ourselves why women wear makeup? Is it perhaps because it makes them look better and brings out their features (as stated above)? Could this possibly have anything to do with attracting a mate? I think yes. Even if such a thing is not blatantly stated, the purpose of wearing makeup is to make oneself more attractive and appealing. Whether that be to attract a mate or not. Yet in today’s society men and women are equal. Women today are not just bystanders hoping to catch the eye of a good suitor. Women today have careers and are independent. They are just as likely to be the suitor to a man as any man is to a woman. So if a man is trying to attract a female suitor or just look attractive in general, should he not also have the same tools that a woman has to be able to accomplish this?

This doesn’t mean that a man needs to wear makeup in the same way that a woman does, just as a man wouldn’t need to a wear a dress that is designed for a woman. Instead men would wear makeup in a fashion that highlights a mans features. Once again I source history as an example of men wearing makeup. Be it tribal makeup, war paint, or eyeliner like ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian men. The truth is, history shows us that guys have been wearing makeup as long as 12,000 years ago. Yet in our modern society we don’t accept this. This is not slavery, this is a harmless decorative act which we openly accept for women and should openly accept for men as well.

Why let women have all the fun in a supposedly equal society?