More questions for cis guys: why *don't* you wear skirts? They're super practical garments (in some contexts anyway) very comfortable and work really well in the summertime. Like, I know why I don't... I've got so many old fears about being seen as the sissy or the tranny (fuck it: I've been called those slurs enough, I get to use them if I want), and feel like I've taken quite enough beatings for one lifetime already. I kind of assumed that was cis dudes worry too... But is that actually true?
@danielle as a cis woman, my guess that isn't about gender expectations is chafing
@DialMforMara Not sure if I'm reading you right... Just to check: you're suggesting that the gendered "boys don't wear skirts" rule doesn't chafe so much for actual cisgender guys (whereas it's something that bugged me for years before I came out to myself), so it doesn't really seem like a thing worth bothering to push back against? Is that what you're saying? Seems reasonable.
@danielle No. I'm saying that if I, as a cis woman, have trouble with my thighs rubbing together and feeling uncomfortable when I wear a skirt on a hot day, I can only imagine how much more chafing happens when you have twice as many moving parts in that area. Or at least that that's the worry, given what a running joke chafing was among the boys in my high school marching band (and as a possible cause, the ones who had this problem tended to wear baggy shorts).
@DialMforMara Ha! Awesome.
I could imagine that would be a problem for a lot of guys. I have tiny legs, so that never occurred to me. Literal chafing only happens in those situations where I feel socially obligated to tuck for the sake of politeness.
Somehow I'm embarrassed not to have thought of that possibility.
@danielle So it's not the rule that chafes. It's the actual skin. Is my theory. But other than that, I just suspect gender expectations.