"Ordinary" Guys Challenging Gender Stereotypes
The Man-icures thread and another thread about not fitting into either the male or female category got me to thinking about this. I live at the buckle of the Bible belt, and I see it frequently. I'm not talking about (apparent) cd's, or even (apparent) gays. Just ordinary guys who have said, "To hell with convention, this is what I like!" Obviously, I could be seeing one of "us" in drab, but that's not the immediate impression. Most of us carry some angst about leaking the gender markers in our ordinary lives, yet some guys are able to do it without concern. Perhaps we could learn something from them.
A few examples:
I really won't count the Emo/Goth kids. They're not ordinary, although I do give them credit for finding a way to make femininity seem oddly masculine. I did see one otherwise ordinary looking and acting teen boy, out with a group of friends, who had long hot pink fingernails (appeared to be acrylics).
A friend of a coworker stopped by for a visit at work. I sort of know him, but I'd only seen him in his ratty work clothes. This day he was wearing mid-thigh length shorts, had tanned hairless legs, a gold ankle bracelet, and clear polish on his toes. He is a manly guy, other than this. Married, full beard, rough talking, about 60 years old.
I was in the waiting area at the beauty school fully enfemme when a guy came in. One of those guys who I thought would probably like to whip my ass for dressing like a girl. Messy longish hair, beard, dressed kind of like a lumberjack. I caught a glimpse of him later when I went to the restroom and he was sitting under the dryer with his hair in big curlers. I made another trip to the restroom later, mostly just to make sure I hadn't been mistaken, and the stylist was just beginning to take out his rollers.
Also at the beauty school I saw a late teens or early 20's black male with his hair in curlers. His girlfriend or maybe his sister was standing at the chair with him. He got some kind of a chemical treatment. When they took his hair down he had these gorgeous smooth shiny spiral curls down below his shoulders.
I used to see a couple at Sam's who looked like that Quaker couple in the photo. You know, the stoic old man in overalls with the pitchfork and his equally stoic wife, probably 80+ years old. Except this guy had hair nearly to his waist, always in a ponytail and in a single spiral curl. Hope I can do that when I'm his age.
I've seen too many men with colored polish on their toes to count, but this one couple stands out. I saw them standing in line at WalMart. She was very plain. Hair in a bun, long dress, no makeup or earrings, no nailpolish. He was also very plain looking except he had fairly long nails, and on both his fingers and toes he wore red and blue alternating polish.
I was at a fast food restraunt several years ago and saw a late 20's guy whith his wife and kids. He was wearing a mechanic's uniform an looked like he'd just come from work. He was wearing a cap, but I could see that his hair was in a french braid. When they were leaving, he picked up one of the kids and knocked his cap off revealing a very pretty french braid!
I've seen 3 or 4 guys doing the "men's skirts" thing. More power to them, too!
Anyone else?
Hurrah for the New Cavaliers
The thing is, this stuff would've been par for the course as little as three hundred years ago. In those days, men wore wigs and makeup, and dressed in silk and satin. They were peacocks! I blame the Puritans for causing those styles to go out of fashion.
Bad, bad Puritans... :evilbegon
;)
Consider yourself LUCKY, Rhonda Jean!
Living in an area WITH individuals!:)
Here in SoCal, EVERYONE looks alike!:sad:
They ALL wear the same thing! Males and females! Jeans or shorts, T shirt, and flaps! All year around, the SAME THING!:eek:
Some r fatter than others. Some have MORE tats than others. Some have more piercings than others. Some r older. IT'S SO BORING HERE because everyone LOOKS THE SAME!:brolleyes:
You're SO LUCKY living there!:thumbsup:
