I'll throw in my definition here, just to get things started. Hopefully others will reply to this thread. No. I'm not trying to start a debate here, but rather I just want to bring out the richness of diversity that I believe exists in this community. (Even though I've been a member here less than a week,I've been watching this site off-and-on for several months so I'm rather familiar with it).
The following is a quote from my auto-bio in the section titled "clothing preferences": "Lingerie is a French word meaning underwear, independent of gender assignment. However my definition of that term also includes sleepwear.
Just so that you know, my gender assignment to all clothing regardless of fabric or color or style or how it is advertised or displayed for sale, is based on the following:
1) I call all clothing gender neutral, until it is actually being worn by someone.
2) I call all clothing gender specific (men's clothing or women's clothing) only while it
is actually being worn by a specific man or woman. As an example, if a guy wears a
dress (some men occasionally do), then I call it a guy's dress. And if a woman would
wear the exact same dress, then I'd call it a woman's dress.
3) What the advertisers / sellers say about their clothing is merely an opinion, as opposed to fact. Their opinion(s) of course they have a right to express." End
quote.
