Reine: I asked my SO why men would notice me more when I had bare legs. He said it was because I was wearing a skirt, which in their imagination signaled accessibility.
Whoa, really! That one sure touched a nerve! Do we, collectively, actually believe men in general think like that? That a women in a skirt or a dress are worth looking at because she is accessible? I assume that is supposed to mean that a man can easily get a quick little "roll in the hay" because it is faster to just pull up a skirt than having to negotiate a jeans zipper, and that the woman by wearing a skirt or a dress is signaling that she is available for that!
That is terrible!

I sure don't think like that, and having been part of my fair share of "locker room banter", where supposedly anything goes, I have _never_ heard another male say or suggest that to be the case.

I have to also ask, Reine, did that new knowledge make you not wear skirts or dresses in public again? Or are you ok with that just being a thing about men, so keep a safe distance and don't turn your back to any of them?


And a comment on this one:
Reine: But I've noticed that many CDers dress as if they WANT to be looked at appreciatively by guys and this has always puzzled me, since they profess to be hetero.
I will be the first to admit that this is difficult to get your head around, and I think it is the cause of a lot of misunderstanding about CD'ers motives for their choice of dress.
Convention would definitely suggest that since a woman may dress sexy to attract a male mate, the reason a male CD'er dress as a sexy female would also be to attract a male mate. Of course, there is some percentage of CD'ers where this is in fact the case, those would be gay or bisexual CD'ers. However, there are also a lot of us, me included, who have no interest in attracting a male. So why do we emulate a sexy female then? Good question and I don't have a great answer, other than it is to be seen as a good looking sexy female, but not for the purpose of attracting a male.

I suspect a lot of females dressing up for a girls night out, also dress up to look their best, but not for the purpose of attracting a male suitor! They may be already in a relationship but not really having any desire to cover up or hide themselves. They dress up because they like to look good, which happens to also be attractive to a male on the prowl. Unfortunate side effect, and the cause of many dismissals.
I believe many CD'ers are in the same category. We like to be admired for our looks, but the desire is really for anybody to think we look good, cute, pretty, not specifically men. The fact that it might get a man excited is an unfortunate side effect, which for at least some of us, would rather be avoided.
In fact, many uncommitted CD'ers have the somewhat hopeless dream of being attractive to a female in the crowd.