Gender Free Clothes

izzyregan

After reading the article about gender free uniforms in a school in Wicklow

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/primary-school-to-introduce-gender-neutral-school-uniform-policy-1.3931242

I was wondering what are peoples opinions on gender free clothes? I know its a bit of a tricky topic to navigate , I think its a bit biased at times. Women can pretty much wear everything. But as soon a man want s to wear a dress or skirt it is frowned upon.

baby and crumble

Honestly this entire debate gets on my wick.

Clothes don't have a gender.

High heels? Designed for men.

Skirts? Hell of a lot of history of men (including soldiers etc) wearing skirts. I mean just look at the kilt.

Pink for girls and blue for boys? Nah.

Even going back to the 1980's, men wore makeup, skirts, frills... it's nothing new.

People are talking about gender neutral clothing like it's the end of the world.

"The boys wearing skirts will get bullied" - well, how about you teach your children not to bully other kids who wear a particular kind of fabric?

All gender neutral dress codes mean is that if a kid decides they want to wear a particular item of clothing then they can. Nobody is forcing a boy to wear a skirt.

the real reason adults are panicking about this is because they're scared of raising gay kids, I'd bet that is 1000-1 what the issue is. It's nonsensical.

2xj3hplqgsbkym

It’s a gimmick really , most primary schools I see around have tracksuits- same for boys and girls.

dudara

I went to a secondary school over 20 years where girls could wear pants. It was a bit too wet and cold for either sex to be wearing a skirt.

Day Lewin

Still an' all, if somebody wants to attract the attention of the opposite sex, they will dress intentionally.

What you wear when going out with someone you fancy, is different than what you wear in the office.

It may be a culturally defined thing, and therefore fluid across time and space, but it still definitely exists at any one time.

I mean, Marks and Spencer don't just randomly throw half of the clothes in "Men's" and half in "Women's"

Still less do they mix them all together under a generic "People's" - although with sports clothing, they actually could.

And WILD HORSES could not induce me to wear a collar round the throat, with an extra ligature, and horrible sweaty scratchy trousers, and cuffs with buttons. All in the drabbest colours possible. Brrr. Poor men!

Airyfairy12

In secondary school we wearnt allowed to wear pants, we were freezing. Its about time they brought in gender neutral uniforms.

Mean Laqueefa

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

In secondary school we wearnt allowed to wear pants, we were freezing. Its about time they brought in gender neutral uniforms.

Is that not just weather appropriate uniforms ?, society has gone to the dogs

Airyfairy12

Mean Laqueefa wrote: »

Is that not just weather appropriate uniforms ?, society has gone to the dogs

I dont see why boys cant wear skirts if they want to. I remember the frustration of having to wear a skirt, not just because of the weather but it annoyed me that because we were girls, we had to wear skirts, we had no choice. Id imagine the same is for boys who want to wear skirts. Sure theyre just clothes, whats the big deal?

baby and crumble

Day Lewin wrote: »

Still an' all, if somebody wants to attract the attention of the opposite sex, they will dress intentionally.

What you wear when going out with someone you fancy, is different than what you wear in the office.

But everything you're saying there is relevant to adults, not children, not primary school children for whom this particular dress code issue is relevant to.

You're also assuming everyone dresses to impress the opposite sex. I don't. How should my wife dress, seeing as she's bisexual and married to a woman?

And there's a huge subset of people who are attracted to people who dress androgynous or in clothes more typically associated with a sex that isn't theirs.

Look at how sexy Prince was viewed as by a lot of women. Likewise David Bowie.

Day Lewin wrote: »

It may be a culturally defined thing, and therefore fluid across time and space, but it still definitely exists at any one time.

My point is exactly that. Why do we now have to stick within the confines of what the definition has been for the last few years?

Day Lewin wrote: »

I mean, Marks and Spencer don't just randomly throw half of the clothes in "Men's" and half in "Women's"

Still less do they mix them all together under a generic "People's" - although with sports clothing, they actually could.

They could with literally everything. It's all just fabric sewn in a different way.

Day Lewin wrote: »

And WILD HORSES could not induce me to wear a collar round the throat, with an extra ligature, and horrible sweaty scratchy trousers, and cuffs with buttons. All in the drabbest colours possible. Brrr. Poor men!

I am female and dress exclusively from the 'mens section'. Today I'm wearing bright blue dress pants, a pink and navy floral shirt made out of extremely comfortable soft cotton and my blazer is a blue linen and silk mix which feels practically like a hoody. The most comfortable thing I own is my tuxedo. If you're being strangled by a tie you're wearing the wrong size shirt - when I wear a tie i feel nothing because I buy clothes that fit me properly, which a lot of guys fail to grasp. Cheap mens clothes - which a lot of men who don't care about style or fashion wear - are poor quality sure. But a lot of cheap womens clothes are the same. It's about fabric and construction. Nothing to do with gender.

Are you honestly telling me the €5 polyester trousers from the womens section is markedly more comfortable in fabric and construction than the same from the mens? Or that womens shirts don't have buttons??

meeeeh

There is a difference between people wearing clothing that is traditionally worn by the other gender and clothing that is gender neutral. In first case it's easy to assume that because of the difference in shape some adjustments will be needed. Gender neutral collections are already sold in shops or at least they were all the rage couple of years ago.

As for kids uniforms just let them wear whatever or if there have to be uniforms trousers should be allowed for both genders at a minimum from practical point of view. But for me as long as it's on the school list of items both genders should be allowed to wear them.

GingerLily

I like the idea genderless clothes but most items I would think would have to be actually talyored to fit classical mascline / feminine body types for adults. Obviously less of an issue for younger kids.

I find the uproar about common uniform rules so strange, if you don't want to wear pants - don't wear a skirt and visa versa!

baby and crumble

meeeeh wrote: »

There is a difference between people wearing clothing that is traditionally worn by the other gender and clothing that is gender neutral. In first case it's easy to assume that because of the difference in shape some adjustments will be needed. Gender neutral collections are already sold in shops or at least they were all the rage couple of years ago.

I agree - I suppose the mad thing to me (and i understand I have a personal interest in the topic) is that there are people who will not buy a 'womans' t-shirt just because it's in the womans section, even if it might fit them better, or has a design they prefer, and vice-versa. Like, whatever about skirts or ties being associated with one gender, there are items that are literally no different yet still they're put in 'mens' sections and 'womens' sections. It makes ZERO sense to me.