Fashion Emancipation: The Mantyhose

ok, I just cannot handle this...l.ol

Explain, Netty...

Too bad Netty did not want to explain why she LOLs at the idea of men wearing sheer hose or tights. Is it because it's completely outside the range of experience or expectations? Sometimes people will instinctively laugh when they see something that defies their ability to process it quickly, or classify it. A guy wearing pantyhose could certainly fall into that category, as the majority of people on the street have never seen a guy walking down the street wearing pantyhose. That's NOT because there's not a fair number of them on any given street, at any given time. Believe me, there are a number of discussion groups out there (i.e., Legwear As Unisex Fashion on Dephi, for one) that demonstrate that there are a LOT more guys wearing hose these days than most would guess.

The reason most people have never seen it is because most guys who are wearing pantyhose or tights only wear them under long pants. But, if you could take an instant poll of a large group of guys (with complete truthfulness), you would probably get about 5% that either ARE wearing hose right then, or have worn them at some time. But, more and more guys, like myself, are convinced that their masculinity is not diminished by wearing nylon legwear of some sort.

If you can step back and take a completely objective look at a hypothetical guy wearing hose with shorts, it doesn't cause him to look feminine if the overall outfit is masculine. In other words, if he's wearing some cargo shorts and a polo shirt--along with some suntan hose--do the hose somehow transform the otherwise masculine look into a feminine one? I don't think it does.

You might say the lack of leg hair makes the look feminine. But, first stop and think: Leg hair on men is slowly becoming somewhat unfashionable. Look at most catalogs or advertising out there right now. Either the guys have no leg hair, or it's pretty light. You won't see too many ads showing a guy in shorts with really hairy legs anymore. So, if that's so then the smooth appearance of sheer pantyhose won't turn the image into a feminized one.

What about colored hose/tights? I would submit that they don't feminize the look, either--depending on the color. Think about many of the athletes and what they wear. You see a lot of male athletes wearing tights on their legs already. Doesn't make them look feminine does it? So, why would wearing them outside of an athletic setting? Can you think of any other athletic wear that people frequently wear outside of an athletic setting? (e.g., football jerseys, basketball shorts or sneakers, warm-up suits, etc., etc.)

The one thing that one might make a case for could be certain colors of tights or hose making the outfit look 'feminine'. For instance, a guy wearing pink tights would be an obvious example of it taking on a feminine appearance. Of course, maybe some might even take issue with me on this, too. I mean, we guys wear pink shirts these days, right? (I don't because the color does not look good on me and I don't care for it). Also, I tend to think white or other pale colors might look a bit feminine on a guy.

But then again, check out LaBron James or some of the other NBA players who started wearing tights under their uniform shorts back in 2006. (See my post of the Columbus Dispatch article: Men In Tights... the graphic shows an NBA player in white tights).

So, getting back to Netty's comment, what really causes some to 'LOL' at the imagined sight of a guy wearing pantyhose? I think that's going to become a much more obscure question as the idea spreads. Not every guy will be wearing them, by a long shot. But as they become more commonplace in the public arena, it will become about as funny to see it is to see a guy wearing earrings. I've been around long enough to remember when people whispered things about a guy who wore an earring (let's see was it the right ear or the left ear that means something?...), and the days when it would be common for a guy to wear them in BOTH ears was a long way off. Now, it seems kind of silly to wonder about the masculinity of some of the hulksters I've seen wearing earrings.