Was a most interesting yet perplexing day, I went to the noon session of skating, wearing one of my skate dresses. Ladies seem to enjoy the freedom of wearing a dress or pants without any odd looks, I didn’t really get any odd looks, just the typical avoidance. I said my usual good mornings and hi’s. The frigid straight ahead looks and un-emotional responses from some is nothing new, I wasn’t expected anything more or less, just being polite.
I stretched out for a while, something I need to work on more, as I’ve pulled my calf, thigh, and back muscles so far. A good stretch I’ve found is essential to do beforehand to avoid this. Public session opened up and I started skating my warmup laps, and out of the blue a lady starts chatting with me. I don’t have a photographic memory, so I will just highlight the points I remember.
One comment was that nobody really talked to me, after all, I was a guy in a dress, and most assuredly I must be some kind of weirdo. I tried to explain to her that my clothing was just that, clothing, while not normal for a man to wear, it was something that I liked.. I tried to explain that men have a pathetic choice when it comes to clothing, a book of one-thousand pages of skate wear would have nine-hundred and ninety-eight pages of skate dresses, one page of mens wear, and one page for ordering. To this she agreed that ladies have much more choices in that area, but she insisted that I could at least wear skate pants. As I mentioned I hated skating in jeans for there lack of freedom. I jokingly replied that I’ve been told I have great legs, and why not show them? But alas pants are what I should be wearing, and not tights, even though men used to wear tights/leggings when skating in the past.
I commented on my fascination of the skirt, while one may wear pants and a shirt, there’s really nothing to it, and of course for my taste, most bland. The skirt on the other hand is something most interesting, technically it serves no purpose, I don’t care for their excuse that it is for modesty. If they wanted modesty, they’d make everyone wear unitards, or shirts and pants. But, given all the variations of skirts out there, it adds a most interesting element to an outfit. I myself am amazed out how such a simple piece of fabric effects the whole look of something.
Another comment was that some people are born with physical attributes, and as such have no control in how they are perceived by others, while my clothing choice is something that can be chosen. I won’t argue with that, and I will admit that there are some people I see with physical attributes that make them stand out from the “norm” But I feel she was saying they had no choice in the matter, while I on the other hand do have a choice in what I choose to wear. And that I chose to wear such clothing as to draw attention to myself. Like many of the current females out there with barely any clothing on as to attract attention. Again, I tried to tell her that the clothing was just clothing, someone wearing a skate dress does not necessarily draw attention, (although some do), but since I was a guy wearing it, I drew all kind of attention.
Another lady found it most interesting that I was a guy wearing a dress, yet she was a girl and refused to wear one. She’s been skating for may years, and would compete and such, but the rules state that she must wear a skirt. To that effect she continues to skate for her own enjoyment. While the rules say that a man must wear trousers, it does not prohibit one from wearing skirt, ladies must have skirts and “pants” covering the hips and posterior. Now if that isn’t a biased and sexist rule, I don’t know what is.
In 1983, Scott Hamilton decided that he’d had enough of flamboyant, glittery costumes and adopted a plain, one-piece outfit similar to the suits worn by speed skaters. “No way did I want to want my potential Olympic moment to be marred by a costume that I would be embarrassed to look at 10 years down the road,” he wrote in his autobiography. Not only did dressing like a serious athlete reflect his own attitude toward his skating, but he thought it might “get cynics to start taking figure skating seriously as a sport.”
While some men think they are repressed in there clothing choices, it seems that some women are just as repressed.
Even after my lengthy discussion with the first lady, I fear she does not fully understand my choice in clothing, and hence will fall back to assumptions rather then asking me.
Steven