It is OK for women to wear trousers, but much less acceptable for men to wear skirts. That's a social thing. But our brains don't recognise the social thing, when it comes to how we're wired.
A lot of women wear clothing which only fifty years ago was considered exclusively male. Temple Grandin doesn't like wearing skirts; she can if she has to, but has to work up to it over a period of weeks, and since a lot of her work is around cattle and skirts are less practical, it's easier for her to stick with trousers.
I tend to live in jeans, but I will also happily wear a skirt, as long as it's practical. I used to work with men; I wore jeans or overalls almost all the time.
A suggestion for those trying to accommodate these preferences but stay within the bounds of social acceptability - there is a lot of clothing which is acceptable, which is gender-ambiguous. A cross-dressing (male) flatmate I used to have took advantage of his Scottish heritage and wore a kilt. At home around me, he would sometimes go for the whole female cross dressing bit, he borrowed some of my more feminine blouses and I helped him with makeup. His girlfriend, when she found out, was furious with me and saw me as a threat, even though I was already engaged to husband at the time. It was just one of many mistakes I felt she made, in that relationship. But the kilt - a good idea. And you don't have to be a Scot, you just need to be interested in highland dance, bagpipe bands etc. to have the perfect excuse.
And the texture - a bloke can always have the softer fabrics if he wants to. I hunted around and found some pure silk boxer shorts for my men, as a treat. I don't think difficult child 1 ever took his off, except on those rare occasions when he bathed.
difficult child 3's best friend, just turned 10, has a very loving indulgent mother. I don't think there is anything of the cross-dresser in the boy, but he is high-functioning autistic and as such, fussy about certain textures. They bought some silky fabric (the boy chose it by the feel, and the colour - it's a lovely, masculine olive green) and had it made into pyjamas for the lad. He lives in these pyjamas, I saw him yesterday afternoon, I think he must have got into his pyjamas as soon as he got home from school. His mother says he looks like Hugh Hefner.
Sometimes trousers are practical. Sometimes skirts are practical. After all, the Scots wore kilts because they were very practical, you didn't have to waste time unbuttoning anything to go to the bathroom. In battle, they just kept on swinging the claymore... the kilt pin came in handy for sailors high in the ship's rigging, to pin the kilt between their legs so as not to offend (or excite?) any female passengers down below.
And nobody could have called William Wallace a girl. Not twice, at any rate.
easy child's BF1 has problems with texture, the fabric of his clothing has to be very soft or it chafes his skin badly. It's getting to the point where he will have to have his shirts made for him, from fabric of his choosing.
It's much easier these days to satisfy a need for certain fabric textures, and still not stand out too much. difficult child 3 loves the feel of towelling, so I made a pair of shorts for him out of an old towel. He wears these shorts a lot in summer, especially after we've been swimming.
BF2 was given a very soft, plush bathrobe and he is wearing it as I type this even though it's the middle of the day here. He likes the feel of it. I don't blame him. I want one too.
I do think being attracted to various textures is perhaps more common that we realise. Unless it's just the Marg household, of course! But we are much more free to indulge this in this day and age, than in previous years.
I still remember the outrage when a teenage girl wore trousers to church. Now, in our church, you can wear shorts, t-shirt, swimsuit, bare feet - whatever. The rule is to rinse your feet at the door, if you have bare feet (a lot of sand, with a church on the beach).
Times have changed!
Marg
