The Alt Right and Gender Neutral Clothing

I don’t really get political here, but I have to address this. There was a recent news story about a British private school introducing gender neutral clothing. The boys at the school can choose to wear skirts if they like or the females can wear pants.

My impression is that I probably have a lot of liberal readers on this website. I think that would be a safe assumption, though I could be wrong. That said, I’m not against certain conservative viewpoints. I generally agree with a desire for greater freedom and the government staying out of our business as citizens. At least as much as it makes sense for the government to do that. There are certainly times when it is beneficial for the government to step in on behalf of the people. Especially when private companies are acting in a way that is bad for the people. But there are also times when the government does more harm than good. Where strict regulations may stifle innovation or personal freedom. There is definitely a balance to that needs to be kept. It can be difficult to figure out how to balance it properly, but it needs to be done.

That said, many conservatives and alt right folks tend to value (or at least claim they value) greater personal freedom. Often this comes up when talking about guns, religion and free market capitalism. But when talking about boys given the option to wear skirts, suddenly personal freedom is out the window.
I read one comment where the person said that pants were unisex and thus people should just wear pants in situations like this. This person likely doesn’t realize that wasn’t always the case. There was a time in this country where women wearing pants was heavily looked down upon. A complete social no-no. There were even some arrests made.
Today a woman in pants is considered no big deal, even to the point where a conservative/alt right person would suggest pants as a unisex option. Something that would have been unheard of a hundred years ago. That just shows you how things change over time. Perhaps a hundred years from now skirts will also be considered a unisex option by conservatives of the future.

However I would be remiss to simply chalk this up as a one-off thing. The truth is, there are bigger reasons why this is an issue for conservative/alt right folks. It’s not just boys in skirts. It gets lumped into all the other topics in the media today. Everything from transgender bathroom issues to gender neutral pronouns. If I were to put my brain into a conservative/alt right mindset I think I would probably see this as a blitzkrieg on all things I’ve always considered to be common sense. That seems to be the reaction many are having. That everything they know is being turned upside down.

I would protest that these things are different, though not entirely separate. There is often crossover. But let’s not always assume that a boy or man in a skirt (or any other traditionally female clothing) is the same as a person with a penis wanting to use a women’s restroom or be addressed as something other than he or him. Sometimes it’s just someone wanting to wear what they want.

I’ve talked many times about how males should have greater fashion freedom. I’m usually not talking about laws. There is no law against a man wearing a skirt or other traditionally female clothing in public. This site isn’t about battling laws as much as it is about battling public perception. I can’t and won’t force anyone to accept fashion freedom. That would go against my core beliefs of personal freedom. Which is why I use this site to try and make convincing arguments for fashion freedom. But we must understand that even if something isn’t a law, that doesn’t make it less important to fight against. In fact sometimes social norms are stronger than laws and require more of a fight to overturn them. There are many laws people disobey and few people think twice about others disobeying them. Yet a man wears a skirt in public and many suddenly take issue, his life or job or well-being could even be in danger even though there is no law against it. So what I am doing here is in many ways just as important as trying to overturn oppressive laws. I think it’s important for men to have these options with fashion. That fashion choices don’t automatically equal gender issues or sexual orientation. Sometimes it’s just fashion.