I wore this "outfit" to the park on a humid, ninety degree day. Now, I'm not naive (but I'm not stupid, either), so I'm not gonna pretend to be surprised if some people thought I was in my underwear. In my defense, though, this is totally the sort of thing you'd see at the swimming pool. Granted, this wasn't the swimming pool, but I would consider it similar conditions - outdoors, being active, when it's so hot that my skin is literally slick with sweat. Do you really enjoy wearing clothes that are soaked through with sweat? If I don't see a sign that says "no shirt, no shoes", I'm not gonna cover up just for the hell of it, when it's this hot out.* I look at all these other people, most of which are fully dressed (even sometimes in long sleeves and pants, believe it or not), and I think they're crazy! Yet that's normal, and somebody feels compelled to shout at me from a moving car, "where are your clothes?" Like, what business is it of yours what I choose to wear? I'm the only one at the park reasonably dressed, and I'm the weirdo? Plus, these shorts are pretty fashionable, and damn if I don't look good in them.
*Although I don't think this is just about wearing shorts, because there was a guy in knee-length shorts (no shirt) playing basketball who didn't get any guff - rather, it's about what kind of shorts are acceptable for men to appear in public in. I mean, yeah, maybe they thought I was a girl, and I was topless. But does that sort of thing actually happen, that your first thought is "that's a topless woman in public" instead of "that's a dude in really girly shorts?"** I would have thought that walking around bare-chested would have been the sort of thing that would pretty much give away my anatomical sex, but...nah? I feel a little bit guilty dressing like a girl, yet still wielding the male privilege of toplessness, except that I support topfreedom for women, and wearing a top just doesn't make sense for me from a practical perspective, when I don't need one due to rules or whatever. Do I have to pick one of two scripts (traditional male versus traditional female)? Is it my responsibility not to fuck with people's expectations of gender? Well, it's not against the law, and I'm not about to stop doing it.
**On the other hand, I encountered a kid who insisted on referring to me with feminine pronouns (without any kind of prompting whatsoever), yet seemed completely unfazed by the fact that I was topless. So, I guess there's still hope for the next generation, lol.
I just hate that we as a species are 1) so tied to arbitrary taboos that make no sense (like staying fully dressed when it's hot as balls and you're working out), 2) so concerned with conformity that we'll pressure individuals to suppress their self-expression in order to be like everyone else (yawn), and 3) so hell-bent on ruining a good thing, like when an attractive person deigns to appear in public half-dressed. Fuck's wrong with you? I want more of that in the world! And here's another double standard that I hate: redneck girls and women who dress and behave so identically to men that it's often hard to tell (like, seriously, the girl Sam from that one episode of Family Guy wasn't even an exaggeration), yet wouldn't dream of considering themselves transgender, and have no qualms about criticizing a man (who does identify as transgender) for dressing like a girl. Like, are men such hot shit that women are allowed to emulate them, but it's a humiliating step downward for a man to emulate a woman?
Whatever. Fuck that shit. People are gonna be stupid. I don't care. It's not gonna change who I am. I'm not gonna let some lowlife (honestly not unlikely to be a drug addict, which says a lot about the value of their judgment) suppress my individuality and drag me down to their level. Okay, rant done. Life goes on.
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