JohnH

Men's fashions will not loosen up unless there are a few brave souls willing to press the envelope. In the first half of the 20th century women started wearing pants and society disapproved of that practice. Women initially had to raid the men's section of the department store. We as men cannot be playing the waiting game since nothing will change. So, wear your skirts or dresses along with your hose and heels! Also don't forget the makeup. But it does make me angry that men who wear those items are expected to pass as women. I guess it would take time to get masculine conventions for the items above to be established the same way as feminine conventions for pants have been established. John

Men are more and more constrained by an ever-narrowing definition of ideal malehood. In the future, young boys will only wear black and only be mixed-martial-arts fighters; anything else will be considered too feminine.

I hope things start to loosen up as far as restrictions of what men can wear and how they groom themselves.

Because if the restrictions get tighter we are probably going to see more men taking estrogen and going femme 24/7, including myself.

John

I use black, dark grey, or dark blue nail polish on my toenails, and I shave my legs and feet. I have had only one comment about the nails - just to tease me and another comment on my shaved legs - "You're a guy. Why bother shaving your legs?". Most people could not care any less about those things. John

Menswear:

Worn out flannel shirt over a worn out t-shirt, jeans where the waist is worn on the hips, workboots...

That about sums up the uniform.. LOL

Charlie

If that is typical men's wear, then it would be appropriate to call it being "in drab".

I can't understand that while you all wear women's shoes - i.e., heels - there should be such a fuss of carrying a purse or bag and women's jeans. The heels alter the way one walks - who cares about the little things above? If I am going to wear heels I will wear a skirt or a dress.

It's very striking that if you look at crossdressers.com the section Male-to-Female-CrossDressers has over 20 times the threads and postings as the Transmasculine (female to male) section.

Women have the freedom to wear men's clothing and shoes in our society, but there is the strong disapproval of men wearing women's clothing and shoes. Those restrictions are not a healthy thing for society. With these restrictions placed on men there are a lot of situations where men simply go whole hog and imagine themselves as women and attempt to speak and act like women, and take on feminine names. It would be a lot more wholesome for men to be allowed to wear anything they want, as long as the clothing is modest.

I wear my skirts, dresses, and heels as a man and I simply can't imagine myself as a woman, speaking like a woman [my speaking voice is the same pitch as Joe Friday of Dragnet, but not as raspy], acting like a woman or taking on a feminine name. I especially like to wear a dress since there is no binding around the waist, and I like the way it looks.

You really need to tell your wife about your desires to wear heels. Wearing heels is quite minor as compared to possible scenarios such as your running around with other women or spending large amounts of time looking at porn.

I don't get why society has suppressed men to this point where women are free while men have to be men.

[My soapbox answer]

It is because men have allowed this situation to happen. It used to be that women had to women - they could not wear pants. Women had to be brave to risk arrest or being labeled as being crazy for wearing pants. At least I am not risking arrest for wearing skirts and heels publicly.

Do look at the bright side of things - men now can have long hair, shave their legs, arms, and bodies, paint their toenails, have pierced ears with earrings, and wear necklaces and bracelets without being criticized.

And if a man wants to wear makeup he can wear foundation, concealers, bronzers, eyebrow pencil, eyeliner and mascara.

So there are a lot more freedom for men than there were in the 1950's

I do my part in relaxing the constraints further by wearing clothes and shoes not commonly worn by men - i.e., skirts, dresses, and heels. If enough men go against the the narrow constraints things will change.

[end of soapbox]

As far as my wife is concerned - I put all my medium heeled and high heeled shoes, skirts, and dresses in plain sight in the closet, and wear those garments openly around my wife. I don't feel that I need to ask her permission to wear them. I might add that she does not wear any of those types of apparel at all.

My wife has a much harder time going up and down stairs barefoot or in flats than I do when I wear 4 inch stiletto sandals. So it would be grossly unfair for me to insist that she wear high heels. And, HappyInHeels, I agree that a lot of men have an easier time wearing heels than women. It is really ironic that men's shoes at the current time have such low heels - although our good friend King Louis 14th of France wore 5 inch heels.

This response is a little late, but here are my thoughts - I guess you would have to practice running on the tip toes so that you would not come down hard on the heel. As it is I can run in my 2.75 inch wedge sandals without the heel striking the ground, so with a bit of practice and conditioning I should be able to handle a 3 inch heel.

I second BoyLegs. Just appreciate your wife for who she is as I do mine, and don't try to get her to do things that she does not want to do. It really is not worth straining the relation by insisting that your wife wears heels.

It's no big deal to reduce the curves in the breast area. You just have to run a seam over the existing seam to make the "cups" shallower - assuming you have access to a sewing machine and know how to use it.

It would be much more difficult to make the "cups" deeper.

I voted that white is repulsive to me, but I now have a change of heart since I came across a couple of floral print dresses that fit me.

Whenever i have abit of free time i always browse around the internet looking for my next purchases i came across this outfit and love it!

http://www.swishclothing.com.au/store/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/Shilla_trekker_r_4c6a5003e8148.jpg

what do you guys think? from what you've all seen of me, do you guys think i could pull it off? i love both the shoes and the dress, but don't want it to look terrible on me. I think it'd suit me well as the neck line isn't too low, so my flat chest wouldn't be so obvious

You may need to adjust the "cups" of the dress to accommodate your flatter front so there are no unfilled "cups" that were designed for a woman's fuller breasts. My former wife left me with boxes of clothes and I found several dresses that fit me. That is what I need to do with at least two of them.

I'm the one of the couple who has medium and high heels and as an aside, regularly wears skirts and dresses. The highest heel my wife has is a pair one inch heel slingback shoes that she wore at our wedding. I have a pair of 4 inch stiletto sandals and a number of shoes with 2.5 to 2.75 inch heels. My wife is strictly a pants and flat shoes person. I mention that we get her some dresses, and her reply is, "Hell, no!" She has a hard enough time with flat shoes without adding the complications of heels. So, Melbguy, count your blessings. At least your wife wears 3 inch heels on special occasions. Like my wife, your wife may simply find high heels extremely uncomfortable to wear.

Having the desire to wear high heels isn't the issue here. It is the social stereotypying that lumps everyone into categories they don't necessarily qualify in. People have their own set of personality traits and desires, which don't always follow the ideal guidelines of society. By limiting people into certain characteristics that may not be within their ability to do, an adaptation may be achieved. A left handed person learning to write with their right hand is possible, but the awkwardness or the unfamiliarity makes it harder and they will always prefer to use the natural tendencies of their left hand. The same idea fits with different personalities. One person can't know actually what the other person thinks or desires. They may get clues to some things, but every thought process is an individual path that may be affected by the course of daily living.

I don't wear heels much publicly; I wear denim skirts with conventional men's shirts and for the most part, men's shoes [although I do have some heels].

I have to put up with narrow-minded people from time to time when I go about my business wearing skirts.

Wear a skirt instead. It's a lot more comfortable.

I am 1.78 m [5 feet 10 inches] tall.

I never wear heels with pants, only with skirts or dresses, so there is no way I can hide them. On the other hand I don't make it an effort to show off the heels. The only shoes I wear with pants are traditional men's shoes.

Down in the Dallas Texas USA area anything longer than shoes is too darned hot! Sandals are more comfortable than closed shoes. Highs have cooled down somewhat from 40 deg C [104 deg F] down to about 32 deg C [90 deg F].

I like the feeling and sexy looks of high heel shoes, something my wife does not understand. She wears only flat shoes. I have much longer hair than she does, so I am the one who uses a hair dryer. My wife has very late working hours, so she comes home about 2200 (10:00 pm). I fix our dinner, and after dinner I put on a long nightgown and wear 4 inch stiletto sandals. She still wears her shirt and pants from work since she is too tired to change. We go outside to the patio. Then I sip wine out of a long stem goblet while she smokes cigarettes and drinks Diet Coke out of a can. I kind of feel that I am the lady of the house at those moments!

Sometimes the proclivity for a man to wear feminine attire develops after the relationship is formed. I am an example. My wife eschews long hair, high heels, skirts, and dresses. A man frequently vicariously has his wife dressed instead of himself in attire that appeals to him. My wife shuns the items mentioned above, and so I wear them instead of her wearing them. I make no effort at all to pass as a woman. If there was an event where one of us had to wear an evening gown, it sure would not be my wife. My previous wife did not eschew those items, so I did not wear them. My current wife does not like my wearing high heels, skirts, and dresses, but it is much better than for me to be unfaithful to her and have an affair. At least she doesn't mind my long hair.

Carmen;

I have always appreciated a nice set of legs in heels, and even though I would buy my wife some really nice 'bedroom attire' over the years, it rarely was touched. She hasn't worn heels over 1" for years, and only wears flats these days (not that should wouldn't want too) So all this stuff sat around for years, and usually in my dresser drawer.

She made a crack joke about 2 years ago - -

" If you like them so much, why don't you wear them - - "

So I did, and what a surprise - - I liked it.

I'm in the same boat - my wife wears only flats. I am the one with heels.

To add a little more interest - my wife wears only pants and occasionally shorts, except for night gowns.

I regularly wear skirts and sometimes dresses - both items she never wears!

I do have a masculine side - my speaking voice is something like Joe Friday of Dragnet.

I remove the hair from my legs and feet with Nair once a week. I also shave my hands, arms, chest, and underarms every 3 days. With the hot weather in the Dallas Texas area I find that I have much less body odor with the hair removed.

You probably have a hard time wearing flat shoes for extended periods of time, given the way your feet have adapted to those heels.