To think you can’t take a man with painted nails seriously?

[ThisSunnyBiscuit]

I know people say “it’s just nail polish” but I can’t help feeling like a man with painted nails instantly loses credibility. Whether it’s in a corporate setting or just in everyday life, it gives off a certain vibe that makes it hard to take him seriously.

It’s not about being closed-minded, it’s just that some things don’t translate well across genders. Am I being unreasonable or do others feel the same?

I think if you're going to make statements like that, you can't complain about any statement stat starts ' I can't take women seriously when they...'

Which would be incredibly sexist

What does it mean to say that a man with painted nails loses "credibility"; do you mean that you immediately cease to believe in his existence? In any case, I'd take one man with well manicured and trimmed painted nails over a dozen women with long fake talons . . . .
Plus Spike, to be sure . . . . and David Bowie.

I really feel the need to point out how awful it would be if someone said this exact sentence about a woman.

Men aren't there to look attractive for us.

Fwiw, a man wearing mail polish without trying to look feminine screams confidence and and fuck you to gender roles. I like that.

Same - my ex husband used to wear eyeliner. Sorry guyliner (apparently) when he went to gigs. Very much a musician thing - see Dave Navarro etc.

A view we’ve all read many times before, but usually spoken by a man about women. 🥱 Standard response holds: they’re not wearing nail varnish to try to attract you.

No - no one loses “credibility” with me by painting their nails.

So true @PlutoCat, it’s certainly nothing new given that those people will now be in their 60’s!

I have the occasional pedicure and plenty of men come in to have them. I agree that chipped nail varnish looks rubbish on anyone- I only put clear on my fingernails as I’m bound to ruin it immediately.

Bit rude to start a thread about an appearance thing you don’t like. Could have at least started one about something you do like

So why would we take woman with fake nails, hair, tan, lips seriously?

To be honest, I don’t.

Goths are back and there’s nothing you boring normies can do about it 🤣

There's a gay man works in a shop nearby, he has Long painted fingernails. Looks strange.

A couple of my guy friends in the 90’s wore eyeliner and nail polish. Both very intelligent and genuinely lovely men. I had a massive crush on one of them and wished I could’ve done my eyeliner the same way. Sadly he was hopelessly in love with his first girlfriend who had split up with him to go to Uni.

No gendered clothing extends from birth to death. Men in nail polish are just men in nail polish and if you think anything else you are the problem.

The bloke who flogged my grandkids ice-cream today had a stellar manicure. He also gave us exact directions to a hard-to-find place, so I found him entirely credible.

Honestly, life is too short to be so judgemental of other people’s choices.

It depends. If he’s wearing women’s clothes as a fetish then it’s a hard no. (Usually heterosexual) if he’s a goth then it’s fine. All about the wider context.

One of the easiest YANBU I've ever voted.

Surprising result

It has to be a vibe. The whole look needs to gel, so I’d expect black polish with leathers to look good on someone in a creative industry but not pink polish with a formal men’s business suit. A corporate workplace isn’t the place to look experimental or anything other than conventional. This isn’t sexism btw - I don’t think bright red nails are the right choice for a lot of workplaces. I mean sure, a male banker can try wearing a purple suit with green nails and see how that goes down with clients but most of us live in reality!

There's something really boring and morose about dressing in black all the time.

If a man feels comfortable expressing himself by painting his nails then imo that speaks of having more credibility as a man secure with his masculinity.

I’ll have to tell DH. That said he only does his toe nails, well gets them done with gels when he has a pedicure.

You don't have to just wear black. You can be inventive.

Sadly I suspect if I dyed, back-combed and crimped my hair now like I did in the 80s it would catch fire and/or fall out.

I quite like short nails with black varnish on a certain type of man.

Long dirty nails gives me the ick

absolutely this.

having grown up in the 80's where blokes in make up were pretty normal (and they used the men's toilets) and children in neutral clothes was expected I wonder how the hell we have regressed so far. Becoming so hung up on what is and isn't 'gender appropriate' is a definite backwards step.

It's clearly about you being closed minded! What else could it be? Surely you can see that sticking paint on your nails doesn't change your identity, intellect or value as a person?