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 know what you’re saying. It’s same as the blue hair thing.

Mmmmm Spike 😊

It's is being closed minded

HTH

I used to have a friend that painted his nails and wear a skirt and stockings occasionally. Never bothered me. It was quite attractive actually. Dd's boyfriend also paints his nails from time to time and I always compliment him. Neither of them is any less masculine because of it.

Ex-goth here. Most of the men I knew had painted nails. It was normal for me.

I really don’t have a problem with it. Think it’s great that men and women can express themselves however they want. But I do work in a very liberal environment and have like minded friends. I suppose it depends what you call professional. I can imagine in law, banking or the police it might not be tolerated/the norm.

Yep, this is the reason DH is sometimes to be found sporting various shades of pastel and glitter nails. Along with his beard and biker clobber 😂

Men can wear as much or as little nail polish as they like, it absolutely doesn’t bother me.

As long as they don’t say wearing it makes them actual women.

I love it when a man has painted nails. As pp have said, it says he’s confident and doesn’t believe in ridiculous gender roles. There’s a very handsome young lad who works on the checkout in our local Aldi and he has his nails done differently every time I see him — does them himself in amazing colours and patterns. I always compliment him!

I was in a mobile phone store today and had fantastic service from a young man with painted nails. Surely how people behave is much more important than what they wear and how they choose to appear.

Oh I like nail varnish on men. And eyeliner.

You don’t say what the context is. I got a son who calls himself a goth. He has black printed nails that go with his image. It works for him. His more serious then most young men his age - reads, don’t swear, A level student , tidy bedroom, got a long term girlfriend he is marrying next year and cooks for us most nights.I'm honored to call him my son and be seen in public with him.

Or I could of had a son without painted nails who could be a right loser 🙄

Totally agree. Where did it all go so wrong?
When exactly did we all get shoved back into gendered boxes to the point that if, say, a man wants to wear makeup and nail varnish he's suddenly a bloody woman? (Or at best a weirdo who can't be taken seriously). Fuck that noise!

OP is judgy

my son is a goth. I take him seriously and rather spend more time with him than judgy people like her.

Yes to this! At school My son was bullied for his goth look and quietness but that didn’t stop him. His bully’s included “minority’s” themselfs. They got away with it. Had it of been the other way around my son would be in trouble. 🙄

He’s the bravest person I no. 💯

I agree. I'm old and like pp grew up seeing men express themselves in many different ways - Bowie, goths, new romantics. Unlike many people today they generally didn't conflate this with some skewed idea of womanhood; just men who liked to express themselves through fashion.

Dyou know what I’d like to see is a man in the meganails, the really wild ones. Banker or something. Would be a rad look with a very plain suit

I think it depends on the man. An arty, type of man then no problem, it's part of the look and could look great. My sensible 50s male GP however would look odd and I'd think he was having some kind of crisis. Ditto painted nails on my DH. You could say the same about lots of fashion statements though.

I won’t deny it jars for me and I don’t particularly like it. But it’s just the pink shirt of this age. And men pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable in the masculinity box is so important.

Women collapsed the restrictive definitions on what it was to be womanly a century ago but throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, any man who isn’t considered manly enough was implied to belong in the women’s section.
You run like a girl.
Don’t be such a girl about it
Sissy
Big girl’s blouse
what a pussy
etc

The Man Box is expanding slowly - it now includes gay men, men working in traditionally female dominated professions, men who use skincare products, and men who wear pink clothing, necklaces, and now nail varnish. Each of those categories was seriously suspect when I was a child.

I think the nail varnish is a very positive thing.

There's a man that works the tills at my local co-op that has nails like that. Last time I saw him he had a petrol/metalic colour with a red painted car design on one finger.

It's alright, OP, after plenty of times getting attacked and beaten up by morons as a teenaged goth and threatened in bars by the self same types as a younger adult, I'm pretty certain that DP doesn't give the shiniest, black nail varnished shit what you think about him, whether it's when he's teaching children to play guitar when it helps them to see the chord positioning, when he's on his way back from a gig on a private island in the Caribbean (yes, really) or whether he's doing his day job.

It’s not about being closed-minded, it’s just that some things don’t translate well across genders

This literally makes no sense. Female
humans with painted nails is fine but male humans with painted nails is not fine.

Baffling.

You don't take old ladies seriously?

I knew some goths that did it in the early 90's...

I agree, and also feel the same about women