Why men like stockings and suspenders?

[MsBakingCakes]

Had a chat with DP last night and he cannot explain why men like women in stockings and suspenders. I do not know the answer so I thought that here in mumsnet someone would come and helps us discover why.

He is not sure either but thinks it is sexy but he does not know why.

Anyone out there to help us please?

[pluckingupcourage]

detox, so do I - I like the, ahem, breezy feel

[DevonshireCat]

Okay, as a chap, my big association is with 'effort', rather than framing or flesh. It's a signal that someone has gone to a good deal of effort to buy them; put them on etc.

Naturally, this should be reciprocated...what do women see as a sign that a man has put some effort in?

[AnyFucker]

he is still breathing ?

[CardgamesFTW]

"Naturally, this should be reciprocated...what do women see as a sign that a man has put some effort in?"
Here is your answer:
"I find them a turn on and i'm a straight woman"
I'm sure they can be found in male sizes too. Some men do in fact like to wear lingerie - auto-objectifying themselves or something.

[CardgamesFTW]

For men who want to make some effort:
www.glieberman.com/products/A1033-Microfabric%E2%84%A2-Support-Sheer-Gartered-Stockings-.html

[oldraver]

Male sizes..... My B/F is quite petite so he wears a 'small' in sized stockings and is between a 10 and 12 twelve in other stuff

[joanofarchitrave]

@DevonshireCat - the taste of soap, where it counts.

[oreoaddict]

love your comment joan

[AllThoseMomentsWillBeLost]

I think it has a lot to do with whether a man is a sub or a Dom.

Incidentally, I think pretty much all our sexual tastes happen to stem from this root categorisation.

I expect that men who find stockings and suspenders a turn-on, have a tendency towards submission (whether they admit it or not) because of their connection with being worn by confident, more mature women.

[AMumInScotland]

I don't think it would be a simple sub/dom division though - there's also the image of stockings as women making themselves "available" and putting the effort in to please a man, so could just as easily be seen as a submissive image as a dominant one.

Personally I hate tights, and wear stockings and suspenders when I'm in a skirt which looks better without bare legs. But mostly I wear trousers.

There's no sexy way to take off tights, or to keep them on. Stockings are therefore sexier than tights. But so are bare legs. Or trousers, or almost anything...

[Amothersruin]

this thread is pertinent as i spent a bomb in ann summers today lol.3 for 2 on all their hosiery.i wear hold ups and stockings a lot.prefer the feel and i also try and emulate a vintage look so feels more authentic.

[AllThoseMomentsWillBeLost]

I should clarify - I am a man, so am speaking from the point of view of one who finds S&S a huge turn-on!

Just because a woman is "putting the effort in", doesn't mean that the man who is on the receiving end is not a submissive type. What you [AMumInScotland] have said is that the woman could be a sub as well as a dom, which is very likely.

Read the above comments from the male posters - there's always an element of 'worship' in the phrasing.

Men who might like to be submissive at times can still take a dominant role in the bedroom and elsewhere but my point is that, if you took a survey, I expect that there'd be a strong correlation between a submissive tendency and men who find the image of women wearing S&S sexy.

[hett1e]

I got fed up with wearing stockings, sussies are too fiddly and hold-ups don't hold up, tights are easier. Hubby was not happy and kept pestering me about wearing stockings, so I told him to try wearing them - and he did opening up a whole load of problems, arguments, rows. Turns out he was a closet TV and into kinky stuff. We haven't had sex since.

[Slolee]

To me,stockings/suspenders were reinvented as a symbol of bondage/availability in the early 1970's -- what other interpretation is there?

[skyblue11]

My ex had a real thing for stockings, in a big way.....my DH does not find them a turn on at all, our intimate relationship is very poor now but I read this with interest, why did he not like stockings, in fact I think he once laughed at me when I wore them (great for the confidence!) which confused me as I thought all men loved them? Is there something wrong with him, I think there might be!

[MilgramsLittleHelper]

As a chap I'd like to give my opinion.

Always holdups over stockings.

The difference in sensation twixt skin and fabric, that excites so.
That they are so incredibily feminine.

Now I'm off to take off my wifes (they're making my legs itch)

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

I think they like the combination of silky legs and easy access.

More importantly, though, they are associated with Porn and sexy moods.... They are a sex costume that women wear to be "sexy."

[MirandaGoshawk]

This reminds me of Wayne & Waynetta Slob, when Waynetta was trying to be sexy & didn't have stockings so put on tights instead. Not the same effect at all!

[ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm]

Amazing. Apparently, the majority opinion from the blokes is that " They do nothing for me............." Hmmmmmmmm

[ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm]

PS. Sienna Miller in Layer Cake.

No more needs be said.

[Verbalpunchbag]

I think it's that glimpse of flesh at the top of the stocking, quite sexy but I can take them or leave them to be honest.

I'm just wondering, if someone asked why those tight black boxers beckham wears in that advert were sexy and I replied, 'compliance with matriarchal norms of men as sex objects for women'. Would you agree? or think, er, no, they just look nice?

[MidnightMasquerader]

I would say it's an association thing - they've come to be synonymous with 'sexiness' and feminity.

It was probably in the 40/50s that women first came out from under their clothes for public consumption - think stereotypical pin-up girls, Betty Grable, etc. And those women, due to the era, inevitably wore sussies and stockings.

Women in their underwear or even naked now - on billboards, in music videos, in ads, selling everything and anything regardless of whether nudity is required or appropriate - doesn't even raise the slightest of eyebrows, so it's hard to imagine exactly how 'shocking' and provocative and alluring it was back then. But it would have been very provocative and would have got a million pulses racing like never before.

So stockings and suspenders have come to epitomise sex, sexuality, 'up for it' women. And probably as the generations pass, the less it will appeal in such a universal way, since men are now more and more desensitised to female nudity due to its utter ubiquitousness...

[MidnightMasquerader]

Verbalpunchbag - there are no matriarchal norms, which is why that answer would make no sense.

[Tortington]

i like a good hold up - as good as suspenders without the bother

i think they are sexy.

[Tortington]

oh and i'm fed up of everything meaning that women are mens sex slaves. ffs.