Women only wear short skirts to attract men?

[ToyBoat]

This is what two different men have said to me recently - both men I respect (not any more!).

They don't believe me when I say I wear short skirts myself (with leggings) because I worked hard to get my legs slim, and I think I look attractive in them which is, IMO, completely different to saying that I want men to look at my legs and admire them.

It is different, isn't it? I admire women who look and dress attractively, but I don't fancy them.

Can we discuss this issue? I didn't argue my point very well because I was tired at the time, but I could do with some good soundbites to prove to these men that everything in life isn't just about sex and attracting a mate!

There has been a fashion for shorts for the last few years. Shorts are more revealing than skirts as they both reveal the legs but also reveal the shape of the bottom; skirts generally don't drawn attention to the bottom because the material is not drawn in underneath it unless it is a very clingy fabric.

Yet men haven't gone on about how women wear these shorts in order to get men to look at them. I am assuming that is because men also wear shorts.

Also, is the reason men no longer wear Edwardian style bathing suits because they want women to ogle their nipples at the beach or while swimming?

The problem is that one persons 'interested look' is another persons 'leering stare'. Doesn't it depend on who is being looked at and how they might feel about the person who is doing the looking?

The archetypal middle aged bloke boss looking at his young female colleague might well be received differenlty to when a young man looks at his female colleague - especially if she is also interested in him.

There is an older bloke I know who is in the leering perv category. I dont like him but have to deal with from time to time in business.

On the other hand, I know a lot more younger men in business who go out of their way to make it really obvious they are not looking at women they work with - for fear of being sued. It has reached ridiculous proportions in the USA which is far more litigious. They play it safe for fear of being labelled as a 'leering perv' and look at the floor or the wall as women pass them in the corridor. It really does happen.

MillyrR - men no longer wear Edwardian style bathng costumes because they are jolly uncomfortable compared to modern lycra swimming trunks. Same as women no longer wear Edwardian style long dresses. Ermm... and I think men know that women are not looking at their nipples.

A man who can't tell the difference between looking in a normal way /reciprocal flirting and leering/staring/making someone uncomfortable has something wrong with him TBH. I don't believe that a normal man has trouble understanding whether a woman is enjoying his "attention" or not. Some just don't care how it makes the target feel, they do what they want to do. Some actively enjoy the feelings of discomfort they generate in the other person.

As for "archetypes", why not try the "archetypal" middle aged/old man leering at 14 year olds at a bus stop, or a gang of blokes hanging out of a van to ogle a teen. It's just not OK.