Do any of you dress etc 'gender free' or have tried to in the past?

[SoulofanAggron]

I'm going a bit more 'gender free' in my look. Did try it once years ago for a couple of years. Have any of you tried it/done it?

I know a lot of women have quite a 'gender free' look anyway.

Surely most people just buy clothes that they think they look good in and that fit? My t shirt is a unisex fit because I dont like women's fit t shirts, my boobs don't need accentuating. I do buy women's cycle jerseys because they are meant to be tight and usually buy women's shorts and trousers because we are a different shape to men. I usually buy men's gloves because I have large hands made larger by arthritis. I have never bought anything just because it looks gender neutral. That seems a strange idea.

Pretending that's not the case does not gain you woke points

I think the last thing most of us who don't understand the OP want is woke points Quite the opposite really.

The thing with all this non binary gender free nonsense is that it is based on a premise of breaking free from stereotypical sex based constraints in the first place. That's the issue I have. I grew up with 'feminine' boys, and girls who likes short hair and DMs. David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Boy George, KD Laing, Alison Moyet. They all were whatever they wanted to be and that was absolutely fine. We're going backwards.

I think it's a really interesting topic though. Because when we talk about the idea of removing the cultural convention of having men's clothes and women's clothes, what do we mean?

Do we mean a situation where it would be totally normal for both men and women to wear everything from frilly dresses to... well, actually I'm struggling to think of any men's clothes that would look culturally that weird on a woman. Or do we mean that clothes themselves should becone more unisex (which, let's face it, actually means 'more masculine')?

I wear a uniform to work. Like the vast majority of work uniforms, men and women wear the same.

It becomes ridiculous to claim that we are all under some oppressive set of social rules that enforce different clothing for men and women when employers do the opposite.

Even in uniform, it is obvious who is a man and who is a woman. If people want to wear gender neutral clothing, there are plenty of jobs where you will fit right in.

@ImEatingVeryHealthilyOhYes That’s my honest truth, am saying it here as I’m anonymous.

Yup, me too as a younger woman. (Now it would be gilding a turd...)

But I do think we sometimes underplay the desire to be sexually attractive, which (if you're heterosexual) may well involve dressing in such a way as to draw attention to the nicer bits of the sexually dimporphic human body. (I do like a pair of men's jeans that are properly cut, and a shirt that draws attention to broad shoulders... and I guess straight men probably have similar preferences in women's clothes. And this is not necessarily sinister or oppressive. Just that most of us do like to get laid from time to time.)

But if you mention this there does tend to be a shocked reaction of "no, no, no, I dress nicely for my own sake." It is something that's almost unmentionable as a motivation.

well, actually I'm struggling to think of any men's clothes that would look culturally that weird on a woman

That's because women fought hard to be able to do so - a lot of our mothers weren't allowed to at work, I wasn't allowed to wear trousers to primary school (a situation still unbelievably existing in some schools).

I think this is the reason people seem to think gender neutral is mens - because some women have made it OK for women to wear 'mens' clothes, but men haven't put the effort in to be 'allowed' to wear 'womens' so the only overlap, ie the only gender neutral is 'mens'.

I strongly disagree that clothes like trousers etc are gendered and think more they are cut for the characteristics of the Body which they are intended for. My jeans for example don’t have pretty pockets on..

For the posters who think thr question was obvious, but interestingly then followed up saying they don’t wear “unisex clothing like trousers” so then the question is obvious to them personally , because they also think like the op.

However the vast majority of us do not.

I genuinely don’t look at my jeans or trousers or jogging bottoms and think I’m wearing gender free clothing, I am simply wearing clothing and I still look female. Of course I do. I look female whatever I wear.

Im ok with people like the poster who said they think such clothing articles are deeply unattractive, because I feel the same way as the items the op posted the big skirts and rhe Mary Janes. I find them old fashioned and frumpy. I wouldn’t wear them at 51 and neither would my 23 year old daughter. Because clothing is about taste, and personal preference.

The only gendered clothing is skirts and dresses, which very few women, except those in minority religious groups. Ie Amish or Orthodox Jew wear all the time. Most women in western culture wear a variety of clothes, from trousers to skirts, to whatever they please.

Because we have choice. And our choices don’t make us less feminine. Less female.

But clothes have to fit the sex of the person, otherwise trousers wont fit properly
And still mens clothes have better, bigger and more pockets. And many of them have elasticated bits of waistband so one can in fact move without being split in half. So what if they dont quite fit in some areas? For me so long as they dont fall down and don't look bloody awful I dont care.

When I was in my teens I wore
- Band tshirts
- Baggy cardigans from the men's section at M&S
- Levi 501s
- hiking socks
- DM boots
Similar here and mostly I haven't grown out of that look. Except most of the year I wear shorts. Usually from March to about October.

Sure! Both hubby and I have been in "gender free" clothes since the beginning of March this year. We go between PJs and athletic clothes. To be perfectly honest, I love it. It's my favorite part of social distancing.

A Dutch photographer has taken pictures of couples who dress alike

petapixel.com/2012/11/16/photographer-hunts-for-random-couples-who-are-dressed-alike/

I know there is a website for Dutch cyclist couples who wear the same lycra gear, but can't find it at the moment.

Interesting *Cailleach1". None of the couples are wearing matching traditional female clothing.....

I genuinely don’t look at my jeans or trousers or jogging bottoms and think I’m wearing gender free clothing, I am simply wearing clothing and I still look female. Of course I do. I look female whatever I wear

I think you are missing the point of the question being asked. The OP wasn't asking you if you wear clothes with the view of not making you look female. She was asking you if you avoid clothes which are conventionally gendered.

I'm really struggling with the snarky wide- eyed responses she's getting, given that even on here so many of you are saying you buy men's clothes. You clearly know what is meant by that expression.

It's completely disingenuous to say "oh clothes are just clothes" - that's not a fact in real life.

Much as I love the elasticated back waist of men's walking trousers the thighs are always too tight. If I go up the 2 sizes needed to get the thighs right I need a belt and bicycle clips

That's another sex based physiological difference.

@Frequentcarpetflyer

Interesting *Cailleach1". None of the couples are wearing matching traditional female clothing.....

Most of them are women wearing men's clothing. I really don't care how that comes across. Most of those clothes are masculine(and dull and boring). I wouldn't wear them.

Wear whatever you want, feminism doesn't come with a uniform.

I was told by a LGBTQwERTY trainer that I “conform to femininity” because I wear clothes that fit my female body and happen to have long hair.

Most of them are women wearing men's clothing

They're wearing clothes that used to be traditionally mens, now that women wear all the time, and are cut for a women's body.

How long do women need to be wearing trousers, made for a woman's shape, before trousers can be considered non-gendered or womens?

Yes! That was my point. The women in those photos are likely to have bought their clothes from the mens' section. I can't see any men wearing clothing that they have bought in the women's section. "Gender neutral" clothing (for any age) tends to mean clothes/colours that are generally considered male. The male is the default.

Oh, and, I have unintentionally learned some stuff about the body-building/mens fitness..

Turns out, more than one men's fitness youtuber shops in the women's section for jeans, because they're stretchier and show off their legs better!

The women in those photos are likely to have bought their clothes from the mens' section. I can't see any men wearing clothing that they have bought in the women's section

Tops maybe - but most of those pairs of jeans, and certainly the wetsuit were women's cut!

@OperationallySound

Pretending that's not the case does not gain you woke points

I think the last thing most of us who don't understand the OP want is woke points Quite the opposite really.

The thing with all this non binary gender free nonsense is that it is based on a premise of breaking free from stereotypical sex based constraints in the first place. That's the issue I have. I grew up with 'feminine' boys, and girls who likes short hair and DMs. David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Boy George, KD Laing, Alison Moyet. They all were whatever they wanted to be and that was absolutely fine. We're going backwards.

Oh how I cringe when I see Bowie being put forward by anyone who thinks she is a feminist (which presumably you do?) as a good example of anything.

She was asking you if you avoid clothes which are conventionally gendered

I’m not missing the point, because as said, other than skirts or dresses I don’t see clothes as conventionally gendered. Because None are. But this doesn’t mean they are unisex. Because sex and gender are two different things. Cutting for body shape is not gendering.

And still mens clothes have better, bigger and more pockets. And many of them have elasticated bits of waistband so one can in fact move without being split in half

I don’t want bigger and more pockets.the pockets in my clothes fit the scale of rhe clothing. And my clothes don’t cut me in half when I move because they fit me. If they cut you in half they are too small for you.

There are plenty of eslasticated waist clothes for women. Plenty with big pockets. Not one of my husbands clothes has elastic waists. Yes they have bigger pockets because the item of clothing itself is bigger, it’s scaled. So for example rhe pockets on my jeans are smaller than those on his, because his jeans are simply much bigger. Big pockets wouldn’t work or would look ridiculous on mine.

@DidoLamenting

I genuinely don’t look at my jeans or trousers or jogging bottoms and think I’m wearing gender free clothing, I am simply wearing clothing and I still look female. Of course I do. I look female whatever I wear

I think you are missing the point of the question being asked. The OP wasn't asking you if you wear clothes with the view of not making you look female. She was asking you if you avoid clothes which are conventionally gendered.

I'm really struggling with the snarky wide- eyed responses she's getting, given that even on here so many of you are saying you buy men's clothes. You clearly know what is meant by that expression.

It's completely disingenuous to say "oh clothes are just clothes" - that's not a fact in real life.

If i was the op and this was my question is specify the items of clothing i was referring to. Can i ask you Dido to give some examples of clothes which are not conventionally gendered? I thought I'd replied in that sense.

I'd, not "is" ^^

I live in jeans, jumpers and trainers if that's what you mean? No make up. Two plain rings, no other jewellery. Long hair, normally tied up.

I may wear a dress to a party. May.

I remember going to see Wayne's World 2 at the cinema by myself and realising that I looked like Garth