Should men wear skirts?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Should men wear skirts?
Position1 of 2›: Men should wear skirts
Argument1 of 2›: Men wearing skirts is not a new concept

There is a long history of men throughout several cultures wearing either skirts or dress-like clothing and it has never been perceived as strange.

The argument

Whether it is the kilt of Scotland and Ireland or the gauzy wrappings of ancient Egypt, men wearing skirts or skirt-like clothing is not a new concept. Skirts offer great ease of movement for the wearer, but they are also incredibly simple to construct and wear (even wrapping a towel around one’s waist out of the shower is technically a type of ‘skirt’). With the introduction of hosiery in 15th century Western Europe, pants and more highly tailored clothing become more commonly worn by men and became a sign of “masculinity.” The argument that because our Western societies currently view men in skirts as problematic or emasculating because “that’s how it is,” is inherently flawed. All it takes is a simple search to find thorough documentation of men wearing skirts, dresses, tunics, and togas far back throughout human history. It is uncommon for commercial men’s clothing today to be sold with highly ornate details or bright colors because that is the current fashion trend, but it was only a few hundred years ago that men were practically peacocks in elaborately embroidered clothing in bright, flashy colors. Styles change, fashion changes, and so can society’s thinking about who can wear what.

Premises

[P1]Men have worn skirts throughout history, from the Scottish kilt to ancient Egyptian wraps, and skirts offer ease of movement and simplicity. [P2] Pants only became a sign of masculinity after 15th-century hosiery, and men were once peacocks in ornate, bright clothing. [P3] So the idea that men should not wear skirts because that's how it is is merely a passing fashion trend, and fashion and social thinking change. [C] Therefore, because men wearing skirts is not a new concept, men should wear skirts.

Counter-arguments

Just because there has been a history of men in skirts and dresses doesn't mean there isn't a reason they don't wear them now. Styles do change, and usually to accommodate the wearer more appropriately. It's safe to say that the massive powdered wigs of the 18th century would not be appropriate to wear today, even if they were commonplace then. Men's clothing today reflects the type of clothing that men are interested in wearing, and at present, it does not include skirts.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Historical precedent establishes possibility, not desirability, and the conclusion needs the second. Practices with long histories are abandoned for good reasons as well as arbitrary ones, so the fact that men have worn skirts does not by itself settle what men should wear now. The counter's example of the powdered wig makes the point. [Rejecting P2] The premise also overstates the continuity it relies on. The kilt, the toga and the Egyptian wrap are garments with particular regional, ceremonial and class meanings rather than a single continuous tradition of men in skirts, and grouping them makes the past look more uniform than it was. [Rejecting P3] "Fashion changes, therefore this convention should change" does not follow. That a norm is contingent shows it could be otherwise, not that it ought to be. The argument offers no independent reason — comfort, cost, cost of laundering, freedom of expression — for the change beyond the observation that norms are not fixed, and an observation that cuts equally in both directions cannot support a conclusion in one.