About me - IV

by Geraden

I used to think that I was the only man who liked something as strange as wearing tights. My wife certainly thought I was weird for doing so.

Then I got online, and one of the first places I found was Wyanne's Forum on Delphi Forums called Ladies and Gents who love Legwear. That forum has since closed. Here was a man who wears tights (well, pantyhose, because he is American) for non-sexual reasons – to do with comfort and health, and whose wife is similarly non-accepting of his preference. Visitors to his site had many similar stories to tell. So I was not the only one. Wyanne put up some links from his Forum, which I followed. One was to the other Delphi Forum, Legwear as Unisex Fashion, which, for all its American bias, I regard as an excellent resource on the topic of male hosiery wearing. Wyanne also had a link to a well-known UK hosiery site, which I visited. I was immediately impressed by the excellent forum there, which I read avidly and contributed to for about three years, by which time I was well up the leader board of most frequent posters.

It was quite some time before I ventured into what was a new area for me – Internet chat rooms. I started to visit that site's site chat room in November 2002 and I quickly got a taste for the chat. During my time there I made a number of friends, and many more acquaintances of both sexes in the hosiery-loving world. I remained a regular member up until 2004, and I owe that site, and particularly the friends I made there, a lot. It was through them and LAUF that I have become confident enough to wear tights openly with shorts, even in the centre of town.

Now my relationship with that site has been very varied, and has gone all the way from nothing to being a trusted and valued collaborator and all the way back again. If this story were about me only, I would tell it, but since it is closely bound up with the experiences of others I met there (whom I have come to value highly as friends) I must remain silent. I am afraid that some things still have the potential to hurt. It will have to be enough if I say that I am no longer a member of that site.

Many of the people I knew from there were very sad when the chat room was taken off line for periods of weeks at a time during 2004, and we kept in touch using Yahoo Messenger until an alternative chat room was set up by Sal, Pat and Jolt, all fellow exiles, in Sal's new site called tights-excite.com. (You can still find me on YM – see the 'contact me' box in the right hand column. Unlike many people, I do not normally go on as invisible. If I am not there, I am really not there - but Yahoo does allow you to leave a message.)

The Internet has proved to be a great resource for men who wear tights for whatever reason. Instead of feeling isolated they find that there are communities of fellow-wearers out there. I hope that what Dexter and I (and hopefully others soon) write on this site will help some of you to feel less uncomfortable about wearing. Everyone is different – levels of acceptance from wives, fiancées and girlfriends vary a lot, not to mention the reaction of children, friends and colleagues. It is all about finding a balance between being yourself, and respecting the views of others who have a call on your love, so as not to cause them grief. Where possible it is about helping others to understand, by giving clear reasons for what we do, though I will accept that there are some who are not open to reason, or who have hang-ups of one kind or another.

We now know that we male tights wearers are more common than anyone thinks (up to 90% of online hosiery sales are for men, and there are not that many birthdays, Christmasses and Valentine's Days to account for all this activity!) Although you will still rarely see a man wearing tights openly, there must be many who wear them secretly under trousers and socks. I was one like that for many years. And now, though I have to wear long trousers for work, I often wear no socks. Feet are cooler in sheerer fabric. Apart from work, it is shorts and tights for me most of the time: 7 denier CLF now that summer is here (for a few days!!); in winter, 70 denier Activskin A869s.

The tide is turning. Women and girls who wear trousers and jeans should thank their sisters of 50 years ago, who made it possible for them to have the fashion freedom they now enjoy at our expense. You, the 77% of visitors to this site who are regular male hosiery wearers, are similarly pioneers. You will be thanked in years to come for your services to male fashion.

… end

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