Winning the Nylon War

Harisnya

Thank you – a good analysis of the situation, and I hope that you are right.

The catwalks are more or less ready for us. Street fashion always lags behind.

The problem for MPH wearers has always been that there is such a wide spectrum of reasons to wear, and some of those reasons are deemed by society to be not acceptable.

There would in any case be a difference of interest between male wearers at the mainstream and at the fetish ends of that spectrum. In the prevailing climate of opinion two seemingly opposite things happen: one is that amongst wearers, attitudes are polarised to either end of the spectrum, and the other is that amongst non wearers (i.e. society as a whole) negative images of MPH wearing which are (rightly or wrongly) associated with hosiery fetish are attached indiscriminately to all male wearers.

If manufacturers have decided to face off the perceived threat of association with a fetish, then indeed a corner has been turned.

Geraden

Hello Geraden and others, For the "fetish" part, has been my main gripe. The porn industry has shown males in nylons,like BDSM,to get their jollies. This includes the "Rocky Horror Picture Show". Most of us, are not like that. But then, on the other hand, we have the one's that were serious about wearing.Those associations with males on the porn sites,didn't make any legitamacy for public wearing. It only served to show as a "fetish wear",with no real reason.That's why many can't disconnect the "fetish" part. With the real companies actually showing males wearing nylons,that the other association can now be disconnected. I am happy, that "No Nonsense", and "Gerbe" has taken the steps,to remove the "fetish" part.Steve Katz, has also done his part.I didn't want to leave him out. So, a big thanks to Steve,"No Nonsense" and "Gerbe". There's others I've missed like "WoMAN". Just glad, that these companies are turning the tide. It's about time.

Gerbe is bringing out its men's pantyhose line in March. See Yahoo News.

Once these big manufacturers are on board the advertising machines will swing into action and men's pantyhose will be as commonplace as mens earrings.

No difference for me - been wearing them for 40 years. Would be nice to see them on store shelves for men or women. Not too long to wait now. The tide has turned.

Routes to the mainstream need to be walked one step at a time.

One possible first step is to market sheer-socks to be worn with sandals. This is already a surprisingly acceptable option, and most women I've asked consider it a far better option that thick, obvious, men's socks.

They would need to be either ankle-high, for wearing with shorts (so that the band can be concealed by the sandals), or knee-high for wearing with trousers/slacks. They'd either be sandal-toe or with lightly reinforced toes that extend far enough to cover the entire visible-toe section.

The selling point would be 'invisible' protection to prevent rubbing/blisters for those of us who don't wear sandals often enough for our skin to adjust.

Look at how quickly trainer-socks have become accepted since around 2001 when they started becoming popular among young men (and I recall hearing a little teasing of blokes who wore them at the time).

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. In other words, what's suitable for a woman is suitable for a man too, I Believe So.

When i t comes to tights, women I think have a lot to learn because it was the masculine gender who WORE TIGHTS FIRST hundreds of years ago!!

It is also a well known fact that guys with a little feminine qualities here and there make the Perfect Male! Therefore, Hail The Metrosexual In This 21st century!

Siva - sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander does not always apply when it comes to clothing, or we would have men's bras! It is also a weak argument, although it is often brought up, to maintain that men wore tights first. What we are talking about today is men wearing a women's garment that has only been available for about 50 years on the assumption it has become/is becoming unisex. What men wore 300 years ago isn't really relevant, so I don't think women could be said to have copied it from men. Finally, you are bringing up the men having a feminine side argument, but this is tantamount to admitting that men wearing tights is cross-dressing, i.e. a feminine element in a man is wearing feminine clothing. Isn't this the very reason it is so often vehemently rejected? No doubt the whole flurry of discussion of this topic will continue, but it does seem some very weak arguments in favour of men wearing keep being repeated that are unlikely ever to change the public perception of this.