My wife is in the 3% category of woman disliking men in kilt. My two daughters (11 and 15 years old) gets really manically embarrassed of me strapping on my kilts even when its at home and no one else can see me. My son says he couldn't care less, but I think he actually think it's a bit cool.
After a few years of my interest in kilts, tartans and everything Scottish, my wife has accepted that this is not just a silly phase I'm in. She tries to show some kind of respect for me but will rather not talk to much about it. She refuse to go out in public with me kilted except for the annual and very local Highland games.
My wife say it straight out, she does not like men in kilts. But I think Tobus is partly right in saying:
Originally Posted by Tobus
They are intimidated by the idea of being in public with a kilted man because he will be pointed at and possibly laughed at by the rude, insensitive jerks out there. So it's not that she doesn't like the kilt, it's that she is terrified of being publicly attached to someone who is different than everybody else.
Except for the fact that my wife really does not like kilts, this is very much why my wife and daughters don't like me wearing the kilt.
I suppose I've always had that touch of cockiness to me. Then it grew in to a few handfuls when I became a Marine... but I've never been one to settle for someone. I've always just laid it out on the table (HA, no pun intended), and in a round about way said, "this is who I am and what I'm about... you coming or what?" If they didn't like it, well, it was their loss, as I saw it.
SEMPER FI DEVIL DOG!
lol i was navy myself but i hung with a lot of marines, after i got out and was single i pretty much had the same attitude took me almost two years to find my wife.
as far as her being respectfull i think she is very due to the fact that she lets me wear it pretty much whenever and i give her back the respect when she ask's me not to wear it the thing ive learned is that marriage is definatly a two way street lol.
she did make a funny comment the other day she said "just remember that you are going to have to explain why daddy wears a skirt and earrings, and mommy doesn't" HA HA HA she actually has a point lol.
My wife was the same way for quite some time. It was usually a roll of her eyes and/or a "you're going to wear a kilt?" when we headed out
Last year on vacation in Fredericksburg, I was walking with my wife and son when an extremely attractive woman of a certain age made eye contact with me from 1/2 a block away and kept it until she passed us. She then called back over her shoulder, "nice pleats!" (kudos to Rocky, since I was wearing a USA Kilt.)
My wife finally admitted that she was worried that OTHER women would think the kilt looked silly, but she personally didn't have a problem with it. Once she relaixed that other women loved the kilt she warmed up to me wearing it and now encourages me to wear it often.
So, just give your wife time to warm up to it!
"You'll find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." -Obi Wan Kenobi
Ya know, it's an interesting thing I've noticed... The one and only woman who gives me a hard time about wearing a "skirt" is my sister in law. She's firmly convinced that it simply means that the man wearing it is a wannabe cross dresser. She always hurls these insults when she's wearing a pair of jeans... I never could figure out how that works... It's OK for her to wear what is normally considered to be a mans garment, but let me wear something similar to a skirt, and it's a problem. I don't get the double standard. I once told her that when she stops wearing pants around me, I'll stop wearing kilts around her. She didn't like that- told me that I had no right to tell her what to wear. I don't get the double standard- and the people with that double standard- they don't seem to even know it's there!
"Two things are infinite- the universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Albert Einstein.
I don't get the double standard- and the people with that double standard- they don't seem to even know it's there!
You got it right, "they don't even know it's there."
Sometimes, or even many times, people are not going to suspend their own perspectives and consider another prospective. And I am not talking about giving up one's beliefs and adopting someone else's, just setting them aside and trying to figure out what is going on in someone else's point of view rather than becoming automatically dismissive.
I tried to ask my inner curmudgeon before posting, but he sprayed me with the garden hose…
Yes, I have squirrels in my brain…
The double standard thing is diabolical. One of the hardest parts of it is, for me, understanding that if I want to go around in a kilt, I have to be extra-tolerant of the eccentric dress of others.
Living here in Chicago it's daily fare to see a lot of diverse ethnic dress. You get the transplanted Middle-Eastern folks, Indian folks and African folks. You also get the "second tier" people who are, like me, the descendants of an ethnicity who take to wearing pieces of traditional garb (or what we think is traditional garb...but that's a whole other discussion) as a way of distinguishing ourselves and honoring our heritage.
You also get the hip-hop-sters and the hip-sters and all of the other -sters who deviate from the norm of everyday dress. Even get the odd wise-*** college student who, though a really conservative kid, will wear some outrageous bit of clothing just to be different in his or her own cautious way.
Got to be the guy who sticks up for them all if you are a kiltie. When the cab driver gets comments from your friends because he's wearing a djeleba and a taqiyah you have to stick up for the guy.
I am often heard saying, "...okay, but you're talking to a guy who wears kilts...who am I to criticize?"
This thread made me think of my favorite piece of Al Bundy wisdom:
Originally Posted by swampfox
SEMPER FI DEVIL DOG!
lol i was navy myself but i hung with a lot of marines, after i got out and was single i pretty much had the same attitude took me almost two years to find my wife.
I was single from just after boot camp to around November of 04 when I met my fiancee. I dated around but wasn't looking for anything serious. After Sept. 11th, I knew I'd be deploying at some point, so I almost stopped looking together... I was determined to not get a Dear John letter while I was in some war zone. My fiancee spoiled the hell out of me when I deployed again in 2006. It was awesome.
Last edited by Teufel Hunden; 9th February 11 at 08:52 AM.
Originally Posted by Tobus
I never could figure out how that works... It's OK for her to wear what is normally considered to be a mans garment, but let me wear something similar to a skirt, and it's a problem. I don't get the double standard. I once told her that when she stops wearing pants around me, I'll stop wearing kilts around her. She didn't like that- told me that I had no right to tell her what to wear. 
I don't get the double standard- and the people with that double standard- they don't seem to even know it's there!
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