Acceptance of Garments

[Dudewithboobs]

I was getting ready for work this morning and had a bit of a thought as I had my coffee and checked on the forum here and the term “garments” in the acceptance part of this here made me just feel it was interesting. Not, Acceptance Bra, Acceptance Support, etc. but garments. Maybe it’s the lack of sleep last night but I just feel it speaks volumes to so many of us here. That we have not just accepted wearing a bra, we have accepted wearing panties, pantyhose, camisoles or blouses, women’s slacks or jeans etc. Obviously not everyone on everything mentioned. But to an extent I feel most of us have accepted women’s clothing is just a better fit and comfort level to a degree. 
It has nothing to do with gender and interest to cross dress. But just a matter of comfort. We have accepted some of these garments are better. 

[Johndoe1]

For me garments is a good way to describe it. Gendered clothing is a social construct. We humans are the ones who classify something as male or female. The truth is clothing is clothing. Take the gender label off and it's still clothing. We should be wearing what is comfortable to us and what makes us happy. If a flower pattern midi skirt makes you happy or comfortable. Who should care? It's the western culture that has this Victorian hang up. The Eastern cultures do not and it's totally acceptable for men to wear a garment we in the west call "skirt" or "dress". IMHO, we need to catch up. 

[gotgyne]

Sooner or later everyone who is not narrow-minded comes to the conclusion that garments are just pieces of cloth. 

Our bodies are more under the influence of estrogen than 'normal' men's bodies. I know that there is no norm but a continuum, for this reason I used inverted commas. But I found out, as many other participants here, that the so called female garments fit me much better than the so called male garments. The sleeveless shirt I wear today is a woman's shirt, the short jeans shorts are women's shorts and the shiny black compression pantyhose is designed for women also. Only my shoes are men's shoes since I don't get them in my size.

This morning I was at a supermarket with these outfit. The blue shirt is very loose fitting which I prefer in the summer's heat. The downside is that somebody could spot my bra from the side, but I don't have any problems with it. There were no comments and no laughters outside and inside the market. I even had a nice chat with an elderly couple, who didn't know exactly how the coffee machine at the entrance area is working. I explained it to them and they had both a good cup of coffee. Since some weeks the coffee is free from 7 to 9 a.m. Obviously because many people are on vacation and the supermarket wants to attract customers.

For this reason I only can repeat what I wrote the last summer: Try it and wear your bra with light summer shirts. This is such a liberating feeling. You needn't to sweat in heavy clothes for the reason of hiding your bra.

[RAPC]

I always thought "Acceptance Garments" was kind of an odd name a forum on bras. It never occurred to me that gynecomastia "acceptance" would involve wearing anything more than a bra.

[Johndoe1]

gotgyne, that's something that has puzzled me. Women complain about men looking at their bras through their clothes but will wear clothes with large arm holes that allows their bras to be seen and then complain. I personally don't particularly think people want to see bras peeking out from clothes. It gives a sloppy presentation. But it seems if you wear a bra and a sleeveless woman's top, you have to be prepared for your bra to show. I make sure when I wear a sleeveless top like a tank or muscle shirt, the arm holes are small so not to show my bra. Just what I do.

[gotgyne]

John, I understand what you mean. But the summer was very hot here. For this reason my wife bought me these woman's tops, since they were larger than my other woman's tops. I have tops with smaller arm holes too. But for years I noticed a lot of women - young and old ones - wearing tops with low arm holes showing their bra band and even more women with shoulder free tops displaying their bra straps.
 
You might think it looks sloppy, but I don't share your opinion on this topic. It's comfort what counts for me and a loose fitting armless shirt on a hot day is much better than a tight shirt with small arm holes. But to each his/her own.

Nobody of the people in the supermarket either didn't notice my bra or didn't react. I even had some chats with other customers at the coffee dispenser about the taste of the coffee and was standing directly opposite of them, but no reaction. Most of the problems are only in our mind.

[blad]

When I started to wear bras as a teen in the late 70's I became more visually aware of the girls wearing their bras and tried to reconstruct what styles they were wearing from the outward bra imprints, particularly if they had a lightly colored close fitting top. This helped feed my teen age desire to be more informed about bras for myself.

In those years it was rare to actually see a visible bra strap. If I did it sort of made my day! 

Today it is all different with it being common to see visible bra straps and bands all the time. Almost a fashion statement with some bras designed to be flashed. 

When I was a teen it was a good thing that I did not live in a country where all the girls wore burkas. 

[Johndoe1]

You might think it looks sloppy, but I don't share your opinion on this topic. It's comfort what counts for me and a loose fitting armless shirt on a hot day is much better than a tight shirt with small arm holes. But to each his/her own.

And I totally respect that position. 

[gotgyne]

You might think it looks sloppy, but I don't share your opinion on this topic. It's comfort what counts for me and a loose fitting armless shirt on a hot day is much better than a tight shirt with small arm holes. But to each his/her own.

And I totally respect that position.

Thank you John, I appreciate this very much. The world outside of our forum is divided enough, thus we should not let us divide too.

[Johndoe1]

Obviously a lot of women don't agree with me either! 😂

[gotgyne]

I think most women wouldn't agree with me too, since I like them especially wearing dresses or skirts with sheer stockings or pantyhose. I was a teenager in the 1970s and nearly all female classmates were enthusiastic to wear sheer hosiery. Pantyhose in the 1970s was not as good as now, often from coarse material and itchy. Nevertheless they wore them. It seems to me that the first sheer stockings or pantyhose for a girl of 13 years was a "rite de passage" like the first bra.

Now almost all women hate sheer hosiery, look at the anchorwomen in the news. What a pity.

[Johndoe1]

Now almost all women hate sheer hosiery, look at the anchorwomen in the news. What a pity.

Women on TV do not dress like they used to. You always saw them in heels and hair made up and makeup carefully applied and either dress suits or pant suits and their chests were always presented modestly. Not today. Some look like they don't care what they look like.

[Sophie]

I can say that I do enjoy wearing sheer nylons, patterned or even tights. I like how they make my legs look. I wear a skirt or dress almost every day to work. Because our Breast Care Center is a part of a Catholic based medical system, it also has a conservative dress code. For women, wearing a bra is required. If we wear a skirt or dress, hosiery is also required. Some of the girls don't like it. I hear it all the time "guys only have to wear a tie, that's BS!" I just tell them that they can wear a tie and pants if they want, as long as they are wearing a bra! 😊.

For myself, I want to be seen as a woman and treated and react as a woman because that's WHO I am. Not WHAT I am. It's WHO I am. That means dressing and presenting and being proud to be a woman. 

❤️Sophie❤️

[Justagirl💃]

I wear compression pantyhose almost daily, and I think they make my legs look awesome. Of course I suffer from leg swelling, so they compression is needed. 

My insurance only pays for heavy compression socks, and I refuse to wear them. I also have several pairs of thigh high compression stockings, but the pantyhose also provide tummy support. 

I pass at the stuffy day-centre because the compression support is prescribed by my doctor, just like my bras. 😉

Birdie 💖

[gotgyne]

My insurance only pays for heavy compression socks, and I refuse to wear them. I also have several pairs of thigh high compression stockings, but the pantyhose also provide tummy support.

Birdie 💖

The tummy support is a good argument for compression pantyhose. In my late 20s I got the first compression pantyhose by prescription. These hadn't much tummy support and since I didn't shave my legs at that time they were sliding down. The saleswoman in the orthopedic shop suggested to wear a panty girdle, preferably with long legs for not to impede the circulation in the groin area. It was an excellent advice and I have worn pantyhose with a long leg panty girdle for some decades.

Later back pain developed due to my osteochondrosis (reduced disks of my lumbar spine). Thus I switched to corselettes (open or panty style) with garters to which I could wear compression stockings. Developing breasts and wearing bras came much later in my mid 40s.