It's A Mixed-Up, Muddled-Up, Shook-Up School
For as long as men and women have been wearing clothes, men have been finding excuses to dress up like women. There's always a reason: "I'm only doing this for our annual charity revue." "My wife just needs somebody to wear the thing while she takes it in." "We need this apartment and they only take women." "I'm not into this; it's just that all my stuff's in the wash." "Doctor's orders!"
So while I'll fight like hell for all-male Morehouse College's right to enforce its "Appropriate Attire Policy," I'm skeptical that this is something any institution can control. According to this CNN story, courtesy of Drudge, the school's new dress code includes some restrictions I wholly applaud, including a ban on wearing hats indoors and pajamas in public. It also prohibits cross dressing.
According to a school official, of the school's 2,700 students, only a handful -- all of them homer-sexuals -- are going drag. "We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men," says vice president for Student Services William Bynum.
Morehouse is a private school, and it goes without saying that there are countless other colleges for men with a real commitment to fabulousness. Bynum says the campus gay organization voiced no objection to the policy, and presumably living with 2,700 young hunks is enough of a schmaltz barrel that giving up black taffeta is a small price to pay.
Still, it must be noted that the policy is against nature. Men want to dress up like women. You can pass all the rules you want, but men will find a way.
Related: Jesse Walker puts on a boa and stilettos to infiltrate Sweden's secret all-woman stronghold.
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Why would any heterosexual male want to attend an all-male college?
To avoid Feminists?.Plenty of "High Net Worth African-American" pussy right next door at Spellman College too.
"Spelman"
THATS EASY. HE ACTUALLY WANTS AND EDUCATION. AND THE SCHOOL IS REPUTED TO BE GOOD.
I wore the same clothes that I wore as pajamas at least twice a week in high school. They were only pajamas if I fell asleep in them.
I've never understood this shit about wearing hats indoors. Or putting your elbows on the table or shit like that. Fuck old fashioned ideas about "disrespect" and "being proper". Its all bullshit superstition.
I agree. Those same superstitions kept me from going bottomless to Senior Prom.
i also agree they kept me from buying that pink camaro.
Aw, that sounds pretty!
Camaro's aren't pretty, they're "bitchin".
Once again, Tim reveals his cross-dressing fetish. Why don't you just put a picture of you in your favorite pumps and cocktail dress on the post? What, are you afraid? We won't judge. I mean, NutraSweet makes tea from his wife's tampons, and Warty steals his neighbor's used pantyhose just like Buffalo Bill. So you're in fine company here.
as a cisgender hetero male with a hetero cisgender female life partner, i object to morehouse's tyranny of sexual assignment, physical and mental oppression, and other bad things
What does "cisgender" mean?
-jcr
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of four remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States, and a member of the Black Ivy League.
Having a 61 acres (25 ha) campus, the college has an enrollment of 3,000 students. The student-faculty ratio of the campus is 16:1 and 100% of the school's tenure-track faculty hold terminal degrees. Along with Clark Atlanta University, Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse School of Medicine and nearby women's college Spelman College, Morehouse is part of the Atlanta University Center.
Morehouse is one of two black colleges in the country to produce a Rhodes Scholar and is the alma mater of multiple famous African-Americans leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., filmmaker Spike Lee, actor Samuel L. Jackson, Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses, and the first African-American mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson, among others.
racist
Hey they are both racist and sexist!
Hey they are both racist and sexist!
double posting is racist
You can say that twice!
Morehouse and less hose, gentlemen.
(Morehouse and less ho's would have been racist, so I didn't post that.)
giving up black taffeta
Racist.
Rather it is simply manners, the customs that lubricates the parts of society.
I won't even consider passing laws to enforce good manners but I will view you as a buffoon, an ignorant rube, a boor if you don't practice them.
Passing laws to enforce good manners would render those manners meaningless anyway.
Isn't good manners enforcement kind of implied in your name, FoE?
My vigilantism is not lawful, so it's okay.
Or maybe an Orthodox Jew.
I recall reading some pop-archaeology article mentioning that the study of body lice indicated people first started wearing clothes X thousands of years ago. But when did the idea of specific clothes for males and females take root?
As a side note, I find it terribly sad how many black Americans have apparently decided discrimination is pretty freaking cool so long as THEY are the ones doing the discriminating. Gay people -- eeeew!
Except that crossdressers aren't necessarily gay, and most gays aren't crossdressers. So I think it's a stretch to say a dress code is anti-gay discrimination. It is anti-nudist discrimination, though.
I have yet to see why a man who wears flower-print shirts is any more of a "threat" than a man whose skin is a few shades darker than my own.
In Hawaii, a flower-print aloha shirt isn't considered effeminate. Hell, I'm wearing a blue aloha shirt with a pink and green ginger flower print now.
It's also ok for big fat party animals.
I will be wearin' Wranglers when beloved boyfriend takes me shootin'. Does that count?
And I am totally straight when with Him too! Well, even when He can't see me 😉
Now wait just a damn minute, who said it was ok for chicks to dress up like dudes, but not the other way around?
The same person who told them it was ok to use the men's during concerts and games when there's a line at the ladies'
But when did the idea of specific clothes for males and females take root?
The first time a hairy fat dude with a boner put a bikini on.
The same person who told them it was ok to use the men's during concerts and games when there's a line at the ladies'
Look, I only did it for my senior class play. I was in character.
Franklin isn't a chick?!?
No way. He is a banned from that college guy.
Yet you think it's okay to ban pajamas. So how's this: "Still, it must be noted that the policy against pajamas is against nature. Men want to dress up in pajamas. You can pass all the rules you want, but men will find a way to wear their red and blue Spiderman jammies on campus."
As noted above, BB, it's about manners and the avoidance of slobdom. Drag doesn't imply carelessness about dress. Just the opposite: A college of drag queens would never stand for deshabille like bare feet and do-rags.
And I agree: Given any opportunity, men will also dress up like Spider-Man.
Hmmm, now how about the wearing of scrubs?
Quite frankly, in residency, that is all I ever wore with and sans whitecoat. I wear them more often than I do "civilian" attire in public. They are comfortable, quick to clean, don't require ironing and socially acceptable. Besides the school of medicine @ Morehouse, why can't the students wear jammies and throw on a labcoat or some other coat?
Also, it seems to me Hugh Hefner made a career out of wearing jammies pretty much all the time, but since he isn't black I assume Morehouse will disregard any input he might have.
(sarcasm off)
First, many pajamas are quite stylish. Maybe not my old flannel things, but some nice silk jammies could class up the dorms.
Second, wearing dresses is not necessarily sexual. It could be, but not always. I have a friend who is quite hetero who sometimes where's a dress. His girlfriend likes it.
Frankly, I think this story is getting far too much play. It's a private school and it's their decision. Period.
Men want to dress up like women.
Speak for yourself, honey.
I think this is a safe place to admit that I wore an old pair of my mother's pantyhose during every one of my peewee football games in 1974-75, because I had read that it was a "lightweight" way to stay warm(er).
Besides, when you're a 9 yr old fatass nosetackle- anything that makes you feel sexy is a plus...
Are you dating anybody now?
Man, Fletch, how did I forget to add old football injury to the list of excuses? (Maybe that's a subsection of doctor's orders.) Thanks.
Tim --
You also forgot pro football stars needing to prove that they're hipper than Johnny Unitas.
If they don't like the rule, they don't have to attend the school. No one cares about other people's personal fetishes. Leave that for your own bedroom. That's what's wrong with society today. Too many people crave attention.
This might make sense regarding overtly sexual acts, but what law of nature is broken if someone with dangly genitalia wears a floral rather than plaid print? Is a male in a knee-length skirt being effeminate, or a manly Scotsman? Is it really necessary to do a gender check before deciding which side of the shirt has the buttons?
While we're at it, what makes the difference between pajamas and daytime clothes -- a lack of zippers? The presence of flannel? When I wear my boyfriend's T-shirts to bed, is that shirt forever branded with a scarlet "P" for "pajama?"
Heaven knows I wouldn't want to commit a fashion faux pas.
Don't worry Jennifer.They don't let people like you attend Morehouse.
The rule is: if Bruce Villanch wears it, it's gay. See? Now you can understand.
I don't think he'd be caught dead in the frumpy duds that Lindsey Graham wears, and if Graham is straight, then so was J. Edgar Hoover.
-jcr
I wear beloved boyfriend's t-shirts, along with my own collection. I think you had the crossdress thing with the Scots.
What clothing from your non-beloved boyfriend do you wear?
I'm assuming that the adjective is there for a PURPOSE. 😉
I calls him beloved kuz I kinda like him 🙂
For some it is not simply a "fetish". It is about identity and let's face it most, if not all, would willingly forgo any attention drawn to them.
I'm not saying it's wrong for men to dress up like women. All I'm saying is it's wrong for men who look like John Cleese to dress up like women.
i would not only say it wrong. its sick and wrong.
But men who look like Rue Paul give me outfit ideas (that I never try).
Hey didn't he run for president or something?
"Heaven knows I wouldn't want to commit a fashion faux pas" IN BED.
That Tim Cavanaugh actually imagines that anybody cares what he thinks about this issue is mind boggling. Tim, get a fucking life!
Morris, you obviously cared enough to read and comment, so I'm not sure what that says about you...
Second!
What I think, Morris, is that you're a good person and I'm happy to have you at Hit & Run.
die Edward.
What - no droopy pants ban?
Where's the droopy pants ban?
Although I support the right of private colleges to set any kind of rule they want, I want to point out that if Bob Jones University or Liberty did this, the media would be all over them - but it's OK for a traditionally black school to "hate". And that sucks.
i'll go out on a limb and say that Bob Jones and Liberty have stricter dress codes than Morehouse and have since their founding. just sayin.
No, what sucks is that the media would be all over Bob Jones or Liberty or any other private school for establishing pretty much any rules they want.
their rules are already very strict, and i doubt there is any need for clarification or revision in their eyes. your point is moot.
I can't wait for the "man tasered by security guard for wearing girl scout uniform" story.
I thinks it's kind of sad that an institute of higher learning has to explain that you're not supposed to wear pajamas all day long. Sheesh, kindegartens dont' have to explain that.
So, when do the people at FIRE get involved? Isn't the clothes one chooses to wear a form of free speech? So, isn't a dress code the same as a speech code with a little stretch?
If this is what the college administrators have to worry about, perhaps, they need to find new administrators.
FIRE won't touch this. If it's in the school code and it's a private university they don't care. They take on public universities and private universities that stifle free expression without official policies or in contravention of their policies. It's the same reason that they don't bother with Bob Jones University or Brigham Young University: both of those openly proclaim their policies and those policies are, at least in part, why people go there. For Morehouse the only issue is that this is a new policy, but it appears that it was made with the input of the student body through official channels. Since it's not a government university, it's a non-issue for FIRE.
Oh and Tim, perhaps a picture of Divine would have been more appropriate. Really. Julie Andrews? Will we all be singing show tunes now?
Just Epi and SugarFree.
Hopefully not Epi. Have you heard the man sing?
Not yet, but he is in Seattle now so it will be in his blood soon.
I guess the crux of the issue is how on earth can you enforce a relatively strict dress code for your private school without a de facto ban on cross-dressing (at least in public). "You can't wear jeans or t-shirts, but a dress and a feather boa is fine." I don't much care for these kind of dress codes myself, but if a bank or law firm can have them...
So I don't know the answer to the problem.
Did they also add a rule against eating dog shit? Or was there already one in place?
racist homophobes
Real racism here.
Does sleeping commando warrant going to class naked?
Is that this thread or another? I am losing track.
Does it really matter? The answer to such a question could easily span more than one thread.
I think it's kinda hypocritical to say "I'm totally for banning pajamas in public, but forbidding people to cross dress in public is just way too far." Well, not so much hypocritical as insanely arbitrary. I can understand the converse argument, the argument that both are OK, and the argument that both are wrong, but why is it OK for a man to wear a cocktail dress in public but not pajamas? I just can't see how any argument that could be used against pajamas in public couldn't also be used against drag in public. Sure, you're going to end up throwing cultural norms into the mix, but saying "screw cultural norms" would automatically open up the pajama-wearing route.
Also, love the Simpsons reference.
Also also, men in drag are hilarious. Especially when it's incredibly obvious, i.e. a 6'4" 300 pound nerd cosplaying as some waif-thin anime sex doll.
Well, I tried to explain it above, but let me put it another way: When I am named President Obama's Behavior Czar and get paid to enforce correct deportment, I will attack what seems to me our overriding national vice:
Americans are slobs. I will create a Department of Sweatpants Elimination. I will have our attorneys general strictly enforce baseball cap quotas. Belts will be worn at all times. Only Church of Jediism initiates with documentation will be allowed the use of hoods. And so on.
But you can wear a dress without being a slob. And I'll be a tolerant behavior czar, fondly remembered in future years for my relative enlightenment.
mr. cavanaugh is usually right on, but hoodies are flippin' awesome.
booo! boooooo!
Walmart would be out of business inside of six months.
I for one welcome our new fabulousness overlord.
So, are you for or against allowing the owners of property to set dress codes? Because public property is still owned, albeit by a kind of vaguely defined set of owners.
If you say no public place should set dress codes, then you're advocating for public nudity. Are you for that?
The solution is to convert as much public property into private property as is possible, and allow the owners to set whatever dress codes they desire.
That said, as one of the alleged "owners" of public property, I'm OK with allowing huge latitude for individuals to wear, or not wear, whatever the heck they want there.
i'd ban sweatpants period. only douchebags wear sweatpants - ever.
Americans are slobs.
You are so anti grunge against your neighbors to the north! Two states away.
The "remember me" thingie is broke.
The "remember me" thingie seems to work when it wants to work, depending on which of my computers I use.
check your cookie settings.
It's a private school. It's their call.
As a transsexual, I see no problem here.
1) It's private property.
2) This law only impacts those who crossdress for the sake of inappropriate attention. While there are many reasons why a man might want to dress like a woman, if the person in question actually has feminine identity then SHE doesn't really belong in a MEN'S school in the first place. You can't have it both ways.
That said, while they are perfectly entitled to have a rigid dress code, I find them to be stupid. What is hurt by a kid showing up for his 8:00 AM Calculus class in pajamas?
While there are many reasons why a man might want to dress like a woman, if the person in question actually has feminine identity then SHE doesn't really belong in a MEN'S school in the first place. You can't have it both ways.
What if she wants to dress up in private, but wear "normal" clothes in public?
What if they want attention and want to be left alone too?
Actually, you won the thread with this'un.
When I teach 8:00 am calculus classes, you won't mind me showing up in my pajamas, then?
It's called glam rock.
For the win!
Wow, is thaqt dude for real er what? I can not over that dude!
RT
http://www.true-privacy.net.tc
Wow, is thaqt dude for real er what? I can not over that dude!
RT
http://www.true-privacy.net.tc
It is hard to hide a hard-on when you're dressed like Minnie Perl .
Thanks for sticking this damn song in my head for the weekend with this article.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p64FvyOBj4
Never mind putting some dressing restrictions in school.
http://next-world-war.blogspot.com
Homer-sexuals?
Blindly loyal sports fans who only have sex with one another?
"all of them homer-sexuals --"
Homer-sexuals ? D-oh !!
Dressing up was always fun because it was a taboo with absolutely no harm. Of course, when your jaw squares, you develop popeye forearms and your hands thicken and calous, it's a hell of a lot harder to feel pretty and you feel pretty ridiculous wearing pretty, delicate things.
"Graham Chapman convinced the rest of our five-man comedy troupe that it was a good idea."
I guess that leaves open the option of them dressing as a drag king. For black men, that means grooming to look like R. Kelly. (For white men, it means grooming to look like any young country singer.)
This story wouldn't even register if we weren't talking about Morehouse, a place where a disproportionate number of gay-bashings have occurred.
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