What now is hidden may once again rear its ugly head. Well, it’s time to leave this world of ball exposing short-shorts and return to the present day where men’s upper thighs, unpredictable penises, and hairy gonads are kept safely under wraps.
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People tended to go commando in the Seventies –a lot more than they do now.
#80s gay men fashion skin
While things may have been better contained by the skin tight denim (versus loose terry-cloth or polyester), men tended to cut them oh, so very short. Trust me – nobody wants that.Īnd let us not forget the jean shorts, perhaps the biggest perpetrators of unwanted male exposure. Sooner or later, Seals & Croft will show up in a pair, and before too long, even Paul Williams. I use it as a cautionary tale: You may want male short-shorts to return, but understand that it’s not just good looking guys like Robbie Benson who will be wearing them. What’s changed in our culture that revealing shorts for women is seen as good (which it objectively is), while revealing shorts for men are verboten? Armchair sociologists needed.Ĭool points will be awarded for anyone that knows where this photograph comes from. The 1970s and ’80s were prime years for rock and the stage allowed Freddie Mercury to wear some of the most memorable looks in music (and fashion) history. Whereas, today there’s a huge difference – shorts for women/girls are markedly shorter. You’ll note from this 1979 Schwinn advert that short length was basically equal for men and women. Unfortunately, most men have physiques that could benefit from concealment. The Master Tailors male customer is entirely emasculated by his wifes control of his consumption, incapable of developing any. All clothing – not just shorts – were tight fitting and designed to leave very little to the imagination. We’re talking, heavy metal perms, spiky mohawks, slicked-back haircuts, buzzcuts, and casual side-parts. Maybe more important than the outfit itself was the hair on the head top. Perhaps we’ve gotten a little prudish over the years. As such, ’80s men’s clothing can mean everything from Air Jordan sneakers to baggy hip-hop silhouettes with a boombox, to athleisure and preppy fashion. Of course, people were pretty comfortable with their bodies back then. In Seventies shorts, however, you’d be lucky to wedge in your house key. You can basically store food for the winter in a hefty pair of cargo shorts.
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As godawful as modern day shorts are, the pocket space is plentiful. Some people called the color fluorescent, but they meant the same thing. Perhaps they were also referring to all the neon people were wearing at the time. One more problem with these tight fitting short-shorts is that the pockets become useless. The 1980s had music artists singing songs about wearing sunglasses at night and about having to put them on because the future’s so bright. However, they promptly re-arrested him, charged him with “associating with idle and vicious persons,” and found a new magistrate to try the case.Jack Wagner, soap star (General Hospital) When the magistrate noted that the state’s masquerade law was intended only to criminalize costumed dress used as a cover for another crime, the police were forced to let the man go. In Brooklyn in 1913, for instance, a person who we would today call a transgender man was arrested for “masquerading in men’s clothes,” smoking and drinking in a bar. That these laws were often ill-suited to the task didn’t matter.
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recounts in his encyclopedic book Gaylaw, “by the beginning of the 20 century, gender inappropriateness… was increasingly considered a sickness and public offense.”Įxisting laws against costumed dress, even if they didn’t specifically mention cross dressing-collectively referred to as “masquerade laws”-were increasingly pressed into service around the country to punish gender variance.
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The state originally intended the law to punish rural farmers, who had taken to dressing like Native Americans to fight off tax collectors.