haikujaguar: The Ways of Aliens

M. C. A. Hogarth (

haikujaguar) wrote,
@ 2007-08-18 16:54:00

Current mood:	O_O
Entry tags:	ai-naidar, meta-conversations

The Ways of Aliens
"What do pants have to do with anything?" Shame asks.

The Calligrapher shakes his head. "I am not certain."

"You can borrow some of mine if you like."

"I'm not sure they count, as they are voluminous enough to seem skirts from a distance."

Shame leans against the door frame, one brow cocked. "Then... what? Would she have you in a Guardian's trousers? So that people can mistake you for someone who knows his way around a weapon?"

"I... am not certain," the Calligrapher says again, ears flicking back. "I think it has something to do with... the perception of masculinity."

They both look my way.

"The aunerai scribe wears pants," Shame observes. "And yet she is a woman."

"Truly the ways of the aunera are inexplicable," the Calligrapher says.

Stardancer Home.

(Post a new comment)

	artfulruin 2007-08-18 10:00 pm UTC (link)
	This had me laughing until I had tears in my eyes. Yes, dear sirs. (How do you imply "sir" to the Calligrapher or Shame?) We are inexplicable. I even despair of us sometimes. (Reply to this)

	stokerbramwell 2007-08-18 10:20 pm UTC (link)
	"What do pants have to do with anything?" Shame asks. Best. Quote. Ever. (Reply to this)

	samhenderson 2007-08-18 10:26 pm UTC (link)
	Oh. So. Funny. (Reply to this)

	So true aureth 2007-08-18 10:59 pm UTC (link)
	"Truly the ways of the aunera are inexplicable," the Calligrapher says. Even to us, most of the time. (Reply to this)

	sneakingyoda 2007-08-18 11:32 pm UTC (link)
	lower lip quivers, and she tries to resist falling in love with them Morgan likes pants too! she blurts out. (Reply to this)

A note to the confused pair:

dark_blade
2007-08-19 02:32 am UTC (link)

There are male aunera who wear "skirts".. sarongs, kilts, so on and so forth. 'Tis not all aunera, or even all skirts.. however, pants are usually deemed more utilitarian than lower garments that are not split.

Then there are hakama, which rather resemble the pants that seem to be skirts unless one moves a great deal or takes a long stride. I should like to acquire a set, someday..

For some cultures here, it is a holdover of gender boundries. For quite some time, women and girls were not allowed to wear pants. Or rather, they were only fitting as undergarments for skirts and dresses. Until recent decades, even when they were somewhat approved of for sporting activities or heavy cleaning, girls still could only wear skirts and dresses to school. Girls wearing pants were of questionable character. Someone more knowledgeable than I would have to explain Victorian morals and the holdovers from that time period.

In short.. one perception of skirts is that they are frilly and feminine, and slacks/pants/trousers are masculine and indicate being ready to work.

Unless, of course, they are low slung and so tight as to appear painted on. In which case it often illustrates a different sort of willingness altogether.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	Re: A note to the confused pair: haikujaguar 2007-08-19 02:42 am UTC (link)
	The two exchange glances. "Is it then that women are not expected to work?" the Calligrapher asks. "And is calligraphy not considered work?" Shame adds, both brows lifted. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: A note to the confused pair:

dark_blade
2007-08-19 03:04 am UTC (link)

Hnh. I should not attempt to clarify what I have often found to be foolishness when so tired.

Calligraphy is considered work in a fashion. It is my understanding that those who pen formal invitations for weddings are well compensated for their time and effort. Then there are areas in which it is not so well respected, such as lettering comics. It is -vital-, for how can one understand what is being said when the dialog cannot be read? But there are programs and typesets for it now, and it is often not done by hand anymore. With a few exceptions, calligraphy almost falls more into the general area of graphic design... as a result, it is more often a hobby of enthusiasts these days than an actual position. It.. aie, this gets into the whole perception of the arts and visual and written works and that which takes place muchly in the mind. To some, REAL work is manual, or things like doctors and nurses and teachers and scientists and computer programmers. I don't understand why arts and music are often not viewed as "real work." Perhaps it is in part due to a predominance of dabblers who proclaim them to be such without putting full effort into it.

Please mind, I do not consider such efforts by any who actually work at it to be "mere" anything. It's just.. a regrettably common perception. I ran into it often before my hands degraded to the point that continuing to pursue sequential art became a fool's errand. "Yes, but what will you DO?" "You're going to spend -THAT- on a college to do ART? And that's not even real art!" It.. is often disenheartening.

As for women and working, there are a variety of conflicting viewpoints. Women have long worked, though many fields have been closed to them for centuries until the last one or two. They've just.. done so in a narrowed list of fields compared to men, and often had to do so in impractical clothes. Girls working in factories wore skirts and dresses, though their sleeves were either short or tight, and their hair often cut short if not pinned back well enough, lest it be caught in machinery to a fatal end. Personally, I think many manual labors, like trying to scrub floors in a long flowing skirt would be an effort in frustration, but -most- of my long skirts are rather nice and not ones I would risk around chemicals. I have ruined too many dark garments while cleaning with bleach solution as it is. :/ I've also learned that many ceramic glazes stain surprisingly well, even when not fired.

Someone else here informs me that it's quite possible, though obnoxious in the European variety of skirts with their fullness and such, but she's managed to do so quite successfully in garments more similar to saris. Uhm, it's a draped garment that goes around the waist a few times and then back up across the torso.

Apologies for the mangled grammar and spelling.. it is late and I have taken pain medications.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Just to be more confusing: archangelbeth 2007-08-19 03:20 am UTC (link)
	If teachers were "real work," they would be paid more... College teachers are closer to "real work" than grade-school teachers, but even they don't get the fees that computer people do. growf, mutter, grump Now, as a note... Me? I like guys in robes, most times. And long hair. But if I go into that longer, I'll get very incoherent, because it's my bedtime. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Just to be more confusing: dark_blade 2007-08-19 03:26 am UTC (link)
	Teaching is considered real work... it's just often poorly paid work. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: A note to the confused pair:

dark_blade
2007-08-19 03:24 am UTC (link)

*Frustrated sigh* Such that I forgot -why- viewpoints conflict.

Women are supposed to be somewhat decorative. Skirts, taken off the cuff, imply.. girly. Not even necessarily feminine, but throw like a girl, sissy, etc. When someone says "Well we know who wears the pants in THAT family" it often implies that the female partner is in control where her husband OUGHT to be, that he is somehow lacking. Which.. oh, I see. It used to be that a woman who wore men's garments was of questionable virtue, and earlier than THAT was guilty of heresy, for taking a man's role in something was to argue that she felt God had made a wrong choice in creating her female. Thus, heresy. But that slipped off some and it just was that a woman who didn't wear long skirts was of questionable virtue, but in the aforementioned idiom, she's already married, and thus of less questionable virtue.

.. Now my head hurts. Stupid country. Continent. Set of ideas. No, it doesn't really make sense. There is a trace of why it is so, logical or otherwise, and it can be followed to give you the whys.. but it's still illogical.

There was something I'd meant to add, and I have lost it. *She sighs, raking her hand back through her hair, though immediately regrets the action.* I will share it if I can recall it later.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: A note to the confused pair:

manycolored
2007-08-19 01:42 pm UTC (link)

There have been eras and cultures in which women are expected to act as idle ornaments (in addition to bearing and raising children and managing the household) to indicate that the male who provides for them can support such a thing. It gets ridiculous, because most can't support such a thing; most women aren't called to be Decorations; and they are expected to seem ornamental to all outward appearances while covertly performing a great deal of hard and economically necessary labor.

So the skirts display profligacy with resources (many many yards of expensive fabrics and all the labor that goes into creating them and even putting them on) and also demonstrate that the person wearing them must be idle, since her agility and stamina would be so hampered by them if she tried to do work.

Even in this culture, where our clothes are quite simple, if I wear a skirt, I have to move in a more restricted way to keep certain anatomical bits covered, and pull the garment out of the way to protect it from damage in all sorts of situations.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: A note to the confused pair:

stryck
2007-08-19 02:48 pm UTC (link)

Actually, skirts can be very practical in some situations as well. Unless you're going for full decoration, it can be made very easily. It protects the legs without lots of extra tailoring, and, for women, is much easier to manage when using the bathroom outdoors. A basic skirt can be hiked up much more easily than pant legs can be rolled, and can also be cupped in one's arms for carrying capacity.

In other words, in a farming society, skirts for women actually makes sense.

Pants were created for male anatomy. Even today, women's pants tend to be fairly unpractical.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Pants vs. skirts

ysabetwordsmith
2007-08-19 04:18 am UTC (link)

Pants mean you have to take seriously the person wearing them. We have a saying, "who wears the pants in this house," meaning who is in charge. Someone in skirts is often considered to be a person that nobody is obliged to take seriously. The frillier the outfit in general, the softer or fuzzier or more flowing, the more the wearer is considered an ornament or pet than a person of substance; because such things invite looking and touching. Serious attire is cut straighter and closer (but not clingy) and made of crisper fabrics in darker colors. This is why businesswomen tend to dress similarly to men. Conversely, though, bright colors and skirts or other fripperies can be signs of creativity and freedom. There are freespirited (and sexually confident) men who will wear things like batik-dyed sarongs to express their verve.

There are actually whole books on this sort of thing. Those and the etiquette books (which almost nobody reads anymore) are the closest thing aunerai have to the Book of Precedents.

(Reply to this)

	kemonoart 2007-08-19 04:22 am UTC (link)
	I've never had the impression that the Calligrapher was anything but masculine and quietly powerful with a sense of serenity, regardless of what article of clothing hangs from his hips. ;) (Reply to this)(Thread)

	lotos_rose 2007-08-19 02:11 pm UTC (link)
	This friend speaks my mind. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Extraordinary flavors ysabetwordsmith 2007-08-19 02:45 pm UTC (link)
	Well, yes, but the Calligrapher has an extraordinary flavor of masculinity that I've found to be extraordinarily rare: he's secure enough in his identity to express himself in colorful, gentle, and elegant ways -- confident that his masculinity is sufficient that nobody will mistake him for effeminate, no matter what he's wearing or doing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	laturner 2007-08-19 05:27 am UTC (link)
	LOL! If they ever figure us out, they'll have to explain it to us... (Reply to this)

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