I've been wearing kilts for only about two years now, and though I've had several friends (mostly the waitresses of the bars I frequent) tease me with little flips that wouldn't even show if I had boxers on, only twice have I had a "serious" incident.

The first was as I was walking into a restaurant as a couple was walking out. They had the initial "what the..." reaction, then we chatted for a couple of minutes. At one point the woman reached down and started to lift the apron. Her husband actually stopped her before I could, saying "you don't even know this guy!". When she told him "He likes it, that's why he wears a kilt", I had to make it very clear that without an invitation it's beyond rude. It's comparable to my lifting her shirt up without warning. As embarassed as that made her, it got worse when her husband agreed with me and he grabbed her shirt and lifted it. At first she was shocked and fell down grabbing her shirt, but then they were both laughing as she was smacking him all the way to their car.

The second was on St. Patrick's Day, so naturally there was drinking involved. I was shooting pool when a woman I know came up and asked the question. (I thought about giving a "show me yours and I'll show you mine" answer, except this woman was a dancer and I had already seen hers). Because we were in a corner and the crowd was at my back, I just smiled with my hands on my hips as she slowly lifted the apron. I could tell she was just going to lift until she saw underwear, but as I was regimental she kept going until she got a shocked look on her face. Let me tell you, having a very hot stripper look under your kilt and yell "Oh my God! I wasn't expecting THAT!" in a crowded bar has it's ups and downs. The rest of the night I had to be on my guard for uninvited lifters. On the up side, there were a few really good show me/show you moments.

So depending on the circumstance, kilt lifters are one of the blessings/curses we will hopefully have to always live with.