Advice/support regarding attitudes towards kilt-wearing

**Robin** · 21st January 06, 07:52 AM

You think people stare at you like you are different...well if you want to wear a kilt you are different.

So true...it's an inevitable part of the deal!

enjoy! :mrgreen:

**Eujeankilt** · 21st January 06, 07:57 AM

Originally Posted by Mike n NC

Beery, everything you have mentioned to this point is coming from inside your head. Your perceptions of how people are perceiving you. Settle down, get out of your own head, carry yourself with confidence (doesn't mean staring anyone down) and get on with life... Shortly you will even forget you are wearing a kilt.
Mike

Beery,

The other side of this is that the reactions that you see are in THEIR heads. They are reacting to what they perceive as an anomaly in their world view. Your kilt challenges their cherished pattern of how the world should be. It's not personal. Once people have seen you several times, it becomes "normal" to see you kilted. Like many have said, when you don't don the kilt, they notice and wonder why you are wearing pants.

I tended to worry about what others thought of me. One of the lesser reasons I started wearing a kilt was to deliberately put myself outside the norm and draw attention to myself. It's been good practice and I definitely have more confidence. When I notice people looking at me I tend to walk taller and carry myself with pride. This all comes from within, not from anyone else.

Wear your kilt, man. They'll get over it, and if they don't, it's their problem.

Dale

**Beery** · 21st January 06, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by Mike n NC

You think people stare at you like you are different...

I have no problem with people thinking I'm different. The problem I have is with people thinking I'm somehow horrifying, LOL.

**Robin** · 21st January 06, 08:45 AM

They have a problem...not you ;)

**Lee** · 21st January 06, 08:46 AM

Just keep wearing it, Sir.
I'm coming up to a full year kilted full-time, and I no longer worry about what people think or say. Sure, I did at first, but the pleasure of wearing the kilt out-weighed the nervousness.
Lee

**bubba** · 21st January 06, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by Beery

I have no problem with people thinking I'm different. The problem I have is with people thinking I'm somehow horrifying, LOL.

There's an up side to that y'know. You won't be bombarded with stupid questions that get on your last nerve.

**cessna152towser** · 21st January 06, 10:21 AM

I would add that whether you perceive a comment as positive or negative is very much in your own mind. As an example, two teenage guys walk past you and you overhear one saying to the other "Hey that guy's wearing a black skirt". If you are now to kilt wearing you could easily construe this as a put down intended to draw attention to you and embarrass you. However I would now construe his need to draw his companion's attention as meaning "that's cool, wish you and I had the confidence to wear black kilts."

**Beery** · 21st January 06, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by cessna152towser

I would add that whether you perceive a comment as positive or negative is very much in your own mind. As an example, two teenage guys walk past you and you overhear one saying to the other "Hey that guy's wearing a black skirt". If you are now to kilt wearing you could easily construe this as a put down intended to draw attention to you and embarrass you. However I would now construe his need to draw his companion's attention as meaning "that's cool, wish you and I had the confidence to wear black kilts."

Don't get me wrong. I've been taking giggling and anything with a neutral tone to it (i.e. a simple "look at that guy" comment) as positive. What I'm bothered by is the horrified looks. It's hard to misconstrue a look of horror or disdain.

**Blu (Ontario)** · 21st January 06, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by Beery

Don't get me wrong. I've been taking giggling and anything with a neutral tone to it (i.e. a simple "look at that guy" comment) as positive. What I'm bothered by is the horrified looks. It's hard to misconstrue a look of horror or disdain.

I know..... and I've had my share of stunned looks too... some of them from specific ethnic groups, some from slack-jawed yokels,

others from people who just feel compelled to make exaggerated affectations. Collectively, I've ceased caring about all of them. I refuse to allow their ignorance to influence how I live my life. Life is way too short!