Thursday 23 June 2011

My kilt of choice. My choice to kilt.



The devolved nationalist government is talking about banning trousers and obliging Scots-born men to wear kilts. I welcome this. I have been wearing a kilt for some time. It is symbolic and will stregnthen our sense of citizenship when the inevitable time comes. Revolution. In our thinking. Independence.

When Southerners turn their eyes towards The North and the Hebrides, the first thing that strikes them is the large number of men with uncovered knees. Often, in the trousered South, this is seen as an act of foolishness, a disregard for Highland thistle and a form of oppression. Is gender integration not as oppressive as gender segregation? Why should, their glares demand, Scots men - heterosexual men - look indistinguisable, sartorially speaking, from Scots women?

I personally don't think it is. Of course I'm a sexist and heterosexist first and I believe in the division of the sexes along appropriate lines as much as the next man - or woman, but I'm also a Scotsman. So I uncover my knees, not once or twice for Riverdancing, but every time I go out in public.

"It is my kilt, my choice!" I cry in defiance!

Sadly no one appears to notice.

If only I coud be someone else, I catch myself thinking. Someone striding down the High Street in Camden Town in London where heads would turn and I could scream silently "Look at me! LOOK AT ME!!"

5 comments:

  1. Jock, thanks so much for writing this blog post. As an English Het, my heart goes out to you. This is such an insightful perspective, we don't get to read about kilts and the Scottish Het community in the Western-dominated media. Would you consider writing posts for a wider audience, who wouldn't be quite so aware of Kilt Identity issues as you clearly are? Thanks again, just wow. I wish I had a kilt now!

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  2. My husband and I were commenting just yesterday evening (from the butch confines of our mancave) that we need more men in kilts.

    He and I (of the distinctly non-het variety) applaud your mission and support your efforts.

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  3. You ROCK Sir! I wish I had some Scottish blood so I could wear one too and with pride!!

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  4. There are tears in my eyes. How long must the silent struggle of kilt-wearers be ignored? You speak for us all, largely because you are a white heterosexual dude and speaking for marginalized groups is how you roll.

    ::solemn fist-bump::

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