It’s interesting how the situation flips somewhat for men in adulthood. In most white collar office jobs it is totally unacceptable for anyone to wear shorts, flip flops, and tank tops. However, women are allowed or encouraged to wear skirts, strappy shoes, and sleeveless blouses. In hotter climates, I’ve known a few men that have seriously considered wearing skirts because pants are so uncomfortable, but the social stigma is just too much. Of course, those men still wouldn’t be pressured to wear make-up daily too. I have no idea how men can wear an entire suit, especially a jacket, in subtropical and tropical climates. Thankfully I work in a field that does not pressure women away from wearing pants, but again pants suck in the subtropics. Plus, women’s business casual pants are almost a completely different thing than men’s pants with regards to fitting closely and being made of thin to nearly sheer materials.
I hope this doesn’t feel like sealioning, more that I feel like men need to be shown how the patriarchy is bad for everybody. Blue collar dress codes are at least mostly centered around safety. While it seems white collar dress codes are mostly about “professionalism”, which is mostly just code for gender norms, misogyny, and patriarchy.
Empathy begins with relating to others experiences by comparison. I did not intend to minimize or be dismissive of your experience in the way your reply to me was. They are two sides of an unfairly balanced coin. Most men are never going to be able to really empathize with high heels and make-up, but they can understand being stuffed into uncomfortable and impractical clothes. We should be able to commiserate and relate without being dismissive and hostile.