Ranjit K.

Hi Ranjit,
I hadn't seen the ping when I wrote the invite to the discussion group. I can see where one might assume that conservative people would be down on the idea of men wearing hosiery. But, that's probably due to the false image that liberals paint of us. We're not mindless conformists who put the 'beat down' on anything that's different. I'm sure you're aware of this too, if you are also a conservative.

One other thing might be that conservatives typically oppose things that go against morality (at least publically... we're all fallible human beings), and a superficial view of men wearing pantyhose would assume that it's some sort of 'fetish' thing done for sexual purposes. Once you move beyond that, and begin to see it as a clothing choice made for one of several legitimate reasons (i.e., comfort, leg support, warmth, improve leg appearance, etc.) then it's no longer something that is automatically going to be anti-conservative in nature.

Actually, liberals tend to be more harsh on non-conformity than conservatives. Liberals define what the ideals that society should strive for, and then condemn those who are seen as standing in the way of that. Look at socialism, Marxism, the environmental movement, 'global warming/greenhouse gas control', etc, etc.)

If pantyhose for men were portrayed as a non-sexual fashion choice that allows a person to determine for himself how best to control problems with leg circulation, you would have conservatives lining up to prevent the liberals from trying to forcibly take away our nylons to reduce the carbon footprint of our petro-chemically dependent attire. (haha).

Sorry for the esoteric rant.