So today I walked into this discount shoe chain store. I was just browsing to see what they had, the prices didn't seem to be any cheaper than buying online or at the mall, so I don't understand its appeal. Anyway I happened to be wearing my pink Converse high-tops, my mother still makes a snide comment when she sees them, but I still really can't comprehend how in 2013 it's somehow such a big deal for a guy to wear a freaking color. I wore them because I thought they went best with my outfit, not to attract attention and make some sort of statement about gender. Choosing to wear a certain color shouldn't be a statement about gender. And so I'm just walking down an aisle, and I hear the loud whiny voice of a bratty little girl pointing and whining "haha look he has pink". She literally repeated this same line about 6 or 7 times. She was there with her father and instead of telling her how it's not nice to point and comment about people, I saw him looking at me like there was clearly something wrong with me. There were all employees and customers standing around there too and clearly noticed. Now it's not the little brat's fault, clearly she was being raised in a backward household, as is typical of people in the particular area where this store was (the south side of town, mostly fat white suburban conservative Republicans who dress like Jersey Shore guidos). But it's still bothersome in 2013 to know that children are being raised with such idiotic ideas about whether you're allowed to wear a certain color. Anyway, I just walked out of the store, I felt like everyone was staring at me. An embarrassing experience. I won't be back to that shopping plaza again (it includes a Target where I also had a rude experience today). I feel like some horrible hipster/latte liberal elitist, but I really just find the clientele there to be culturally repulsive to me. Not to be overly stereotypical or anything, but I think from now on in choosing stores I'm going to use the criterion of "would a stereotypical gay guy shop here?" I'm used to shopping at stores where all the guys at least look and dress gay (and some of them really are!), not stores where I stand out as weird for not being dressed like shit the way heterosexual men around here are. I refuse to give up my love of color because of heterosexual insecurities. :newcolor:
Hm. I must say that you're taking this quite maturely in your own way. Cheers to you. The last paragraph may be a bit over the top, though. Shop where you want; if you're treated badly, they don't deserve your patronage. For what it's worth, pink shoes sound cool. Hot pink, neon pink, baby pink...? I'm curious, haha.
I have a lot of really bright clothes. I hate drab colors. It's pretty hard for men, as so many places have such boring things, and the ones that have more exotic things, I can't afford...like Neiman Marcus and Saks. But it's fun to look. Thrift stores and vintage shops are my usual places, sometimes etsy and ebay.
As someone who looks out of place in every possible scenario (and, when younger, bullied incessantly for it) - and I know you're more ranting than looking for suggestions, let alone from someone of my type - but might I suggest the "I will wear, be, look, however the f**k I want and you will be fine with it," attitude? Like my favorite meme ever: (pardon the language btw XD) Honestly, what harm are the pink shoes doing? Inanimate objects hurt that much, do they? Screw 'em. Give 'em a :rolle: and assure them they'll survive (in non-verbal body language if nothing else XD) such a traumatizing experience as someone wearing freaking pink shoes - hard as that may sound to survive! :rolle:
I find it funny that people are insecure about what color of clothes someone wears. There's guys in my exercise class who wear highlighter color (pink being one of the colors) shirts and/or wear bright color shoes. No gives a damn that they are wearing pink, wear what colors you like!
They're not like hot pink or especially 'girly' imo, they're just Converse high-top sneakers that happen to be pink. I have them in a bunch of other colors, but pink worked best with my outfit, which was blue-pink-white plaid shorts and a turquoise v-neck. So it wasn't like pink overkill either.
This topic is perfect because I just made a mental note, after seeing them in a video I just watch, that I wanted these solid dark pink shorts. Personally, I love earth tones, but there is definitely still lack of strong masculine qualities in my style. I honestly couldn't care less. The way I see it; even if someone gives me a judgemental look for the way that I dress or express myself, I will still be the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc, person that they have been exposed to that when against the norm. That little girl will find seeing a man wearing pink far less amusing the next time around. Anyway, I wouldn't let it get to you. I think I remember your Gay Pride pictures and anyone that has bright yellow skinny jeans obviously has great style. (*hug*)
First of all, I'm jealous that you have pink Converse. This is something I've always wanted but, after trying them on, I can't pull high-tops off. Anyway, I work a second job where its basically an all-female environment and a lot of the customers come in with kids. Not only are my clothing choices questioned, but also my general existence. I once had a little one ask me "why are you a boy?" (Ugh! So precious!:dry I'm pretty sure she wasn't trying to get metaphysical on me either. Most of the mothers either ignore or laugh off their children's inquiries. I get how it can be annoying. As for clothing shopping, I'm sucker for good prices. I'll shop anywhere that has clothing at reasonable prices and decent styles. The people around me will just have to deal with me. :lol:
Someone at university pointed out my pink shoes once (they aren't even pink, they just have pink lace eyelets and some other minor details). I smiled and just said "Jealous?" and everyone laughed at him.
I just asked my soon-to-be 13 sister if she'd stare at a boy who wore pink Converse shoes as she said, "I wouldn't care about it," and when I said what happened to you, she said, "that's mean!"
Many years ago, when I was just becoming comfortable with my gayness, I wore a shirt that said "Ain't no time to hate" and had two interlocked male symbols on it, to a shopping mall in a rural part of Ohio. (To me, it made a statement if you paid attention, but was also somewhat subtle, which is what I was after.) I was talking to the sales attendant and didn't really pay attention, but later, my friend told me that some guy had stared, and stared, and stared and then gotten a disgusted look on his face and walked away (It obviously took him some time to figure it out.) Now that's different from your situation in that it wasn't pointed out to everyone... but *now*, if someone did that to me, I'd probalby do something akin to what Ridiculous said... either "Jealous?" or "Yes, I really like them, thank you." Or something else that just simply normalizes it. Same thing if someone calls you "faggot"... you just go "Yes, so what's your point?" If you don't allow someone to shame you, and normalize whatever it is they're trying to single you out for... it pretty quickly deflates their whole ability to shame you, and in most cases, ends up making them look dumb. But... all that said, I almost never go into shopping malls, and when I do, I'm generally somewhere between disgusted and horrified by the people, the prices, and the wares for sale
I would recommend something similar to what the others have said. Just coming back with "Yes, they are pink; you have good eyes." would be enough to shut her up. *sigh* parents these days.
