How you should dress and look is all dictated by social norms that are basically... pointless. There is nothing morally wrong or illicit about not following social norms. Back in ancient times, it was the social norm for both men and women to wear robes. Hell, a guy having his ear peirced marked him as homosexual less than a quarter century ago.
Could you get beat up for not obeying them? Yes, but you can also be beat up for the color of your skin and you have no ability to change that. The fashion industry regularly makes billions of dollars by crossing the boundaries of social norms.
As far as feeling ashamed, guilty, and embarrassed about it, you shouldn't. You don't owe an explination to anyone, with the exception of your diety if you have one. My opinion is, if there is a deity that is all seeing, all knowing, all powerful, all loving he's probably not going to base your eternal existance on whether you chose to wore pants or a skirt, boxers or a thong, wool or silk...
On an interesting sidenote, the bible does read that it is immoral to wear clothing made out of two different kinds of fabric. (Duet 12:11 'Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together') So anybody who has worn polyester (among other things), has opposed God's will.
Any guilt, stress or negativity you put on yourself for this is undue. You are beating yourself up for not following a set of invisible rules that have no consequences (other than social deviant status). Nobody can give you permission to dress how you want except you. And as far as 'lying about who you are' and all that crap... so does every person who wears make-up, a wig, or fashionably relevant: spanx, wonderbra or slimming clothing. So whats the difference between wearing a bra because you like the material or wearing a bra because you want your A-cup to look like a C-Cup?
This was a long note, so here's something to smile about... How long before this social norm gets shattered? Well, you won't have to wait forever:
Is it normal And What is it about wearing lingerie or
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How you should dress and look is all dictated by social norms that are basically... pointless. There is nothing morally wrong or illicit about not following social norms. Back in ancient times, it was the social norm for both men and women to wear robes. Hell, a guy having his ear peirced marked him as homosexual less than a quarter century ago.
Could you get beat up for not obeying them? Yes, but you can also be beat up for the color of your skin and you have no ability to change that. The fashion industry regularly makes billions of dollars by crossing the boundaries of social norms.
As far as feeling ashamed, guilty, and embarrassed about it, you shouldn't. You don't owe an explination to anyone, with the exception of your diety if you have one. My opinion is, if there is a deity that is all seeing, all knowing, all powerful, all loving he's probably not going to base your eternal existance on whether you chose to wore pants or a skirt, boxers or a thong, wool or silk...
On an interesting sidenote, the bible does read that it is immoral to wear clothing made out of two different kinds of fabric. (Duet 12:11 'Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together') So anybody who has worn polyester (among other things), has opposed God's will.
Any guilt, stress or negativity you put on yourself for this is undue. You are beating yourself up for not following a set of invisible rules that have no consequences (other than social deviant status). Nobody can give you permission to dress how you want except you. And as far as 'lying about who you are' and all that crap... so does every person who wears make-up, a wig, or fashionably relevant: spanx, wonderbra or slimming clothing. So whats the difference between wearing a bra because you like the material or wearing a bra because you want your A-cup to look like a C-Cup?
This was a long note, so here's something to smile about... How long before this social norm gets shattered? Well, you won't have to wait forever:
http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2008/07/are_you_ready_for_men_in_skirt_1.html