Go topless on the beach

This one is for my little brother who is going on vacation with us and tries not to wear a shirt whenever possible (he learned it from my dad). In the 1920's and 30's it was illegal for men to be shirtless in public. The government officials at the time thought that they had to protect women and children from such an indecent sight. Men disagreed and decided to do it anyway. In 1934, 8 men were fined a dollar each for going topless at Coney Island. This same year the first shirtless man appeared in the movie "It Happened One Night," causing quite a stir. In 1935, New Jersey officials were feeling similarly unhappy. They arrested 42 shirtless men and gained 84$. In 1936, in Winchester, NY, men were finally allowed to go topless, the city rented out swimsuits and realized that the less swimsuit the less money it would cost them, so in the interest of the economy men could now show a little chest. New York was also the first place in the U.S. where it became legal for women to go topless. in 1986, seven topless women were arrested, in 1992 the supreme court took their case and ruled that it was legal for women to go topless in New York. It is legal for men and women to go topless in 33 states but some cities in these states say differently. In Tennessee, Indiana, and Utah it is specifically illegal to show the female breast. The rest of the states have ambiguous laws. Sometimes women are arrested for going topless in places where it is legal and won court cases against the state.

Clark Gable Topless in the 1934 film "It Happened One Night"

swimming in the buff

Until the mid 1800's men swum pretty much entirely in the buff. Their were a few countries such as japan where men wore bottoms to swim, but places like England men swam naked. In the mid 1800s swim trunks that looked similar to the ones worn today appeared, though slightly shorter. Despite the new swim clothes men bathed naked in London right into the beginning of the 1900s when swimming in coed  groups was popularized. Swimsuits were originally made out of stretched wool, because it absorbed less water than many other fabrics. For a short time some swimsuits were made out of rubber and then nylon took over in the late 1930s. In the early 1900s men wore swimsuits that went all the way from elbow to knee, these suits lost their arms first and then the top began to shrink back down, completely disappearing and leaving men with swim short that they started with. With the fabric shortage during WWI and II trunks got even shorter In the mid 1950's modern swimsuit fabrics were introduced to the market. In the 1960s the Australian company Speedo created the smallest of all, the brand became a synechdoche for all swim bottoms of this style. The hippies revived swim suits that had tops and tried pretty much everything. In the 1990's board shorts were popularized. Loose and long these are still the prefered style for men in the U.S.A

1860's painting of mens swimwear, Frédéric Bazille’s Summer Scene 1869, Oil on canvas Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts

1880s swimwear

men in 1910

1920s

Squirrels worst nightmare

Annie Oakley began shooting at the age eight, practicing with a loaded rifle from the house on an unfortunate squirrel who happened to be on the front fence. She cleanly disappeared the squirrels head saving the meat for squirrel stew. As she grew older news of her skills traveled and a local man set up a thanksgiving competition between her and a traveling professional marksman. The young Annie won the competition by one pigeon. Annie and the marksman stayed in contact and were later married. Together they joined the wild west show, becoming one of the favorite acts. Oakley would shoot a cigarette out of her husbands mouth or a dime out of his fingers. Her most famous act became shooting holes in playing cards. Although Annie was an amazing shot, a skill considered very manly, she enjoyed being feminine and dressing in dresses.

Pink is more decisive and better for boys

For a very long time both boys and girls were dressed the same up until about six or seven years old. They wore white and they wore gowns. This was practical for a lot of reasons but mainly because you can bleach white clothing and babies are very messy little creatures. Gender norms are constantly being redefined and marketing departments like to take advantage of this. When colored baby clothing became widely available stores and magazines began giving suggestions for how you should dress which sex baby. In 1918,an article in Earnshaw's Infants' Department, suggested that, "The generally accepted rule is pink for boys, and blue for girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." Their were all kinds of suggestions about who should wear what color and eventually, just because, pink became the color for girls and blue for boys. Blue versus pink didn't matter so much to marketing companies, the differentiation did. Companies could now sell pink and blue furniture, when a couple had a girl baby they would buy all pink furniture and when they had a boy a year later they had to buy all new accessories, making for more sales.

Cheerleading practice: no girls allowed!

Cheer leading began in the late 1800s as a males only activity. The young men attending sports games yelled organized cheers from the bleachers. A few years later a Princeton graduate moved to the university of Minnesota and started organized cheering there. Princeton announced three official cheer leaders in 1987, they were all men. Eventually an area of the bleachers was designated for cheer leaders. Women began joining cheer leading in the 1920s. During World War I and II, when large numbers of men were away at war, women became the primary cheer leaders. When men returned from war, their was a push to ban women from cheer leading at many schools. People argues that it was too masculine of a sport for women and promoted male qualities such as a loud voice and harsh language. The women were not daunted and continued to participate in cheer leading. Because of the feminine stereotype cheer leading had been changed from masculine and gallant to cute and feminine so many men left the sport. Throughout the rest of the 20th century cheer leading became progressively more dance oriented and in the 1980s ever more dangerous elements of gymnastics were incorporated.

How macho are your high heels?

I have met very few men who would be caught dead wearing heels, even if they are willing many profess the improbability of being able to walk in them at all without practice. Heel's started off with functionality in mind, but they weren't for walking. Small heels on the back of one's shoe were perfect for staying steady in stirrups. These heels made it much easier to stand and shoot a bow from horseback. European men and a few women adopted these heels for multiple reasons, they made one taller, they were a fad, but most of all they were not functional. The ability to wear frivolous footwear conveyed  status. In fact one of the men most well known for his stylish high heels was King Louis XIV. He was so obsessed with the shoes as a status symbol that he made it a law that only nobility could wear red heeled high heels. The shoes were completely impractical in the muddy streets of the time period. Women adopted high heels more popularly in the 1630s when they began adding masculine elements to their clothing.

Fruity mixed drinks are for risk takers only

One of the earliest definitions of a cocktail as an alcoholic drink appeared in the May 13, 1806, edition of The Balance and Colombian Repository, where the editor answered the question "what is a cocktail?"" a Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.” The fruity mixed drinks we are more familiar with today began developing during prohibition. During prohibition lower quality alcohols were available. Moonshine that could literally make you go blind, or kill you, sometimes made it into the speakeasies. People started adding fruit juice, honey, sugar, or whatever else they could think of to cover up the taste of some pretty raunchy alcohols. The sweeter taste also made it easier to throw back quickly if your speakeasy got busted.  The harsher the alcohol = the fruitier your drink had to be to cover it up. It makes sense that only the real risk takers would be willing to drink the fruitiest mixed drinks.

Capri pants are for "manly men"

Sonja de Lennart purportedly invented capri pants in 1948. These pants are worn largely by women, but are also sported by men in many countries. While often seen viewed as “feminine,” lumberjacks sported pants that cut off between the ankles and knees much earlier than the recognized invention of Capri’s. A 1916 edition of field and stream mentions “stagged” pants as the lumberjack norm. The article defines these as “Trousers amputated somewhere between the instep and knee.” They are cut off in order to avoid dragging through brush and mud. In addition, if a branch catches up a person’s pant leg, without hemmed bottoms the pants will tear instead of dragging the lumberjack down with the branch. 


http://www.richwooders.com/industries/logging/richwood-lumberjacks.htm