skirts are not the best garments for vigorous activity.

Personally, I think he has oversold himself on this theory. First, it would require a world-wide conspiracy of men of Mafia-like efficiency to plan such a campaign and carry it out against the wishes of 52% of the population! No doubt, women-hating men DO design dresses, and have for a long time;

no

doubt that time and again individual husbands have deliberately promoted fashions that tie down their wives and daughters - but this must have been at least acceptable to the girls. Women very seldom do for long anything they dislike intensely - their weakness is that they can be induced to like things which an ordinary man would find intolerable. In addition, these restrictions carry with them a perverse sort of freedom, which Langner overlooks completely. Who has not heard a girl evade some unpleasant duty on the very real basis that it would ruin her dress, hair or nails? and, further along that line, think of the freedom from responsibility that goes with being handicapped, even artificially. Whether girls tend to be natural masochists is open to debate. But, Mr. Langner, these restrictions were not imposed without the consent, and even eager acceptance, of the "victims".

He then illustrates four groups of "sturdy males who wear skirts": Hungarian peasants, Guatamalan Indians, Scottish Highlanders and Theban Greeks. However, he points out that "savage laws still exist in many countries against this" (see below, Chapter 12) and quotes Moses' famous law. He also quotes from Dr. G. W. Henry, one of those "leading authorities on transvestitism" who led us nowhere, a description of a drag queen. The chapter ends with a jocular warning that women in pants threaten male dominance: "And men, hold onto your trousers or you may wind up wearing skirts!" What a charming thought....

Chapters 5 on Modesty and 6 on Nudism we can pass over, and also chapter 7 on Evolution except the last few lines citing the revulsion many women feel for ape-like hairiness. "Actors who display their naked chests in the movies are required to shave them forthwith!"

Chapter 8 on Clothes, Religions and Cultures further emphasizes the points made earlier. He cites in passing the

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