Boys Can Wear Short-Shorts
“Want to have a fashion show?” Before my friends and I became aware of the stigma surrounding crossdressing, parading around guys in dresses and girls in basketball shorts was a normal pastime. We’d raid each other’s closets, our parents’ makeup stashes, and their shoe collections. We’d provocatively march down the stairs and through the hallways, as if they were our runway. We were fierce.

My friends relegated these fashion experiments to recreation; none of them ended up wearing the clothes of the opposite gender while outside. Maybe it was because of their parents, or their fledgling awareness that social norms discourage boys and girls from wearing that which is assigned to the opposite gender. I, however, developed a liking for short-shorts. I thought that maybe by showing more leg, I could look taller. For some context: I am 5’2, and I am projected to grow to 5’3, with the aid of growth hormone.
My parents would not purchase shorts from the girls’ section for me, so instead I pulled up the waists and rolled up the hemlines of my Gap cargo shorts. It was fashionably iffy, but at least it exposed some thigh. At 16, I realized the social pressures that induced them to bar me from purchasing short shorts. They wanted to raise a “normal” kid, one who meets social standards and doesn’t test them. It was then that I began to resent my parents’ authority, and accordingly rebelled by buying my own short shorts or getting them from a friend.
I was luckily not alone.
Such disobeying of gender norms has a name, and a history; it is called gender variance. When someone is gender variant, they do not conform to their gender’s expected behavior — intonation, mannerisms, and dress. Gender variance classifies gender expression, or how someone acts in accordance to their assigned gender. (I choose not to use the term gender queerness because it can also deliniate someone’s gender identity, or which pronouns they use.)
The glam rock scene, born in Britain in the 70s, pushed gender variance to the frontlines of pop culture. Marc Bolan, lead singer of the band T. Rex, is often cited as the first glam rock artist. His sequined costumes and glittered cheekbones founded the style of glam rock: extravagant and gender-bending. T. Rex premiered their chart-topping hit, “Hot Love,” on popular UK television show “Top of the Pops” while wearing skin-tight scoop necks and science fiction-esque reflective suits. Glam Rock also gave us David Bowie’s androgynous alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.

Today, in the provocative spirit of glam rock, male celebrities like Kanye West, Jaden Smith, and Pharrell regularly wear women’s clothing. West and Pharrell have donned Celine blouses and coats, and Smith makes a point out of wearing dresses, heels, and skirts. Gender variance is not sequestered to high-fashion or celebrity life, either. Retail stores like Selfridges are increasingly offering androgynous sections, with clothing marketed towards both men and women.
We are witnessing a gender revolution. While glam rock made gender-bending a thing of entertainment, celebrities and department stores today are grounding it in day-to-day fashion. Bowie and Bolan were like my friends, dressing up for the audience — for their screams, laughs, and cries. Smith and Pharrell are like me, propelling gender-bending outside of the stage and the runway, and into their daily style.

In his song Rebel Rebel, David Bowie sings “You’ve got your mother in a whirl/She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl!” Bowie’s lyrics explain that as people become more comfortable shopping in both sections of Zara and H&M, clothing will no longer be an accurate identifier of gender.
I was reminded of this just last summer, when I joined my youth group’s Facebook page. Someone saw my profile picture and texted me “Are you a boy or a girl?” When I read the unusual question, I took it as a diss against my masculinity. What that person was really asking, I reasoned, was “Why are you so feminine?” However, in hindsight, the question reflects progress in this gender revolution. This person did not presume my gender based on my fashion; they asked instead.
As gender variance permeates the fashion industry, gender will no longer be marked by wardrobe. We should embrace the ensuing ambiguity, because it communicates to kids like me that wearing short shorts is okay, and not a reason for the kids or parents to be ashamed. It also is a step in chipping away at the gender binary, or the idea that one can only be a boy or a girl and must express themselves as such. Soon, kids will be able to raid their friends’ closets, strut down their hallways, and carry their fierce clothing out of the playroom–into their day-to-day life.
