I work with a lot of women and I also have a sister. All of them will complain about pockets being too small, but all of them also wear form fitting clothes that were clearly built to appeal to a fashion sense, rather than a practical one. Even the more practical oriented women amongst them opt for something that looks nice, but isn’t the most practical it could be
But here’s the thing. I’m not telling them what to wear. In fact, every woman is free to shop in the men’s section or to choose pants with actual pocket from the women’s section. You can buy CARGO PANTS. You are legally allowed to do so as a woman. The patriarchy is not stopping you.
Whenever the pockets thing comes up, I love to show them what I’m carrying. XL size phone, large wallet, Airpods, knife, keys… I can literally stick a Nintendo Switch in my pants pocket. And those are just casual jeans. If I had cargo pants, I could carry a backpack’s worth of gear.
So why don’t women do that? They literally have a term for ‘boyfriend jeans’ but refuse to wear something actually practical because it’s not as feminine. I imagine they don’t want comments from other women, because I as a guy am utterly delighted to see a woman wear something practical.
There’s a woman in my family who’s in her 70s now, and she exclusively wears pants or shorts with pockets. She doesn’t care at all about style anymore, she’s all about the cargo pants / cargo shorts. Her husband also wears cargo pants / shorts, and is probably the one who converted her. He’s just happy she can carry her own stuff now and doesn’t need to bug him.
But, it was a big deal for her. She was never a very style-conscious person. However, she was raised in a different time, and she wore clothes to fit in, which mostly meant typical women’s pants without useful pockets. Now, she’s happy to tell people how great it is to have big pockets and how liberating it is not to care what other people think of her fashion choices.
I get it. Even though I also don’t much care what fashion says, I still feel a bit constrained. There are hot summer days where I think a skirt would probably feel great. But, skirts on guys aren’t even vaguely acceptable, and even variations on a skirt like a kilt are highly suspect. I’m not so bothered by it that I feel up to challenging the norms and wearing a skirt. If some other guy were to push the boundaries and wear a skirt, I’d fully support him because I want that freedom too, but I’m not willing to put up with the intense pressure it would cause me. Similarly, when a woman does wear clothes that emphasize utility over fashion, I’m hugely supportive. I also think pocketless pants are dumb.
I honestly think that it’s probably mostly women who are holding women back when it comes to pockets. Most guys probably mostly don’t notice or don’t care.
The whole pocket fiasco is wild to me as a guy.
I work with a lot of women and I also have a sister. All of them will complain about pockets being too small, but all of them also wear form fitting clothes that were clearly built to appeal to a fashion sense, rather than a practical one. Even the more practical oriented women amongst them opt for something that looks nice, but isn’t the most practical it could be
But here’s the thing. I’m not telling them what to wear. In fact, every woman is free to shop in the men’s section or to choose pants with actual pocket from the women’s section. You can buy CARGO PANTS. You are legally allowed to do so as a woman. The patriarchy is not stopping you.
Whenever the pockets thing comes up, I love to show them what I’m carrying. XL size phone, large wallet, Airpods, knife, keys… I can literally stick a Nintendo Switch in my pants pocket. And those are just casual jeans. If I had cargo pants, I could carry a backpack’s worth of gear.
So why don’t women do that? They literally have a term for ‘boyfriend jeans’ but refuse to wear something actually practical because it’s not as feminine. I imagine they don’t want comments from other women, because I as a guy am utterly delighted to see a woman wear something practical.
There’s a woman in my family who’s in her 70s now, and she exclusively wears pants or shorts with pockets. She doesn’t care at all about style anymore, she’s all about the cargo pants / cargo shorts. Her husband also wears cargo pants / shorts, and is probably the one who converted her. He’s just happy she can carry her own stuff now and doesn’t need to bug him.
But, it was a big deal for her. She was never a very style-conscious person. However, she was raised in a different time, and she wore clothes to fit in, which mostly meant typical women’s pants without useful pockets. Now, she’s happy to tell people how great it is to have big pockets and how liberating it is not to care what other people think of her fashion choices.
I get it. Even though I also don’t much care what fashion says, I still feel a bit constrained. There are hot summer days where I think a skirt would probably feel great. But, skirts on guys aren’t even vaguely acceptable, and even variations on a skirt like a kilt are highly suspect. I’m not so bothered by it that I feel up to challenging the norms and wearing a skirt. If some other guy were to push the boundaries and wear a skirt, I’d fully support him because I want that freedom too, but I’m not willing to put up with the intense pressure it would cause me. Similarly, when a woman does wear clothes that emphasize utility over fashion, I’m hugely supportive. I also think pocketless pants are dumb.
I honestly think that it’s probably mostly women who are holding women back when it comes to pockets. Most guys probably mostly don’t notice or don’t care.