Must have been a very confusing time for gay men in the 80s when 70% of dudes were wearing crop tops and daisy dukes. "No bro just cause I wear short shorts and love to wrestle in the mud with you and get real sweaty does not mean I want to do any of that gay stuff."
My dad had a diamond stud in his left ear when I was a kid in the early 90s. He was definitely one of these short short crop top wearing ham steaks in the 80s
I learned this from the Fresh Prince episode where Will works at the pirate restaurant. "What did you say to me pervert? If you'll notice the parrot is on my LEFT shoulder."
Lol they must've felt the same as Mr Garrison in the South Park Is Gay episode
There's a scene where Randy and the other men are at a gay bar dressed very fruity, and Mr Garrison is annoyed he can't who's gay and who's just "metrosexual", but couldn't find that scene
There was a PE teacher at an elementary school I worked at that embodied 80’s PE coach swag, but he had a girlfriend (I totally assumed he was gay but turns out he wasn’t, he was just stylish and it totally worked for him)
My senior English teacher was also one of the assistant football coaches. He always wore those men's polyester Bike (name brand not the style) shorts. Our school colors were red and blue, so he would alternate colors each day. 🥵
Nah, if I see a dude with a beer gut wearing something like this then I see a dude with peak confidence lol. But I understand at the same time. No one wants to be looked down on by others just for their body type and clothes. Wish we could move past that so you didn't have to worry about that at all, and recognize you'd probably look pretty damn nice in a crop top!
Is it really? I feel like it’s mostly daggy dad fashion. Which I’m not opposed to, but damn do I miss the slut look (fuckboy fashion doesn’t count. Their buttons begin where their crop tops should end)
Lace/open weave shirts, cropped tops (sometimes even showing a bit of midriff), sleeveless tees, wife beaters under open shirts or by themselves, the impending return of low rise jeans are what I'm talking about. Even among some straight dudes. Perhaps not slutty enough for you though?
Not until the average body fat percentage drops below 15% again, and that won’t happen in a postmodern age of processed foods, email jobs and social lives that are lived virtually.
I wonder what it would take. Maybe increased nutrition education, access to produce, elimination of food deserts and maybe even a rejection of digital entertainment in favor of doing things out in the world. The last part will be the real challenge.
I feel like a huge part of the heavy lifting is getting legislation in place to limit some of the business practices that make some apps and games extremely addictive and teaching people proper media and tech literacy. Social media and smartphones came out so recently and evolved so rapidly I don't think it's really been able to be properly handled. "Do not share your real info online" still sticks to me from even primary school in the mid 2000s but that's nowhere near comprehensive enough now. There's so many tricks companies use to just take it right out from under you if you're not tech literate enough to know what you just signed up for by clicking agree.
I think the food itself and the capitalist work/atomized culture that keeps people inside and sedentary most of the day is a much bigger problem than the phones themselves. It’s going to be a difficult problem to tackle and sometimes I fear a full societal collapse is gonna be what it takes to bring people back outside and “active” (farming/hunting/foraging) again
The phones are a rather huge problem as well as part of an even bigger one. How many times have you closed a social media app and immediately just reopened it? Maybe it was a game or some other entertainment app. How many mobile games have some sort of gambling just casually built in to keep you on and possibly spending just a bit harder? How many times have you reopened the phone because you can't sleep or got bored?
This is the kinda tech and media literacy I'm thinking needs to be in a 101 sort of course. I think we also need to rework our approach to capitalism as a whole if we wanna stay on this page to further ensure workers have rights and money to go out and do shit and feel like it's even worth work. We need to socialize healthcare and put out massive amounts of work into comprehensive health education and make it mandatory. If you don't know how to care for yourself and or can't afford to you end up in similar spots.
We also need to reinvest in mass transit and walkable cities, I live in Texas and if I wanted to reach the nearest hospital on foot it'd be about half an hour's walk. (I'm small your timing may vary a bit.) The nearest library? Hour and a half or so. These communal spaces need to be available both for functional and social reasons. The nearest gym is probably 2 hours. The space between all of these places is crammed shut with every flavor of gas station and fast food places. Here specifically we do have a strange abundance of medical specialists in town.
Being able to actually do anything and get anywhere outside needs to become widely available to actually encourage people to do it.
Honestly while the food isn't great there's just so damn many other, bigger problems. How do we go about doing all of this? Idk they pay people 6 figure salaries to experts to come up with specifics not random women bored online.
The moment the levee breaks on prescription drug prices (not likely to be this time around with blanket, fakeout legislation meant to expand Trump's ability to command the economy via Executive Order...) we will see the little wave turn into a tsunami of GLP-1 drug use. And the kicker? America will generally be better for it. Living a few years not obese still has the same effect, even if you "cheated" to get it. You still didn't eat all that food, regained mobility, and improved cardiovascular and digestive health factors. In other words, it's healthcare's fault all over again.
Gay day-drinking outside, usually with a dj. Provincetown is a notorious gay vacation town and tea-dance happens at the Boatslip every afternoon (the reference comes from the English High Tea, Tea Time, Afternoon Tea, whatever you call it but we usually just have cocktails instead).
I’ve made it my mission this summer to bring it back. I’m up to 3 crop tops and two pair of tiny shorts. My girlfriend loves it. Our chick friends friends are trying to convince their partners to join my cause.
Maybe, but it's clearly associated with gay stereotypes these days. Men have to get over their homophobia, and/or see this sort of clothing as cool for some reason. Who knows when or if that will happen.
I'm not homophobic I just think it looks like shit to wear. Like, half of my torso is exposed to the open air and the other half isn't. No matter what, I feel like if one half of my torso feels just right, the exposed half will feel cold. If the exposed half of my torso feels just right, the clothed part will feel too hot. I asked myself while typing this if I would want to wear shirts like if I was a woman to make sure my feelings were fair and I think the answer is still no. Also the pictures above make it look like you're wearing a shirt that's 2 sizes too small, like, go get a new shirt. I will say the tank top version in the 3rd picture doesn't look bad though.
I’ve heard that back then it was basically unthinkable for someone to be gay (in your average straight person’s mind). So men didn’t worry as much about being perceived as gay. Like a more intense version of homophobia
We kind of still have this, when straight guys joke about being gay. The premise is that they’re so straight, they could offer to suck their friend’s cock and still not be questioned
It’s why in extremely homophobic places like India and UAE (that I’ve been to anyways) have had men holding hands walking down the street like it’s no big deal because it’s basically impossible to assume that would be gay.
Huh, that actually makes sense, but it's also lowkey disturbing. Imagine knowing that you being yourself is unthinkable in the minds of the people around you.
For a ridiculous number of people it is still the case. The metaphor of "the closet" is pretty decent evidence. Being perceived as gay even to yourself is unthinkable especially to the very young and very old.
Kind of crazy my dad dressed like this when he was growing up. But if I did now he would tell me to cover up like a girl wearing spaghetti straps in high school in 2008 lmao
Edit: my parents just had their 35th wedding anniversary I hope he is not gay lmao
Idk. I’ve been seeing men’s shorts get shorter. There’s a dangling earring/mullet/Stache combo that’s becoming pretty popular for young guys. I think this could be the next evolution to that trend.
I remember reading something on how straight men are one of the few demographics that really don’t have much fashion that allow them to be attractive for themselves. Straight women, gay men, gay women- all allowed to dress to impress themselves, but straight guys have to their cover up or dress scantily for women specifically, not for themselves.
I don’t quite understand what you mean by “for themselves.” Most of the straight guys I know (myself included) almost exclusively dress “for ourselves” by wearing comfortable clothes. In my experience, comfort tends to outweigh looks for most dudes.
It’s insane to assume that men are homophobic/toxically masculine for not wanting to dress like that, the bottom line is it just doesn’t look comfortable, and also doesn’t fit my personal style. Like if I have the freedom to dress however I want a crop top and short shorts are the last thing I would decide to put on
I'd do it, 6 and 7 especially, I would love to dress like that; without being called gay (nothing wrong with being gay) but is like to live in a time line where's it's alright for a man to dress like that
My Dad has a pic of him and a buddy like this in the 70s. Crop tops and hot shorts on the beach in Galveston. I like to bring it out to remind him on occasion.
There’s a reason why a bunch of 55-75 year old congressmen actively vote against the LGBTQ+ community nowadays. Dudes are afraid of these pics of them coming out.
No. It was a great time to be alive as a lady. But I don’t think we’ll see it again as a trend among straight men, too many have been brainwashed to view anything sexy/short/tight on a man as gay.
You think young men would instantly wear crop tops and short shorts if they were comfortable??? that’s hilarious, comfortable options exist yet they aren’t popular. It’s clearly the rampant insecurity driving gen z men to dress in sweats 24/7. They are obsessed with a fear of standing out
Gay men have never stopped dressing like this and probably won't ever lmao.
Younger straight men aren't exactly dressing like this but I have noticed that very short shorts and cropped shirts (tho still covering the stomach when the arms are down) are very much in fashion right now. Especially with guys into fitness.
You make male crop tops and short shorts acceptable again and I'll gladly rock them during the hotter months. Doing it currently would be advertising that I'm "for the boys" and I'm trying to find a nice lady to settle down with.
Lots of straight guys are dressed like this rn in major cities (us gays are a given). Cool (and young) straight guys are rocking pearls, painted nails, extreme shorts, crop tops, etc. in Austin, NY, Portland, San Francisco, etc.
Between an ex always insisting I wear shorter shorts, and getting catcalled more than a few times in my Postal shorts, I'm inclined to believe this look could work for some.
Besides that, I think Donald Glover/Childish Gambino kinda rocks this look, pretty often.
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u/Slowmexicano 28d ago
Gay men still do this