Male University Students in Taiwan Wear Skirts to Support Transgender Community · Global Voices
The Gender Equality Workshop at National Taiwan University held a one-month event for male students to wear skirts and share their experience. The cover image for the Facebook event. CC BY-NC 2.0.
In June 2014, a Facebook user in Taiwan published a photo of a person who appeared to be a man dressed as a woman wearing a skirt at a McDonald's, writing that the person had entered the women's restroom and was dangerous. Local media outlet Apple Daily picked up the story, and widespread online discussion of gender stereotypes and discrimination against transgender people in Taiwan ensued.
The next month, two students from National Cheng Kung University decided to show their support for the often maligned transgender community by inviting men to wear skirts. Following the example of these two students, the Gender Equality Workshop at National Taiwan University held a similar event throughout the month of December 2014, asking men to take a stand for the transgender community by donning a skirt.
<PERSON> shared his photo with a skirt. 602
CC BY-NC 2.0.
Some people posted their photos in their skirts on the event’s Facebook page and shared their thoughts on the eye-opening experience.
<PERSON> and <PERSON> wrote:
裙子不只是服飾本身，還承載著這個社會所信仰與建構的價值。
Skirts are not just clothes. Skirts also carry with them the value that a society believes and constructs.
Another participant, <PERSON>, explained that men can also be feminine:
沒有人說男生不能擁有好臉蛋以及身材
更沒有說男生就算不是同性戀也不能有女人味
我這角度擁有你遐想的範圍
我也喜歡更喜歡分享
所以我也想知道大家看到這角度的我的感覺
更用此方式證明
不是要是男生就一定要M．A．N！
No one says that men cannot have a good-looking face and body, and no one says men who are not gays cannot be feminine.
This aspect of me [this feminine look] allows you to fantasize about me. I like this aspect of me, and I like to share it with you, so I would like to know how people feel when you look at this other side of me.
I also want to prove in this way that men do not have to be M.A.N!
<PERSON> shared his photo with the skirt and make-up. CC BY-NC 2.0.
When these male students with skirts or even make-up walked on the streets, sometimes they faced challenging situations. Their experiences stirred up thoughts on the discrimination that the transgender community faces every day. 368