Researchers point to a correlation between wearing pants or trousers and horseback riding. In areas where horses were domesticated and began to be used for transportation and in battle, it made sense for men to wear pants for convenience and safety. In the West, women did not start wearing pants in public with regularity until the 20th century, although some women in the 1800s did wear trousers if they worked in factories. Nineteenth-century women who rode bicycles also sometimes wore bloomers, which were loose trousers that ended and gathered at the knee.
More about wearing pants :
- Researchers who support the theory that people started wearing pants to safely ride horses point to the fact that Japanese samurai wore a variation of pants while most Japanese people wore kimonos.
- Some religious traditions frown on women wearing pants, possibly because long skirts or dresses are considered to be more modest than trousers. Some religious traditions also hold that it is important for clothing to reflect gender differences.
- In 2009, journalist Lubna Hussein was arrested in Sudan for indecency because she was wearing pants.
Follow wiseGEEK
More Info: www.theatlantic.com
Discussion Comments
The only people doing much "transportation" or any battle were men. Get off your bra burning kick.
Let's not accommodate that politically correct demand of "people began to use..." The simple truth is that the overwhelming majority of horseback riders happened to be male and so pants/trousers were worn by males almost exclusively. No need to pander to a feminist's desire for equality here.
You *do* realize that women have been riding horses - and wearing pants - for as long as men have?
Researchers point to a correlation between wearing pants or trousers and horseback riding. In areas where horses were domesticated and "began to be used for transportation and in battle," it made sense for men to wear pants for convenience and safety.
In the interests of good grammar, let's rephrase that to say "people began to use them for transportation and in battle".
Post your comments