A woman wearing pants isn't crossdressing, but a man wearing a dress is? Why?

Same reason why a woman can ride a man's bicycle, but a man shouldn't ride a woman's bicycle.

If your Irish you can wear a kilt.

Pants through today's society in most modern European and American countries have been accepted as a unisex item.

While in the past, pants were made for the working man because it allowed their legs to be protected while still moving freely. Women wore skirts and dresses because it accentuated their daintiness. That their legs are unprotected, they are vulnerable and they wore it because men wanted them to, to cherish them or treat them like dolls. However, as women through the ages have taken up men's work in order to support the society as a whole, it became necessary for them to wear clothing that protected their legs, such a pants.

However, the dress has remained as a dainty object symbolizing weakness, which is why whenever a man wears it, it reminds people of how in the past it measured the weakness of women, and therefore associate it as dressing like a woman.

Also, there is the fact that certain types of clothing, whether dress or pants, are specifically designed to accentuate the features of each gender, since women are naturally more... curvy than men. There are certainly ways to design a dress specifically for a man, as done for royalty but it waters down to society doesn't NEED that kind of clothing for men.

If enough people do something, then it's no longer, cross anything, it becomes the new norm.

It's not just dresses - Women wearing male pants or male boxers, or a man's shirt are all fairly acceptable. Not the reverse.

It's cruel and unusual punishment to force women to wear clothing that makes them vulnerable.

Now, if you make men wear nylons and uncomfortable women's shoes too, then you have the right to outlaw pants for everyone.

Nothing turns me on more than a man in a kilt. Kilts are not dresses - men invented pants because the dresses at that time, were insanely uncomfortable, and did not serve any real purpose. There was no gender clothing wars back then. It's stupid to concern yourself with it now.

Yes, because society still sees men as superior to women, so when a woman wears pants, it's seen as a step up for her, but if a man wears a woman's clothes, it is seen as a step down...emasculating him.

This will not change until society changes its tendency to still consider males to be better than females.

You may not know this but it actually used to be illegal for women to wear men's clothing. She would get arrested for "impersonating a man." Being a man was a major status thing and a woman pretending to be a man was like trying to steal status that she supposedly did not deserve.

Mary Edwards Walker was one of the women who started the movement to allow women to wear men's clothing...or at least something less restricting than they were currently expected to wear. She was arrested for impersonating a man on several occasions. She was also the first and only female Medal of Honour winner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Edwards_Walker

Trouser-wearing women used to be considered cross-dressers in Western society, and those who did came under plenty of criticism for it. Times and fashions have changed. That's all.

Crossdressing Thumbs

Man wearing a dress, He's Gay

In the old old days, all men wore robes, as did women. Then men decided it was good to wear pants, or pantaloons, or hose, for ease of movement. This was a manly garment and women were not allowed to wear it. It was a sin to wear a man's clothes, according to the bible.

Women had to wear dresses or gowns. And it's quite difficult to wear a dress at times - it impedes movement. So women decided to wear trousers.

Now, men have boxed themselves in by saying that trousers were only for men. To suddenly wear a woman's clothing (even though men used to wear skirts) is not on. Men only have themselves to blame.

Edit: Even in the 70's I was stopped in the street and told off for wearing "men's clothes". We were not allowed to wear jeans, either. (We were religious.) It was a sin.

Because fashion is weird and different trends are in vogue right now. Men used to wear kilts, or tunics and tights, etc., at various different time periods.