Well, I think some things do need to be challenged. If I put up pictures of straight women, or people we had no idea if they were queer or not, or a list of 100 people who were all white, thin and in their 20"s... Then I would totally get it.
I also get that JD doesn't like looking at pics of people that aren't dressed in the manner he feels most comfortable with. He thinks it's a competition (miss universe). I can understand that he thinks that about mainstream media pics of white femininity, but a bunch of femmes (or butches) happy and comfortable, smiling and and very glad to be there for the camera, very happy about wearing their *own* wardrobe, clothes they have bought and love, without being ranked (as is clearly stated on this site)... With a diverse array of splendour (age, size, ethnicity gender of masculine of centre)..
Be still my heart
The only thing I can think of is that the people who are irritated by it don't see themselves and their way of dressing in the list. Therefore they feel left out of the praise of femme attention.
Well the only thing I can say to that is: having lived in a few different countries, american cowboy, american down home butch, american backwoods marleborough dress is over-represented in any of the pictures I see of North American butches on blogs and on sites. It's considered to be the uniform of butch in the US - from an out sider point of view. Even locally, the daily wear, when I came back, of butch is jeans, t shirt, polar fleece, or a checked shirt. And if you don't dress that way, you can't be butch.
That is not representative of how *many* other butches dress. Also, dandies and fashionable dressers of the masculine variety have put down as "faggits" in North America for decades by many butches and femmes. The bow tie has even been called classist by some american butches who don't like "men's fashion" having been finally picked up as interesting and applyable to butches on this side of the pond.
Instead of seeing it as diversifying and fucking fantastic that those who want it are now able to. That being interested in clothes, as a butch, doesn't make you a "homo butch" (holy crap, really???)
Frankly, that this "Transgressing men's fashion" site has finally taken off and is beloved? Shows me that there are many ways to dress now. I *love* the floral sport jacket. I swoon at floral dress shirts and peacocking patterns on formal wear to make them casual. I love beuatiful linen trousers worn with a hand printed band tshirt, legs roled up to show bare feet, a sport jacket and a flat cap. Maybe some leather bracelets and a nice watch. The mix of highly formal with very casual it's something I deeply admire as a way to creatively express who you are.
Perhaps it's my punk rock youth - we made our clothes from secondhand formal wear into individualistic expressions of self. So I love people choosing their clothes with care and with intent to show parts of themselves. It's why I personally love wearing corsets as often as I can get away with it.
Fashion as part of expression of self is like painting with clothing.
I do with with make up too.
For some of us it's not about being just comfortable. Some of us *love* clothes for the expressiveness. These 100 butches, tomboys, genderqueers and transmasculines do too! How utterly fantastic!