Billy Porter thinks there's a big problem with how we respond to men in dresses

"Men are strong, women are disgusting? I'm not doing that anymore."
 By 
Rachel Thompson
 on 
Billy Porter thinks there's a big problem with how we respond to men in dresses
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Billy Porter has been the talk of the town this week after donning a showstopping dress-suit hybrid to the Tony Awards.

Fashioned out of the Kinky Boots curtain — yes, curtain — Porter's Tony's outfit featured a uterus motif as a statement about women's reproductive rights.

Speaking to Stephen Colbert, Porter talked about social views towards men who wear dresses — and what those views say about how society views women.

"We've moved beyond the idea that women wearing pants is a problem. Women wearing pants is powerful, it's strong, everybody accepts it, and it's associated with the patriarchy, it's associated with being male," Porter explained.

"The minute a man puts on a dress it's disgusting, so what are you saying? Men are strong, women are disgusting? I'm not doing that anymore.

"I'm done with that. I'm a man in a dress and if I feel like wearing a dress I'm gonna wear one."

Rachel Thompson, sits wearing a dress with yellow florals and black background.
Rachel Thompson
Features Editor

Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.

A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.

Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.


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