Color me skeptical, but I'd have thought the only men who've read those books would be involved in publishing them or adapting them into movies.

Well, the goodreads data pretty much supports that, but it isn't a proper survey. OTOH, there are enough data points that I suspect it isn't far off with the 12 to 1 ratio. And boy howdy does it look like election results.

Tom, health-ma for your dad, and coping-ma for you.

I had to bring my laptop to work today, for perfectly legitimate work purposes, but now I have a really strong urge to blow off the rest of the afternoon and watch Community eps.

I probably shouldn't though, huh.

Oh, Tom, much support for you all.

ita, I would put a dress-and-matching-jacket in the same category as a suit.

I'd also be very careful of evaluating trends on dress codes and perception with anecdata from just large cities or the coasts.

Also, we're adults, and a lot more comfortable with fuzzy boundaries than kids are. Kids (even middle-schoolers) tend to be a lot more hardline about dress and roles.

I'm sometimes surprised I got out of high school relatively okay, despite the fact that I wore jeans or cords and oxford shirts most of the time. In junior high I got teased, but NSM high school, where I managed to find a niche with the other nerds.

I'm sometimes surprised I got out of high school relatively okay, despite the fact that I wore jeans or cords and oxford shirts most of the time. In junior high I got teased, but NSM high school, where I managed to find a niche with the other nerds.

When I was in junior high, the big trend (for girls) was baseball-style concert shirts, with flannel shirts over then, jeans, and Timberland work boots. Which we all wore religiously for about a year.

I was in high school at the height of the preppie frenzy, so I wasn't as completely out of it as one might think. But really, I had no idea what to wear, except that I didn't want to be perceived as girly. Or as a boy.

I went to a voc tech high. Most of the girls wore workboots, jeans, and flannels. And REALLY BIG HAIR.

Has anyone traveled with a guitar? Can I take it as my carry-on? I'm paranoid about checking it.

7th grade (1985 ish) was unending shaker sweaters with ribbed racer-back tanks. Except I am pretty sure I only had one, but that is what the popular girls wore-- they were the brand 'Forenza' from The Limited. I cannot for the life of me find a picture of this look, though.

School uniform until age 16. I don't viscerally get a lot of high school issues people talk about, for a number of reasons.

Like, I'm still processing that my sister went to prom. PROM! Like in the fanfics!

I want to go to prom, I decided. And told my mother. Why I felt the need to explain to her I meant as someone's date, I'm not entirely sure. My sister's prom date had graduated high school himself, though.

I was in school long enough ago that we had dress codes - skirts/dresses for girls, no bare legs, no bare feet under sandals, you weren't allowed to wear boots to classes, no jeans or t-shirts for boys. I think they loosened up the year after I graduated.