Introducing Mark Bryan, a fashion-forward robotics engineer who is making waves and upending conventional wisdom. Bryan, who has been married for eleven years and is a loving parent, defies stereotypes by dressing in what many would consider unusual clothing. Bryan, an American living in Germany, freely wears heels and skirts, stating that gender norms shouldn’t apply to fashion.
You might wonder, why? Bryan, on the other hand, thinks that men’s fashion—particularly office wear—is very boring, consisting only of dark blues, grays, and blacks with the occasional pinstripe. Is there any passion in that? Conversely, skirts provide an array of designs, patterns, and hues – a veritable rainbow of outfit options!
Bryan embraces a fashion trend that combines parts of the traditionally masculine and feminine, teaming ties and blazers with pencil skirts and four-inch heels. It’s his method of demonstrating the genderlessness of clothing. In addition, when his girlfriend wanted a dancing partner who could match her eye level back in college, he taught her how to walk in heels. After a whole year of preparation, he has been strutting with confidence ever since!
Bryan’s unrepentant attitude disregarded social norms. He dresses in ways that bring him joy while defying conventions. What he says about it is as follows:
Clothes are genderless in my opinion. I like skirts more than dresses. I can’t mix the genders with dresses. Above the waist, I like to look “masculine,” and below the waist, I like to look non-gendered. It’s all about the genderlessness of clothing.
Bryan recalls an era when girls were not supposed to wear pants to school. Pants are now gender neutral. Why not heels and skirts then? Furthermore, males have worn heels in the past. The Persian cavalry of the tenth century, who wore galesh or kalash boots to keep their feet in stirrups, are credited with the invention of high heels. Later, wearing high heels—even by popes—became a status signal for European royalty.
The 18th century saw the emergence of a gender gap in fashion, which Bryan is now challenging, as a result of ridiculous cultural concerns that declared fashion to be a frivolous issue unworthy of “real men.”
Bryan admits that his fashion choices could cause people to double take, even though he advocates for guys to wear high heels. However, he compares the response to seeing someone with vivid green hair, which seems strange at first but eventually becomes just another feature of that individual.
“Leave a person with vivid green hair behind. Green hair is not typical. You glance up and notice someone, and your brain immediately identifies them as having green hair. You may find that strange or intriguing, but you quickly move on to your previous task without giving it any more attention. I think people react the same way when they see me wearing heels and a skirt.
Bryan finds it easy to find heels and skirts that fit. He has a lot of alternatives because he has size 8.5 feet and a size 8 skirt. He advises men who want to wear heels to start low and work their way up to a comfortable level.
What are your thoughts on Mark Bryan’s wardrobe selections? Would a man you know try wearing high heels? Talk about this with your loved ones and friends and let’s start a dialogue!
My mother abandoned me in a cardboard box at a supermarket when I was an infant — two decades later, she reached out to me for assistance
Sue was left in a cardboard box as a small child. Luckily, a store clerk took her home and changed the course of her entire life. Now, in the form of an unexpected knock at the door, Sue has to face her past and the disappointment that comes with it. Is this a grand reunion or the biggest disappointment of Sue’s life?
I was left in a cardboard box in a supermarket twenty years ago. I was just a few months old, and all I had to my name were a few photos of my mother and a note.
The note read: I will always love you, Sue.
Nobody knew my surname or whether I had a middle name. Nobody seemed to know my mother or what had happened to my father. I was all alone in a world that didn’t know anything about me.
But even then, at a few months old, I seemed to be fortune’s fool. I was found by a kind store clerk, Ruby, who took me in.
“I couldn’t leave you there, Sue,” she would say whenever the story came up. “I became your guardian shortly after and raised you as my own. You became my little bug.”
Ruby was everything to me. And as I grew, the closer we became.
I was forever grateful that she gave me everything I needed. But still, I never stopped wondering why my mother left me and if she would ever come back.
“I know that it bothers you, darling,” Ruby told me one day as she made lasagna for dinner. “But she’s an enigma now. We have nothing that could lead us to her.”
“I know,” I said, grating more cheese for when the dish was ready. “It’s just frustrating when I start thinking about it.”
“You love the internet, you love social media, Sue. Use it, share your story, maybe it will resonate with people, and you can connect with others just like you.”
She opened the oven and put the tray of lasagna inside.
So I did just that, and I became a well-known video blogger, sharing my story with the world.
“You’ve created a safe platform for people to share their stories, too,” Ruby told me when I read comments from my latest video to her.
“It means something to me,” I said, helping myself to the eclairs on the table.
Fast forward to the present. I am successful and able to provide for myself and my guardian.
“So much for being an abandoned baby,” I said to myself as I washed my face one night.
But imagine my surprise when an unexpected knock on my door changed everything.
I opened the door to find a frail, older woman standing there, her eyes filled with regret and desperation.
“Sue, darling,” she said. “I am your mother, and I need your help!”
I just looked at her, unable to blink for fear of missing the moment.
“Do you still have the note I left with you when I left you safely in the store?”
Safely? I thought to myself. I stood there, paralyzed by the flood of emotions that had come in when she entered my home.
“Yes, I have it,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I kept it.”
“I know I have no right to ask for your help after what I did, but I need you to believe me when I say I had no choice back then. I was running from a dangerous situation. And I thought leaving you in a safe place was the only way to protect you. I needed to disappear.”
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