“In the mainstream, gender bending still only goes one way,” writes Marlene Komar for Racked. She considers that there has always been a double standard in Western society which historically regarded men as superior to women. Therefore, women who emulate and appropriate masculine symbols (such as pants, blazers, etc) enhance their social status and are viewed as ambitious and stronger. Conversely, men who take on feminine symbols are viewed as less masculine and weaker. And she’s correct. And professor Terry Kogan would agree.
In the not too distant past, European aristocratic males wore both skirt-like garments as well as high heels. (In fact, women adopted high heels from European men and made them daintily and femininely narrower.) Over time, though, the European and American industrial revolutions made bifurcated pants and flat shoes more utilitarian for daily life. Women, however, who were relegated to lives of domesticity continued with the less practical fashion.