Are “Shorts” Effeminate?

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18503, 15 September 1934, Page 10

Are “Shorts” Effeminate?

I ONDON’S sporting circles are agitk atedlv discussing a new and disturbing controversy, writes the Sydney Morning Herald’s correspondent. It. has arisen out of a bitter attack by a Wimbledon commentator on the wearing of “shorts” by men players, lie denounced them as effeminate! ! ll was not so long ago that “shorted” women wore the subject ot fierce argument, and it seems only yesterday when scandalised members of the committee rushed to the centre court at Wimbledon to order female

“shorts” wearers to at once put on a skirt. “Shorts” were-then regarded as too masculine for people of the feminine gender. In one way) .the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of York might bo said' to be responsible for the present controversy. They both publicly expressed the opinion that “shorts” were “sensible.” Thereupon, of course, “shorts” became so popular among girls and women —tennis players. hikers, beach promemulers, and so f or ili —that nobody considered them at all remarkable or vulgar. In fact, thev have become so closely associated with fashions for females that men arc beginning to wonder. Whereas it was once said that “shorts” made gilds look like, boys, it is now stated that they maker boys look like girls! This is a pretty kettle of fish. It is a vital question to all-sorts of people to footballers, Boy Scouts, ramblers, rowers, track athletes, and a dozen other exponents" (if healthful exercise In short, almost the entire world of male sport is involved'. In the painful circumstances, it seems that men will' be forced to take a firm stand, They will be compelled cither to adopt skirts and so carry-tho war into the enemy’s camp, or proclaim “shorts” as the prerogative of the male sex, with subtle and terrible penalties for those who infringe upon this sacred and ancient right. For it is a safe guess that if women are bent upon looking like men, men have not the slightest wish to be mistaken for women. They hnve the superiority complex too well developed for that. Besides, it is a matter of logic.