Indexed

hi, I’m Scott and I carry a Murse.

Men should only ever carry backpacks, messenger bags or breifcases. That should be enough for any man in any situation. A man should also be comfortable leaving the house with just the contents of his pockets.

The hazards of reading sideways. I won’t say what I thought the ‘men with’ said when I first glanced at it.

A small man bag is essential to keep your pockets clear of change and crap. When your pockets are empty, you can show off your sculpted thigh muscles better. Women also dig touching a man through his pants while not having to push cell phones and quarters out of the way.

@Mike: Oh c’mon, now I just have to know what you mis-read…

Are we saying that being on the top of that curve is a… bad thing?

@Mike: I hope you’re not trying to say that we “young people” are all just working to sabotage your lawn. Or that we all love to wear our boxers practically over our pants. I tend to avoid those types.

As for the actual post…the comments have entertained me more than the graph itself.

I like to think carrying everything around in a canvas grocery bag from the local food coöp has cachet.

thank you.
this is so true.
i carry a backpack because of societies judgmentalism.

Women have fought for and earned the right to vote, keep their jobs after getting married, and wear pants. I’m all for men’s liberation next. Go on, guys! Carry your purses with pride! It’d be a waste to leave all those big, lumpy gadgets at home.

Plus, when you’ve got lots of things shoved in your pockets it’s harder to ogle at . . . . never mind.

A few years back I was crossing the street in a downtown area. I was carrying a piece of electronic test gear. It was in a case and had a shoulder strap. Suddenly a car is blowing it’s horn a swerving at me. The guy driving is giving me a dirty look.

I jumped out of the way thinking what did I do? But it wasn’t anything I did. It was how looked. It looked like I was carrying a purse. Now I’m pissed. Unfortunately he was already through the next traffic light and gone.

Had I been quicker to assess the situation I might have caught up with him at the light and kicked the side of his car in to show him how manly I was.

Nice graph, and accurate! As for names of things, be brave. Quite secure in my masculinity, I’ve been carrying a _purse_ since around 1980, a couple of years before my son (who introduced me to this site) was born. I’ve worn out 6 or 7 purses so far.

Mike is exactly right! haha! i thought the same thing. but at least men really do have penises…

Everyone knows real men carry diaper bags. Now THAT is some sexy. (Too bad all those dudes are already off the market!)

I say carry it loud and proud guys. Real men’ll carry both purses - man and wife’s.
My husband is a ‘briefcase’ no straps guy, with wallet but happily takes my purse (cleverly disguised as a small backpack) or “cash case” as he calls it. I’m always broke when I get it back, though.

Funny how he’ll never wear my actual navy backpack I take on outings. Too much work. I sometimes use one for a laptop just to give my back that extra padding.

As long as guys manage to forgo the highschool-loser perm pocket condom-ring look by whatever means necessary the world’s a better place for it.

Yeah? Well I carry everything I need in my detachable motorcycle side cases! And I’m a *girl*

I know a gay guy and doesn’t seem mind when someone uses that vernacular… in fact, he thinks it is funny. Mind you, he doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder about being gay…

I say we burn all the man purses… cargo pants for the win.

I didn’t say he did… but who says you speak for everyone?

User “Everyone” has won the thread.

Drugserbad, I know a straight guy and he doesn’t tell stories about his gay friend to justify his stupidity. Imagine that!

So do you have a black friend in the ranks too, for those special occasions? Golly gee, I should collect a few minority friends too! Then I can say anything I want!

Anything’s better than a fanny pack…

Being a non-american, i was well confused by this thread til I figured out that “Purse” = “Handbag”.

Round here, purses go inside handbags and carry ought but credit cards and cash (ie a LadyWallet :p but distinct enough to have its own name, and gender connotations). So no-one would ever know if you had one on you.

Unless you were carrying a handbag/manbag of course. That might clue them in. And you would be in for some ridicule as the lady-bag has exactly the same purpose as here; for containing a small number of things that would be better off kept securely in pockets (rather than in an easily-swiped, same-shoulder strapped, palmable container), and a vast array of useless crap, that all gets jumbled together such that you can never find that one lipstick you want RIGHT NOW without emptying the whole thing out on the table/seat/floor. But it does allow the good lady (or fabulous gentleman) carrying it to best show off their figure without any rogue bumps obstructing it.

Guy Solution: A JACKET. Nothing except small essentials need to go in the trouser pockets (they can get annoying if you’re sat in cramped quarters or having to walk a long way anyhow), as a decent jacket will have two hip pockets (keys) and at least one of each of a buttonable breast pocket (cellphone, sunglasses) and an inside/”holster” pocket (wallet). Plus it can be both stylish and masculine. And there’s nothing else to carry, and a light one doesn’t even need to be necessarily taken off in the bar.

Problem. Solved.

That said I do carry all my work gear in a couple of cheap canvas-&-hemp shopping bags from the local supermarket. And do have a webbing-fabric “record bag” type manbag for certain occasions (it’s bright red and white stripes, and I don’t care, as it cost me precisely £1.00 … same as the supermarket ones…). For one thing, turns out a shoulder-strap messenger bag of that type, that’s just the right size for 12″ LPs, is also just the right size for a 12″ tablet PC. Excellent. And it is at least designed for opposite-shoulder use, meaning you can carry heavier stuff, it’s far harder to steal, and the man points go up by at least 50% (50% of very little isn’t much, but its still an improvement).

It probably helps that I’m just-about in the last generation to have - briefly - experienced side-carried school satchels (aka postman bags) before backpacks became all the rage. Had one when I was 5-6. No-one laughed.

First Mike: I think I know what you read. And somehow I can’t help thinking that your alternative graph is just as true.

I’m 55 and have 4 kids and share two more.
We took them all to Greece for three weeks two summers ago, and before we left I bought what I thought was a very cool “FAG -BAG” as was the name given to it to tease me by my kids. But who do you think hauled everything from all the sunblock to the girls tons of lib gloss, my camera to my girlfriends blackberry,wallets and hair brushes, and everything that was purcahsed on any given day trip. By the end of the trip we never left homebase without it. Go with what you need, not what people might think.