Let’s talk about RompHims for a minute. It is now all the rage that I have only seen in photos on the internet, not in stores. At the heart of it, they’re just rompers for dudes. They can’t be called “rompers”, though, because then people would associate them with women, and women BAD! I would have come up with a better name than “RompHim”, though. How about Bromper? Was that taken already?
Anyway, the RompHim have been the target of many angry people. I haven’t seen dudes so angry at something on the internet since the rise of all woman pop bands…so like yesterday. Why all this hate for the Jumpshorts? Is it that they’re completely covering, yet really short? Is it the question of how you take a shit when you wear them? Could it be the dumb name? Maybe all three, but I doubt it.
The Bag-o-Man is not a new thing. Men’s swimsuits up to the 1930s were essentially Mompers. Sean Connery wore one in Goldfinger. There are catalogs from the 1970s full of jumpsuits, and some of them were short onesies for men. Just last year, Cam Newton rocked a RompBro. What’s old is new again. As with systematic racism and sexism, people are acting like it’s never existed until now, and unlike systematic sexism and racism, people are reacting with rage and disgust at the idea of a Bronesie.
The hate that it is receiving is likely a disdain for clothing and behavior that infantilize adults. The very name “romper” reminds me of kids running around in onesies, because trying to put more complicated clothes on a little toddler who is just going to get it dirty in 5 minutes is difficult enough. Humans in their grabby larval stage are very wriggly and hard to keep still. More likely, the hate is for all things perceived as feminine being made for men. I know many people who either refuse to wear a RompHim or say that anyone wearing one deserves a beat down. Unless it is a confederate flag laden Hitlomper, I don’t think violence is necessary. We associate adult rompers with women’s fashion, and as with anyone who wishes to bend social gender norms, the makers of the RompHim Kickstarter have been met with violent resistance. Hoteps and right-wingers alike accuse the Sack-o-Mans of eroding the image of the “real man” and “effeminizing” men even more. A few years ago, skinny jeans for men were the thing to hate. Back when I was younger, earrings in men were the target. There was even a “gay” ear and “straight” ear. Back in the 16th Century, men wore heels. Makeup was a mainstay for men from the 17th century all the way back to the first kingdoms of the world. Fashion itself is not a definer of gender or of masculinity and femininity. It is only what people say about a certain product of fashion. The thing is that hoteps and right-wingers just hate women, so anything that reminds them of women will be met with disgust. The problem is that ideas like theirs still permeate throughout society in diluted forms veiled as either genuine concern or just a target for hate; much the way people will spit venom at the mention of certain girl bands or women pulp authors.
Don’t worry: the Momper will not topple Western civilization. It may be a fad for the summer (again), but I’m pretty sure that 100 years from now, the tomes of history that is uploaded into children’s brains will not mark the Bronesie as the catalyst that launched 1000 nuclear warheads. We can chill with the ridiculous hate for them for hate’s sake. All of you know damn well you wouldn’t go up to James Bond or Cam Newton and call them punks for wearing one. Though I doubt I would buy one myself…But I DID just buy a pair of skinny jeans, and if there’s a kente-inspired Afromper, I would wear it just to piss off hoteps…
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