As a kid, my feet were so hard, I could walk over glass.

I could too!

I have to stop thinking about flip-flops/thongs. I think I might have a phobia, because it is seriously making me nauseated!

I don't mind an SO (or a friend) asking me to try something new (accepting suggestions is a good way to keep out of a rut, IMO), but if I hadn't liked them, I certainly wouldn't have kept wearing them.

I had an FB try and get me to dress differently (i.e. more femininely). He was distraught that I'd just never try to be more ladylike. Then he saw my work clothes and he about fell out. Turns out, he should have taken it personally. No, his booty calls weren't sufficiently a big deal for me to get all dolled up.

Then again, he met me at krav and wondered how I had it in me to display such aggression.

I do not take well to suggestions from guys about changing my clothing, which is hypocritical, because I have totally harassed a boyfriend about his clothes. But! Orange pants! He looked horrible.

I have extremely sensitive eyes and always wear sunglasses. As I like to tell people when they card me here, they are the only eye cream I've ever used. They protect my eyes and cover the skin below just fine, without making me look like Jeff Goldblum from The Fly.

I have never had anyone try to change my clothes. But then, I gravitate to low-cut tops, and girly skirts, so NSM.

D. has pretty good taste, so I don't really have to worry about it. I AM, however, quietly changing over all of his hygiene products from "cheapest" to "better."

His hair is silkier, his skin is less dry, and he smells nicer. He doesn't wear cologne, which, SOB, because I cannot live without yummy good smells, even on men, so I changed his body soap and deodorant to smells that are nicer to my nose.

He is very good-natured about it.

Gladiator sandals completely befuddle me - I see them *all* over NYC, and I don't understand how people can walk around all day in shoes with zero arch support! I mean they're just completely flat!

I don't wear shoes with arch support. I do minimalist footwear entirely now (mostly Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot), which means no arch support, no cramped toes, and very thin (3.5mm or so) soles. It's been great for my back.

The lack of decent open-toed minimalist sandals means I've been wearing occasional flip flips. I think the Vibram Fivefingers finally got me to the point with the thing between my toes was not annoying.

Beyond Feminist Hulk.

The guy trying to change me was making some massive assumptions, amonsgt which were that figure-hugging jeans and baby tees weren't feminine enough.

No, I've seen the women he actually dates, and I was terribly butch in comparison. I have no idea why he was slumming with me, and no idea how he thought he was going to mold me into one of them. My hair was two feet too short. Breasts too small and too natural, and makeup? Let's not even get started.

YOUR boobs were too small?

Um...wow.

I have never had anyone try to change my clothes.

Pete will give me his opinion of things (go on, look shocked. I know you want to.), and will tell me what he thinks flatters my figure best, but he's never tried to tell me I needed to wear completely different things.

(Except for the mismatched stockings look. He HATES that, and makes a squinchy face whenever I indulge in that particular bit of whimsy.)

I don't wear shoes with arch support. I do minimalist footwear entirely now (mostly Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot),

BTW, the CEO of that company was the cute English guy in my Honors Philosophy class who said about rugby, "Oh, you've GOT to try it, it's a whole different culture," inspiring me to check out a practice. With typical British understatement, if you asked him what his father did, he'd say, "He's a shoemaker." (Last name Clark, as in Clarks). Not that you care. It just amuses me to see him an international CEO with a hot niche consumer item, having known him in the rugby context.

The SO has never complained about my appearance although it has fluctuated wildly while we`ve been together, preppy, femme hippie, androgynous minimalist, punked out all black, butch hiker, etc. He does encourage stuff he likes (he thanks all y`all for the nail polish thing--I think it`s hilarious he notices my nails) but doesn`t bitch if I`m slumming it. I think the butchest periods were toughest on him; he didn`t love being mistaken for two guys out together all the time, and he got a little flinchy when I was getting a goodly amount of lesbian attention.
 
But hey, he has a yellow-green mohawk and he got hit on by drunken women in their fifties at a cowboy bar, so I think I have some operating room here. We were teasing him pretty good about how I can`t take him anywhere without him ending up with a date, church, bars. Hee.