Billy Porter thinks there's a big problem with how we respond to men in dresses

"Men are strong, women are disgusting? I'm not doing that anymore."
By Rachel Thompson  on 
Billy Porter thinks there's a big problem with how we respond to men in dresses
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Billy Porter has been the talk of the town this week after donning a showstopping dress-suit hybrid to the Tony Awards.

Fashioned out of the Kinky Boots curtain — yes, curtain — Porter's Tony's outfit featured a uterus motif as a statement about women's reproductive rights.

Speaking to Stephen Colbert, Porter talked about social views towards men who wear dresses — and what those views say about how society views women.

"We've moved beyond the idea that women wearing pants is a problem. Women wearing pants is powerful, it's strong, everybody accepts it, and it's associated with the patriarchy, it's associated with being male," Porter explained.

"The minute a man puts on a dress it's disgusting, so what are you saying? Men are strong, women are disgusting? I'm not doing that anymore.

"I'm done with that. I'm a man in a dress and if I feel like wearing a dress I'm gonna wear one."

An image of journalist and author Rachel Thompson on a pink backdrop. She has long brown hair and is wearing a light pink dress.
Rachel Thompson
Features Editor

Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World will be published by Penguin Random House on Jan. 30, 2025. It is available for pre-order now.

Her first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021. Stylist magazine called Rough "2021's most important book about sex".

Based in the UK, Rachel has been writing about sex, dating, relationships, and digital culture for over a decade.


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