Rosie The Riveter Liberated You

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I see in today's news a woman is going on trial in Sudan for the offense of wearing pants in public.  She was one of a group of such women arrested.  Keep in mind this is 2009.  Other such incidents have taken place in Sudan, Zambia, Iran, and yes, in Pakistan--an EXECUTION.  Other examples include---

Reuters, June 23, 2002, reported a story from Swaziland in Africa---

"Soldiers from the army will patrol for offenders.  They have been instructed to strip the trousers from women in pants, and tear them to pieces.”

But you have to love Rosie The Riveter.  It was she who liberated you to be able to "dress like men" by wearing The Almighty Trouser.  I point out for purposes of balance that while for women the trouser represented liberation, with men it is The Almighty Skirt.  But men as a whole are a very uncomprehending lot, with the occasional exception like me figuring things out---both styles are sex neutral.  Behold, Rosie The Riveter, a painting by Norman Rockwell that made the front cover of the Saturday Evening Post for May 29, 1943, at the peak of World War II, when 17 million USA women were in factory work, mostly wearing pants.  Did female biology change?  No---an overriding SOCIAL FORCE re-shaped female dressing habits.  With men the nearest example is after the success of the Greek War of Independence in 1829, the skirt worn by the Klephts (freedom fighters) became the national costume for men till increasing contact with the West altered their habits to wear mostly trousers except for folk dancers, Presidential Guards, and festive occasions, the men still wear their "ballet skirts."