Hello, papi!

June 3, 2017 6:12 AM

10 hours of walking around New York City wearing a romper
posted by Bee'sWing (41 comments total)

Note to self: Never go into a barber shop in the Heights wearing a romper.
posted by AugustWest at 6:49 AM on June 3, 2017 [11 favorites]

The surprising thing to me was how much reaction he got. Maybe it's different looking at a video, but it just didn't look to me like an outfit that would really stand out all that much in a city. Nor would I have even known to call it a "romper," but random people on the street were yelling to him about it -- this must be more of a thing than I had realized.

The guys in the barber shop were pretty brutal, though more in the laughing kind of way. The street reactions that they chose to show skewed a lot more positive.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:53 AM on June 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yah, I almost stopped watching after the barber shop because I found that kind of depressing, but then it was mostly just people being pretty funny.
posted by Alex404 at 6:58 AM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I give up, just do not get. I get the comic that runs a celebrity around a block in New York, not too funny but get. Sadly get the Kardashians, do not click ever but, sigh, get. Snapchat, get, could never use but get. This, just do not.
posted by sammyo at 7:05 AM on June 3, 2017

Loved that. But what I wonder is: What effect did the fact that this was obviously being video'd have on the reactions of other people? Unless it was a hidden video camera, all of those people knew they were being recorded and therefore what we're seeing are, in a sense, performances.

Did the videographer get releases from all those people in order to put this on Facebook? (we see that the name of the barber shop is obscured, one assumes because they wanted it to be).

When I've recorded various things on the street, many people are highly concerned that they're being recorded and that becomes the most important thing about the video. So I'd like more information about that aspect.
posted by DMelanogaster at 7:07 AM on June 3, 2017 [11 favorites]

The surprising thing to me was how much reaction he got.

Yeah, I want to say that he wouldn't get much reaction at all in L.A., at least not so in-your-face, but I wouldn't have expected that reaction from New York, so. I will be glad when the romper craze is over, for both men and women, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:14 AM on June 3, 2017

I will be glad when the romper craze is over, for both men and women, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on.

Maybe because it's infantilzing fashion. Aren't rompers for babies? Designed so that they don't ride up/down when you're being transferred from stroller to high chair to bouncy seat to crib? It's a convenience for moms/dads, so adults know what they are (probably especially those who've had kids—I'm not a raiser of kids, but even I've seen a fair few babies in rompers).
posted by heyho at 7:29 AM on June 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

Men, want to feel like a woman for one concentrated hour, wear a romper apparently.
posted by amanda at 7:39 AM on June 3, 2017 [12 favorites]

I can vaguely remember them being in fashion before, when I was young. Personally I think they are really unflattering but people must find them comfortable because they have never gone away. As male fashion, though, it must be fairly new -- in college I knew a guy who liked to wear denim overalls that were cut off really short, like baggy hotpants with an attached top, but not quite the same as a romper.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:43 AM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

....So, I guess I'm the only one that realized that it's yet another thing taking the piss out of the !0 Hours Of Walking As A Woman video?

I guess we can't have sincere efforts to point out the problem of street harrassment, it's way easier to make fun of it to the point that no one even remembers the original video.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:06 AM on June 3, 2017 [18 favorites]

Instead of walking shouldn't it be "romping?"
posted by jonmc at 8:06 AM on June 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

I thought the level of street harassment was remarkably high. People on the street in NYC are sure happy to share their opinions with you.
posted by Bee'sWing at 8:21 AM on June 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

I mean to be fair, it's six minutes out of 600 as well. I'm assuming that the other 99% of the time he was mostly ignored.
posted by JDHarper at 8:29 AM on June 3, 2017 [4 favorites]

Reactions aside, it actually looks like pretty comfortable clothing. Especially for a hot summer day. Having to undress to pee would be unpleasant, however.
posted by codacorolla at 8:56 AM on June 3, 2017

Keep in mind, people are reacting to a guy in a romper who's being filmed by someone.
posted by davebush at 9:05 AM on June 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

People are reacting to a guy in a romper because of the reaction that the RompHim got.
posted by durandal at 9:09 AM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I hear they have a special room for these.
posted by jonmc at 9:13 AM on June 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm pretty sure it was a hidden camera, like a GoPro. You can see fabric in the beginning, perhaps a backpack. There's also a fisheye effect.

I didn't watch the whole thing, but did anyone comment on his legs, because damn.
posted by AFABulous at 9:19 AM on June 3, 2017 [6 favorites]

Having to undress to pee would be unpleasant, however.
A boy wouldn't have to undress. Those shorts are loose enough.
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:23 AM on June 3, 2017

Aren't rompers for babies? Designed so that they don't ride up/down when you're being transferred from stroller to high chair to bouncy seat to crib?

I don't have any rompers, and I'm not a baby, but this is hella appealing! I ride a bike, I have to bend over to pick up my dog's poop or tie my shoes or whatever, I sit in chairs, and I'm constantly stressing about whether doing so is gonna make my underwear or ass crack show. (As a woman I generally am careful about clothing mostly because those kinds of "mishaps" just invite harassment.) I just went to Target to try on some shorts for the summer and jfc every pair of shorts I tried on that fit my butt had a huge gap at the waist. I couldn't buy a single pair because I couldn't have even sat down in them.

I'm 41 and maybe a little old for trendy fashion but this has me thinking, hmmm, maybe a romper *is* what I need. I do have a pants jumpsuit for work and it's probably the comfiest thing I own.
posted by misskaz at 9:30 AM on June 3, 2017

I am not fashion aware enough to know if it is still a romper if it is a long pants version, but Jack LaLane spent a good part of his life wearing a (long pants) romper.
posted by AugustWest at 9:49 AM on June 3, 2017

I believe what Jack LaLane wore is a jumpsuit. Plus I dont think he wore it when he wasn't working out? Also, his wife's name is Elaine LaLane, which is awesome.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:56 AM on June 3, 2017 [4 favorites]

I intellectually understood that femme people face more comments and harassment when walking in public, because I'm not willfully self-deluded, but I never felt the visceral vulnerability of it until I started wearing femme attire more often myself.

I'm a 6'3 tall person with a big bushy beard, so that obviously colours people's reactions, but when I wear my purple dress, or a skirt with my vest and suit coat, or engage in any genderfuckery while walking around in public, the number of comments I get increases exponentially. It's mostly positive, because I look awesome, but as all femmes doubtlessly know, even constant positive comments from strangers quickly becomes emotionally exhausting. I mostly go femme now only in known environments where it's pretty much a non-issue and I can just be at ease, rather than being a front line pusher of the gender envelope, but I certainly wish that more cismale people would walk a mile in a pretty dress, just to understand why they need to STFU way more often. I'm not sure if this video experiment helps that principle, and I'm not sure if romphims are really "femme", per say, but anything that helps challenge the norms of gender conformity and pushes back against street harassment is a positive in my books.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 10:06 AM on June 3, 2017 [11 favorites]

Do they have pee holes in a RompHim? Because from what I recall of rompers, the problem was having to take the entire thing off whenever you had to go.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:38 AM on June 3, 2017

Yeah, RompHims have flys (flies?) like regular shorts. The guy in the video was wearing some other brand because RompHims aren't for sale yet. He didn't have a fly so I guess he's getting nekkid. That has to be an awkward urinal experience.

Either way, you have to take them off when you poop.
posted by AFABulous at 10:47 AM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I recall the big yucks when we found a catalog of all kinds of athletic gear and there were photos of models wearing wrestling outfits kinda like this.

I can vaguely remember them being in fashion before, when I was young.

Well isn't that the whole issue here? They were in fashion when you were two years old. Still are, in that demographic.
posted by Rash at 11:31 AM on June 3, 2017

I guess we can't have sincere efforts to point out the problem of street harrassment, it's way easier to make fun of it to the point that no one even remembers the original video.

Is it meant to make fun of it? I immediately knew that's what it referred to, just reading the title. Men getting street harassed if they do anything perceived as having female or non-cishet overtones is still the patriarchy in action, so I would interpret this as complementary to the original 10 hours video in intent, rather than mocking.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:40 AM on June 3, 2017 [6 favorites]

I thought this was a sincere branching off of the original video also, not at all taking the piss out of it. He's mostly getting harassed. Even the people who are enthusiastic about his romper-wearing are harassing him--most of them pull him aside, force their time and desires on him and/or make inappropriately sexualized comments. Just the one guy who politely asks where he can get his own romper is cool. Like, just about everyone else is pretty awful.
posted by byanyothername at 11:52 AM on June 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

ugh, reminded me of a trip I took to new york years ago, where I was wearing my favourite shorts, that had a spiderweb pattern, and I was yelled at all goddamn day "hey spidah woman"
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:55 AM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

The reverse harrassment from the ladies on the bench checking him out in Harlem was interesting.

Also, yeah, shit, that barbershop was brutal.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 1:24 PM on June 3, 2017

Man not pleased with fit of romper (NSFW text including n-word)
posted by AFABulous at 2:08 PM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, pretty damn happy I am a crotchety old person about fashion. Pretty much a t-shirt and jeans type.
posted by Samizdata at 3:26 PM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think there's only one male fashion trend that I can't stand and I cannot believe that it still persists – the baggy pants, hanging down below your boxers or *gag* white underpants. I noticed a middle-school aged kid the other day trying to ride his BMX bike with his pants hanging down and was so distressed that the trend has been passed down to yet another generation. The only bright spot of that fashion trend is the fact that it is the most female-like trend in that, like many women's fashions, it requires the wearer to alter their gait and their demeanor in order to wear. Some of the pants are so low, they are essentially binding themselves across the thighs. It's the SPANX of young male swagger.

The romper also takes men into this realm of clothing consciousness. The problem with the romper (for all of us) is that you shrug your shoulders and you give yourself a wedgie. You are almost guaranteed a camel toe or moose knuckle when wearing a romper. And, of course, the madness of standing in a public bathroom stall fairly naked....

But, I aver, men should wear the romper. And of course open to the navel!
posted by amanda at 3:41 PM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Did the videographer get releases from all those people in order to put this on Facebook? (we see that the name of the barber shop is obscured, one assumes because they wanted it to be).

When I've recorded various things on the street, many people are highly concerned that they're being recorded and that becomes the most important thing about the video. So I'd like more information about that aspect.

I'm pretty sure there was a secretish camera on a backpack in front of him for most of this (maybe not in the barber) so I'm not sure people knew they were being taped. Outside of the barbershop, this was filmed in public and New York has one-party consent for recording conversations, so I don't think he'd have needed anyone's explicit permission.
posted by retrograde at 6:17 PM on June 3, 2017

But, I aver, men should wear the romper. And of course open to the navel!

Ummmm, no. And I am saying that as, despite my personal opinion on the romper, you most probably don't want to see me with ANYTHING exposing me to the navel. I have a responsible attitude toward these things.
posted by Samizdata at 8:00 PM on June 3, 2017

JDHarper said, "I mean to be fair, it's six minutes out of 600 as well. I'm assuming that the other 99% of the time he was mostly ignored."

is this meant to be reassuring? i imagine most people experience street harassment for a small % of the time they are out of the house
posted by yaymukund at 8:25 AM on June 4, 2017

Why did he choose that neighborhood?
This is an almost "in the hood" youtube prank.
posted by yonega at 9:52 AM on June 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

This made me 100% miss the couple years I lived in NYC. Participating in the daily creative human parade was so much fun.
posted by jocelmeow at 11:37 AM on June 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

I am ecstatic about the rise of rompers, because, about a year ago, my 10-year-old daughter and I were sitting at the kitchen table talking about words we hate. Of course, pamper and moist were on there, but then I said, you know what word I really hate? Romper. I hate that word.

And my 10-year-old said, in a perfect Jersey accent (were from Georgia), Hey ma, you got a rompah? I was hopin Id get a rompah for my boithday.

And then I said, also in a Marge-Simpsons-sisters kind of voice, Yeah, no, I aint got you no rompah. I was gonna get you a rompah but then I spent all my money on beef joiky, so no rompah.

So for the past year, every now and then, my 10-year-old and I will spontaneously launch into channeling what are apparently 2 70-year-old chain-smoking New Jersey ladies. Its our little in-joke, and it makes us laugh and laugh and laugh.

So about 3 weeks ago, when male rompers started showing up everywhere on Facebook, I excitedly showed her the pictures.

Oh my gawd, she said, rahmpers!

This is a great world we live in. Bring on the rompers, I say.



(Sorry for the lack of quotation marks and apostrophes. That key is broken on my keyboard.)
posted by staggering termagant at 1:13 PM on June 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

While in band I wore a skirt onstage and just kept wearing it everywhere for few days and honestly about 30 secs of confusion from my co workers and random people but then most just got over it. No insults, no compliments unless 'Damn!' is a compliment.
posted by judson at 7:48 AM on June 5, 2017

yaymukund: Not really. I mean, it still sucks, but this video gives the impression that every New Yorker will make some kind of comment if you run around in a romper as a dude, whereas your average person will just ignore you or give you a weird look.
posted by JDHarper at 2:15 PM on June 5, 2017