It is Time for a Male Bag Revolution

To preface this piece, I am a 19 year old male heterosexual college student. I feel that if I can accept what I propose in this article, most other people should be able to as well.

I am tired of not being able to carry a bag. I am not talking about a backpack or plastic grocery bag. I am talking about a same-shoulder or cross-body bag that is smaller or the same size as a woman's purse.

"So you want to carry a purse?"

No, I don't want to carry a purse. I want to carry a personal bag for men. Not a murse either. Just a bag.

"Then carry it."

I would, except for the fact that everyone here in the United States considers it a crime against nature and fashion for a man to carry a bag that's not a giant messenger bag. Fanny packs are out too, though they're not really to my liking. And I have carried a bag in the past, and it is quite a fashionable bag, might I add. It is a simple, cross-body canvas bag with two zippered compartments. It is perhaps 8" by 10", with a 3" depth in the main compartment. There's more than enough room for everything that I carry on a daily basis, along with space for change, a clip for keys, and a pocket for easy access to a notepad. It has served me well in infrequent use over the last year.

But I want to know why it's not generally acceptable for a man to carry a bag. At any point in time, many men have a comparable number of things on them to the number of things women carry. Both sexes have wallets, phones, mp3 players, cameras, chap stick, keys, change, etc. to carry. I don't want to have to use every pocket of my jeans to carry the things I need from day to day, nor do I want to resort to the use of cargo pants. Granted, it is a rare day when I carry all of these items, but for many this is not too extreme of an example. On vacation I might want or need all of these items. And I don't like carrying change in my pockets either. Bags have room for that, too.

Yes, women may tend to carry more personal items with them on a daily basis than men do. However, this is not an arms race. This is not a question of who has more items bulging from his or her pockets. This is not a quantitative, measurement-based problem.

This is a qualitative problem. Ideally the dialogue would be as follows: "Do you feel like you have too many things in your pockets at any given point? You do? Well then carry a bag, and don't feel social pressure to stop."

If the United States can elect a black president and slowly begin to legalize gay marriage, I feel that eliminating the stigma against men that carry personal bags is long overdue. I don't want to feel like I am being scrutinized or judged when I am carrying a bag. I don't want to have bulging pockets.

I want convenience without judgment. I want to be able to carry a bag and be proud of it and show it off to all of my male friends. I want equality between the sexes. I want a revolution, and I want it now.