The age has finally come. The Age of the gender free bags. See, I’ve long theorised that gendered objects would very slowly become obsolete. They’re not becoming obsolete at nearly the rate that I’d like, because I’m still waiting for parasols to be acceptable accessories for anyone who isn’t a 60+ Chinese woman (they’re THE best sun prevention tool, and we’ve all collectively decided in our foolish society that they’re taboo), but I think man-bags are fine now. And if not, they’re on the cusp, and I’m going to MAKE them fine.Slouch bags are like the happy medium anyway, because they’re much bigger and they hold more than your average, petite handbag. I’m not saying I’m going to get a bright red leather bag and cover it in flowery stickers and fill it with mascara and used tissues. This is still going to be a bag, filled with all sorts of things I need. Maybe power tools? No, that’s dumb. Car keys? I guess normal handbags have those.
Hey, you know what? Man-bags can have exactly the same stuff in them as normal handbags, like tissues and pens and receipts that are no longer necessary. Woman have been mastering handbag contents for a long time, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to man-bags. I’m not so insecure that I need to carry a power-sander around with me to justify me having a nice bag, a bag that carries things in an extremely practical manner. Maybe I’ll carry a tablet computer in there. Maybe it’ll be full of tissues and old sunglasses. It’s my bag and I’ll do with it whatever I wish.
It’s tough being a trend-setter, but soon, shoulder bags will be the big thing for everyone. And in twenty years, when everyone is toting things around in their convenient shoulder accessories, we’ll laugh at what we once foolishly considered a ‘girl’ thing.