NYT makes me never want to wear a dress again

This has got to be a joke.
When the warm weather comes, I always dread to go outside when I wear a dress for the first time and find men cat-call, whistle and – what’s worst for me – stare me down as I walk past them. While I should be happy that the sun is finally out and I can wear lighter clothes again, the spring seems to bring the neighborhood sleazies out of hibernation.
The New York Times published this gem yesterday about how dresses are becoming out-of-date, in which the author makes a plea for the survival of dresses, not for the comfort or convenience for women, but for all leering men’s sakes:

It is also, for what it’s worth, unwelcome news to me.
That is because, unlike Ms. Slowey, I am not eager for women to become ‘a little more hard-core, a little more androgynous, a little more butch.’ Yes, gender play is fun, and trousers are a useful wardrobe default for the woman in business. But unless you are Thomas McGuane and find nothing sexier than a woman with crow’s feet, tight Wranglers and suede chaps, you will have to concede that, for flattering a woman’s body, nothing is quite like a dress.

Might as well throw some heterosexism in there too. And women wearing pants is “gender play”? I didn’t realize trousers were still a “man’s” piece of clothing.
And it doesn’t end there, not by a long shot. He proceeds to refer to the “classic story” by Irwin Shaw, “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses,â€? not surprisingly an unbelievably sexist story about a man who is explaining to his wife that he just loves to look at beautiful women while she begs him not to leave her for someone else. Here are a couple of other lovely references to why women should wear dresses:

The summer dress, in all shapes and styles, is preferred by many women, and by men who like watching them. (Photo caption)
From a ‘retro’ and ‘Mad Men’ garment, the dress was transformed into a wardrobe staple, to the benefit of women and those who get pleasure from gazing at them. . .
The dress, Jennifer Emory, another midday shopper, said: ‘is very easy and very flattering — a no-brainer, really. It’s comfortable, and you can easily go from day to night. And guys like it because it’s so feminine.’
. . . And so, for those of us who take pleasure in the sight of a woman in a summer dress walking along Fifth Avenue, her dress caught in a faint breeze, a vision that calls to mind a Guy Wiggins painting or the famous bit of dialogue spoken by the actor Everett Sloane in ‘Citizen Kane,’ there is still time. (Emphasis mine)

In short, dresses are still the hot thing this summer so men can have their daily dose of voyeurism.
The sad thing about this piece is that it won’t do anything but discourage women from wearing dresses this summer, despite some women’s love to wear them. (Ahem.) I guess they didn’t get the message that women wear their clothes for comfort and fashion, not someone else’s fancy.
Thanks to the readers who alerted us to this!