Trousers or Pants?

Hello Friends!

I was once told, "Men wear trousers, women wear pants!"  Certainly, I had to check the veracity of that statement, and these are my findings:

Trousers is a 16th century word derived from a combination of the word "trews" and "drawers".  Of course, you know what drawers are.  It is simply a term denoting leggings that are drawn up.  However, I needed to dig a bit deeper to find out what trews were.  The word is derived the Scottish "triubhas", or French "trebus".  Triubhas, or trews, are close fitting tartan trousers, especially worn by select Scottish regiments.

Now, what about pants?  Pants has a simpler story.  Pants is short for pantaloons, which is in turn a French derivative of the Venetian "Pantaleone", a name of a favored Venetian saint from the fourth century.  So what does that have to do with clothing?  Venetians were known for popularizing a style of close fitting leggings, and so the clothing became synonymous with them.  Interestingly enough, the term "pants" became popular (along with the style) in the middle 19th century. 

What remains is the question, "Are pants for women?"  Well, in a word, no.  There is no gender role assigned to either term.  Of course, in proper Victorian, or 19th century American society, the grand majority of women would be wearing dresses, and be expected to wear dresses.  The lines drawn against the sexes were certainly far stricter than today.

We are not, however, living in Victorian England, nor on the frontier.  In fact, the majority of us are just seeking the flavor of the era to set in our fantasy.  Then there are those like me who are looking to develop a lifestyle largely based in the principles of the steampunk genre.  In steampunk, it is simple to find a woman wearing a pant suit as a business owner, or trendy woman on the town, however, this does not in any way delineate the terms.  No, The choice is yours.  Are you a stickler for the old ways, a pastoral laborer?  Trousers is yours.  Are you trendy and cosmopolitan, like a Victorian Londoner?  You'd be wearing pants.  Of course, there are other terms (breeches/britches, knickers, slacks...) but this article is about that one debate which fired my mind for a time.  Me?  I prefer trousers, as I have no need for Venetians hugging my ass.  Good Journey.