& like of course it isn't Inherently Emasculating for men to wear "skirts" (read: robes) this is a very specific western hangup, and a pretty modern one at that. there are plenty of cultures where men wear things other than trousers without being considered Gender Nonconforming - but Thedas was written by white westerners with white western gamers in mind, and the parts of it that much of the series is set in are based of white western countries. you can't discount the doylist explanations for a lot of this: when the writers put in off-colour jokes about who's the Girl in an m/m relationship, or about men wearing skirts, or about women being wannabe men because they wear armour and wield swords - yes, you're supposed to take it as an offcolour joke and read into it about the characters saying it, but as gamers we have the unique and beautiful perspective of knowing that some guy, somewhere, wrote that line into the character's mouth for a reason . and that reason is that you're supposed to get that it's a nasty joke on gamlen's part because same-sex relationships are expected to emulate heterosexual gender roles in western culture, and men who sleep with men are considered to be feminised (in a humiliating way) in western culture. and as a gamer you understand that and that's why the joke lands .
