Over the years, rules about figure skating attire has changed with the times (and some scandal’s), with one exception, men’s.
Unfortunately I do not have how the rules read for each year, perhaps others can help fill in the holes.
International Skating Union (ISU)
2018
I. 3. The requirements to clothing of the skaters were changed as follows:
“The clothing must not give the effect of excessive nudity for athletic sports. Men must wear trousers; no tights are permitted. Accessories and props are not permitted.” Ladies in Singles and
Pairs may wear skirts, trousers or tights.
2020
Based on ISU Rule 501(1), competitors should note the following regarding appropriate clothing.
Clothing and any make-up of the competitors must be modest, dignified and appropriate for athletic competition – not garish or theatrical in design. Clothing may, however, reflect the character of the music chosen. The clothing must not give the effect of excessive nudity inappropriate for the discipline. Men must wear full-length trousers. (no mention of ladies attire)
US Figure Skating
2003
SSR 19.02 Clothing for men cannot be theatrical in nature. Men must wear full-length trousers. Tights are not permitted. The clothing must have a neckline which does not expose the chest, must not be sleeveless and must be without excessive decoration such as beads, sequins and the like.
SSR 19.03 Clothing for ladies cannot be theatrical in nature. They must have skirts and pants covering the hips and posterior. The lady’s dress must not give the effect of excessive nudity inappropriate for an athletic sport. A unitard is not acceptable. A bare midriff is not acceptable. Clothing must be without excessive decoration such as beads, sequins, feathers and the like.
Somewhere in 201x the skirt only restriction in Pairs and Synchronized was removed.
2016
4033 Singles Men must wear trousers; no tights for men are permitted. Ladies may wear skirts, trousers and tights (including unitards).
5033 Pairs Men must wear trousers; no tights for men are permitted. Ladies may wear skirts, trousers and tights (including unitards).
6021 Dance D. Ladies must wear a skirt. The skirt must go around her entire waist; however, there may be slits in the skirt on one or both sides up to the waist.
7021 Synchronized B. Ladies may wear a skirt or body suit or full length trousers. C. Men must wear full-length trousers; no tights are permitted.
2019
6033 Singles Men must wear full-length trousers. Ladies may wear skirts, trousers and tights (including unitards).
7033 Men must wear full-length trousers. Ladies may wear skirts, trousers and tights (including unitards).
8021 C. Men must wear full-length trousers. D. Ladies must wear a skirt.
8022 Not withstanding the above, adult ladies competing in any adult competition or testing any pattern dance test or free dance test may wear trousers if they so choose.
9021 B. Ladies may wear a skirt or body suit or full-length trousers. C. Men must wear full-length trousers; no tights are permitted.
2021
6033 Singles Men must wear full-length trousers. (Restrictions on Ladies attire removed)
7033 Pairs Men must wear full-length trousers. (Restrictions on Ladies attire removed)
8021 Ice Dance C. Men must wear full-length trousers. D. Ladies must wear a skirt, except for the 2020-21 rhythm dance, for which the lady may wear trousers.
8022 Not withstanding the above, adult ladies competing in any adult competition or testing any pattern dance test or free dance test may wear trousers if they so choose.
9021 Synchronized Skating B. Men must wear full-length trousers; no tights are permitted. (Restrictions on Ladies attire removed)
So if your a man who wants to wear a skirt to express yourself, be a women, ladies, do as you please.
I do not have permission to post the article, and unfortunately it is behind a paywall.
It’s been just over 18 years since the last article was written about me and the sexism I’ve faced, A Slippery Slope
Even with all that’s going on in the world nowadays, it seems everyone is listening and participating in activism about bigotry, discrimination, diversity, gender neutral, inclusion, racism, and what not. Someone such as myself can talk about the sexism I’ve faced, but it seems if you are a white cisgender male, nobody believes you.
An adult male tried to ice skate wearing a figure skating dress and tights and was promptly told to leave as kids were present.
Management person: Seth Greenberg
Claims,
He was warned by other rinks of Steven Arness’s penchant for skating in dresses.
Kids shouldn’t be subjected to Steven Arness’s choice of attire.
Alice Noble Ice Arena is a nonprofit organization and therefore can say what Steven Arness can or cannot wear while skating.
This is Northeast Ohio.
Alice Noble Ice Arena is a nonprofit organization and cannot afford to lose money.
Person asked to leave: Steven Arness
Claims,
Seth Greenberg’s actions were discriminatory and uncalled for.
My attire did not violate any federal, state, county, or city laws.
Update, email from Seth Greenberg dated 7/31/20 “The adult ice on August 6th is available. There will still be young children in our building for our summer camp so the same rule applies regarding the skating dresses for men.”
Update, email from Seth Greenberg dated 7/31/20 “As long as there are children in our building you will not be permitted to wear a dress.”
Nonprofit organizations such as Alice Noble Ice Arena are places of public accommodations, and therefore cannot discriminate based on one’s sex.
One’s choice of attire is considered freedom of speech and is not restricted to any particular persons sex.
About Alice Noble Ice Arena,
The Alice Noble Ice Arena was a donation from the Donald and Alice Noble Foundation to the citizens of Wooster, Ohio. Donald and Alice Noble shared a fondness for ice skating ever since their first date on the Brookside Park Ice Arena in Cleveland, Ohio back in January of 1934. They continued to share special family time on the ice and would often travel to various areas to enjoy skating.
Their dream of donating an indoor facility for their community became a reality in the fall of 2002. The Bogner Construction Company was commissioned to build the 5.4 million dollar facility to include an official NHL size ice sheet measuring 200′ x 85′ and bleacher seating along with many amenities necessary for ice related activities. The facility includes five team locker rooms, a full service concession stand, pro shop, video arcade, meeting/party rooms and a lovely spectator room with a perfect view of the arena.
Alice Noble Ice Arena offers a Learn-to-Skate program, public skating, birthday parties, adult hockey leagues, an afterschool program and various sessions for hockey and figure skating. The arena is home to the Wooster Hockey Club, High School club hockey team, the Wooster Figure Skating Club and the Wooster Oilers Junior team. These organizations host several games, tournaments and ice shows annually which, in turn, draw overnight visitors to Wooster from all over the United States and Canada.
The Alice Noble Ice Arena management and staff continue to oversee the Noble family dream by taking great pride in providing quality programs in a clean, family-friendly environment. making it the coolest place to be!
Alice Noble Ice Arena can be reached at,
330-345 – 8686 seth@nobleice.com
About Steven Arness,
Steven Arness was always fascinated by the styles of clothing females were able to wear, especially wedding dresses, ball gowns, cheerleading dresses, majorette dresses, skirts, kilts, tutus, and of course, figure skating dresses.
One day while talking with his seamstress they asked him if he knew how to skate. Steven said no, of which he then decided to give it a try. He started in learn to skate at Kent State in his early 30’s and was quickly hooked and completed all the adult levels offered, however when he tried to progress further, he was told those lessons were for kids only.
Steven continued to skate during public sessions, but no coaches at Kent would teach him unless he wore pants. He eventually found a coach at Brooklyn Ice Arena, but upon returning the next year, his former coach told him that he would have to wear pants during lessons. He eventually found a second coach, and Steven at the time was wearing his warm-ups over his dress, of which they refused in allowing him to take them off. Finally one day Steven took them off before his lesson and that was the last lesson he had with them.
Steven works as a self-employed low voltage/fiber/security technician serving over a hundred customers and thousands of their clients for the past 27 years. He was also an operations manager at Airport Go-Karts and interacted with thousands of adults and kids over the 22 years he was there. Often he would ice skate at Brooklyn Ice Arena before heading into work. Off-season he would skate at Kent State Ice Arena and workout at the Student Wellness Recreation Center. In his time off he enjoys spending time with his wife watching movies, traveling, and the company of their many rescued animals.
Steven has been able to skate at other rinks without being asked to leave, but members of the Ohio skating community have ostracized him based solely on his attire. Steven has educated many on who he is, and some have come to understand who he really is. But many still try to limit his actions and ability to wear the attire of his choosing based solely on their own fear and not who he really is.
You may have read about Steven, he’s the male skater who wears a dress on the ice.
If you haven’t heard of him, read the center insert. It gives the details.
As an author with 24 years of professional writing experience, I’ve never dealt with an issue that generated such tremendous emotion from the public.
Respected, intelligent, successful people literally accosted me with views that were anything but balanced or reflective of a considered viewpoint.
I was told his genetic material should be removed from the gene pool, that he was ungodly, and worse. Friends from the skating world called to suggest the story should not be written.
What follows is my attempt to make sense of the emotions. It is theatrical. It is overblown, by design.
The essentials of the story are pretty obvious, and even predictable for those of us born and raised in Ohio.
A man chooses to wear a dress on the ice. People make fun of him. He feels outcast. End of story. Or is it?
We Midwesterners have about as much tolerance for this type of behavior as we do for a fish that won’t swim.
Ok, let’s put it another way. You want to win the Presidency? You better win Ohio because as goes Ohio, so goes the nation.
I figure it has to do with the frontier of the 1800’s. The real conservative types stayed in the East, and the real adventurous went to California, but the middle of the roaders…yep, we’re here in Ohio.
So the predominance of opinion is against the guy wearing a dress. He’s never hurt anyone, that’s not the point. You don’t have to hurt anyone. Just don’t “go along.”
Clearly, he’s not “going along.” Step in line boy, you should.
Like the prison guard with the shotgun in Cool Hand Luke who bloats, “What We Have Here Is A Failure to Communicate.” Luke ended up shot and driving at a snail’s pace in the ambulance till he died. Or Jack Nicholas’s character in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. He didn’t want to take his pills, he didn’t want to get along so he got lobotomized and had the life literally smothered out of him with a pillow.
Think this is just in the movies? Think again.
Guess what, what we say about the man in the dress says whole lots more about us than it does about him.
WE say he doesn’t fit in, he won’t go along, he’s sick, and maybe dangerous.
What we should say is we expect everyone to fit in, that you better go along to get along, that we define those that don’t as sick, and that it’s we who can be dangerous.
One finger points, three point back.
In the 1700’s men of the aristocracy wore wigs, perfume, makeup, stockings, and little bitty outfits that look a lot like a skirts.
What we wear is merely a convention, we agree to agree, about clothes at least.
Wear this, it says you fit in. True in bowling leagues and the corporate suites.
So what does it say when a person chooses to wear something different?
Well, I don’t think we like what it says.
It says that our conventions aren’t the final word. That our views aren’t the only ones that count. That he can choose to be different. And that if we don’t like it, we can go jump.
Not that we don’t like a bit of the outcast in our stars. Madonna, Marlon Brando, Avril Lavigne, bad boys all. But please, pretty please, not too outcast.
Look, you can wear a Harley outfit and ride a Fat Boy, that’s ok, but don’t wear a dress.
We wear the thick muck of prejudice around our necks like an oxen yoke, and it fits so good we don’t even see it.
For most, our eyes are the key to our prejudices. Forget about them being the window to the soul. It’s prejudice we like, pure prejudice. See a black man, hate a black man, see a white man, hate a white man, you get the point.
To see beyond the eyes, to view something and think clearly about what our options are, how we choose to respond from various options, this is a monumental task, Herculean. It’s like, “Love Your Enemy,” Jack, that’s hard.
Convention can be a good thing. It makes traffic flow work. But convention has an ugly side too.
Like when we can’t even tolerate a dress. Or an accent in speech.
We’re a lot closer to our nation’s potential regarding armaments than we are with the nuances of freedom.
Better than thou? Don’t count on it. Do I like a man in a dress? No. I’m an Ohioan.
What does it mean when we react so to a guy in a dress? Who does it hurt? Why do we care?
