Part of the problem, I think, is even in real life male fashion is pretty “samey” if you get what I mean. Men tend to wear a few basic items:
T-Shirts
Jeans
Shorts
Button down shirts
Sweatshirts/hoodies
Polo shirts
Suit/Sport Jackets
Trousers
Khakis
Athletic shoes
Sandals/Flip flops
Dress shoes
Deck shoes
Pajamas, socks, underwear, and the occasional tuxedo aside that’s really it. So I guess designing new assets can seem really repetitive and they’re always getting raked over for “reskinning” objects/assets it’s not easy keeping things fresh, and when they did try some avant-garde men’s fashion in Romantic Garden Stuff, and City Living people threw a fit calling it unwearable and unusable so they’re kind of between a rock and a hard place. Because they have covered and recovered the basic ground of men’s fashion in CAS and when they try something new or different it gets panned mercilessly.
This! I get the disappointment and desire to have more male clothing in CAS, but it really is more of a cultural/societal thing than outright sexism on Maxi's part.
I (as a young adult in the US) can't remember ever seeing a male wearing anything other than what you mentioned. And not only do males tend to wear the same styles over and over but they tend to wear a pretty limited color palette as well.
Red
Black
White
Gray
Blue
Green
Brown
Tan/beige
And there are only so many different shades too.
That's not to say there aren't males who wear purple and pink, or even orange and yellow but those are far and few between. And (not being judgmental here) most males who tend to wear traditionally more "feminine" colors like pink and purple are considered gay, whether they are or not. It's just the way (at least western) society works.
Let's face it...most straight men wouldn't dare wear a pink crop top and high waisted flare jeans. (And I say this as a woman who wouldn't wear an outfit like this.) Or at least not out in public. Is it "right?" No, not by any means. Does it stink? Yes, very much so. But is it the reality we live in? Unfortunately yes.
For those who want to make more "flamboyant" males, you can literally just remove the feminine filter from the clothing and you have all the same options we do.
Unless society changes their ways completely (which is very doubtful) I don't think we're going to get a wider variety for males in CAS anytime soon. And if most people are just going to use the "normal" male clothes anyway, or throw a fit whenever something more "out there" is made then it's just a waste of time for the design team to make anything other than the "same old" stuff. And then if people are going to complain about the reskinning/recolor of the x number of t-shirts we already have then what's the point of trying to make new clothes for males?
Before anybody comes at me: I agree that more effort could be put into male CAS. Heck, I'd love to have more non crop tops for females in the Sims. But from a design perspective: it's not about being sexist, it's about what's worth the design team's time and effort.
While I agree with many of your points, I don’t really agree with your point on the colors. Maybe it’s just my area (northeast USA), but many males wear light/bright colors. My husband, father, and brother all own orange, yellow, pink, and teal clothing, none of them happen to be gay. In all honestly I don’t really see anyone saying such a thing here, it would be considered highly offensive to stereotype anyone like that. In the area I live in it’s not uncommon to see people wear pride related clothing in support of one another, so clothing choices alone are not something we use to determine things like that.
The colors thing is defintely not a "one size fits all" ordeal. And honestly, it seems like you live in a much better area of the US than I do. Because in my area, (Mid Atlantic. In the more rural area of Pennsylvania) it's pretty much as I described. And guys when I was going to school, would literally use gay as an insult, even when not related to sexuality. For instance they'd say "that's gay," to mean something was stupid. I have seen males wear teal and my dad even owns some shirts of that color, but unless it was school spirit day (which our colors were black and gold) hardly any guy would yellow in my area. And there were maybe two guys who wore pink in my school that I knew of. And both did happen to be gay. I'm not sure about other areas of the US and they could very well be like yours, but in my case, what I mentioned is based on experience. As much as I hate it.
People are also unfortunately, not as accepting in my area of Pennsylvania as unfortunate as it is. A trans male student (so he was AFAB) at my high school was listed as a option for Prom Queen despite being openly trans and asking to be relisted as an option for Prom King and had to fight to have his male name read at graduation. So yeah, not as accepting.
I thought that might be the case, which is why I said it might just be my area. It’s sad that so many areas in this country are still like that. I remember kids in school using insults like that, but that was back in the 80’s/early 90’s (yeah I’m old lol). In schools here students would likely be suspended, or possibly expelled for that type of behavior. The game is made in California, I would imagine they’d be a little more open and inclusive (they claim to be), but there is probably some type of market research going on that dictates a lot of their choices.
The only way a kid would get suspended or expelled here is if they started a physical fight or actually threatened the safety of the other students or teachers in a big way (ie bomb threat, bringing a knife to school, etc.) I graduated in 2016 and as much as my school preached a "zero tolerance for bullying" stance, any kids using those insults probably would at most be reprimanded. If that.
I would think the game being made in California would mean that they'd be a little more open, but I think you make a good point that market research has a lot to do with it
No intention of adding fuel to the male duds issue, but I can't make me in TS4. Maybe being a bona-fide geezer (graduated HS in 1967) has something to do with it, but I can't find decent dress shirts in plain dull colors, or dress slacks, or shoes. Suit jackets/blazers are either wrong cut or lousy colors. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned dungarees and chambray shirts? If I can actually make any kind of male sim I'm OK with it's more by happy accident than deliberate planning.
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The only way a kid would get suspended or expelled here is if they started a physical fight or actually threatened the safety of the other students or teachers in a big way (ie bomb threat, bringing a knife to school, etc.) I graduated in 2016 and as much as my school preached a "zero tolerance for bullying" stance, any kids using those insults probably would at most be reprimanded. If that.
I would think the game being made in California would mean that they'd be a little more open, but I think you make a good point that market research has a lot to do with it