Non-prescription glasses: hot or not?

March 13, 2024 8:11 PM

You have a coworker or acquaintance who often wears glasses. You find out that they don't actually need the glasses for medical or eyesight reasons; it's more of a style preference that they opt into when the mood strikes. Is this annoying or gross or who cares?

Would someone (who needs corrective lenses, not optionally for their daily functioning) be reasonable to find this obnoxious? Would you think less of that person? Or is it completely a neutral-to-positive choice?

posted by knotty knots to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (134 answers total)

It’s none of business what style choices someone else makes, but I’m inclined to think it’s kind of cool.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 8:18 PM on March 13 [12 favorites]

I’m firmly in the who cares camp.
posted by Juniper Toast at 8:19 PM on March 13 [61 favorites]

Annoying, pretentious, and appropriative/insensitive in my opinion. Common as they are, they are still medical devices that someone decides to use for fashion, rather than out of necessity. I would have (and have had) a very negative reaction to this. I would feel the same way about canes as a fashion statement, etc.
posted by virve at 8:21 PM on March 13 [12 favorites]

Who cares. Source: a high myope who's had to wear glasses since she was four.

Now, a monocle might be pushing it. Unless they're a super-villain.
posted by praemunire at 8:22 PM on March 13 [31 favorites]

I don't think it's unreasonable to find wearing non-prescription glasses kind of... wonky. But it's also worth keeping in mind that prescription glasses, too, are often a stylistic choice over contacts, so I don't think it's a huge deal.

(But I admit that my logic isn't airtight here! People make stylistic choices with canes, too, but walking around with a cane for purely aesthetic reasons will make you look like a tool. So maybe I just don't attach that much importance to my poor eyesight as a facet of my identity?)
posted by the tartare yolk at 8:26 PM on March 13 [4 favorites]

I've worn glasses for 30+ years. Would not care a bit if someone did this.

(If I ever have to get a lens replacement and they're able to correct my vision, I'll probably do this. I'm not used to seeing my face without them!)
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:28 PM on March 13 [9 favorites]

In the realm of the hypothetical, I think ... I'd view it as a little.. immature somehow? Like middle-schoolish, but I don't know exactly why?

I wouldn't hard-core judge the person. Just. A smidge.

That's without actually knowing the person first-hand. If I knew the person and otherwise thought they were fine, I think it'd be a non-issue.
posted by Temeraria at 8:35 PM on March 13 [19 favorites]

Mild eyeroll.
Because farting around having to clean my glasses, wondering where I set them down, get out the glasses case, trying to avoid scratches, etc is a PITA, and why would anyone want to put up with that stuff voluntarily?
But whatevers.
Shrug. Move on.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:36 PM on March 13 [14 favorites]

I wrote a story once about a character who did not need glasses to see, but to be seen. Wearing glasses, people thought she "looked smart" and paid more attention to her that way.
posted by SPrintF at 8:44 PM on March 13 [9 favorites]

Seems kind of dumb to me (glasses wearer since 3rd grade.) But I guess it's probably less dumb than wearing high heels or driving an unnecessarily expensive and impractical car or lots of other pretty normal things people do. I would think slightly less of the person just based on learning their glasses were for show but it wouldn't be one of the major factors determining my overall opinion of them.
posted by Redstart at 8:47 PM on March 13 [6 favorites]

Who cares? There could be any number of reasons why they choose to wear glasses, from a sensory issue to just liking the way they feel about themselves when they wear glasses. If all that mattered was function, we'd all be wearing identical standard-issue jumpsuits. And probably Crocs.
posted by xedrik at 8:47 PM on March 13 [9 favorites]

I wore fashion glasses in junior high, and got mocked incessantly. I thought I looked cute. :/

Now I'm middle-aged and have my own prescription glasses, and I look VERY CUTE.

Let people have their fashion choices.
posted by homodachi at 8:52 PM on March 13 [9 favorites]

I wear glasses because I am near-sighted. I do not secretly judge people who wear non-prescription glasses.

On the contrary, I enjoy it when some people wear glasses because I think they look better with glasses.

So to answer your post title question: yes, hot.
posted by dearadeline at 9:01 PM on March 13 [5 favorites]

You have a coworker or acquaintance who often wears glasses. You find out that they don't actually need the glasses

No, I've heard of people doing this, but as far as I know I've never actually encountered somebody who did this. Like wearing safety glasses outside the shop, it's not entirely ridiculous - keeps the bugs out of your eyes when bicycle riding, for example.
posted by Rash at 9:03 PM on March 13 [2 favorites]

I truly would not care. I've worn glasses since I was four years old and I guess I see the idea behind thinking it's appropriative in a way, but who is it hurting? It doesn't affect me in any way. It doesn't make glasses less available to people who need them and adult glasses-wearers aren't exactly a stigmatized population. It really wouldn't matter to me.
posted by augustimagination at 9:11 PM on March 13 [5 favorites]

There’s a reason there are ten million designs of prescription glasses and at least ten million designs of non-prescription sunglasses. It’s nice to put a pretty thing on your face. Let this person have their individuality.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:24 PM on March 13 [12 favorites]

I think it's fine. I was self-conscious about wearing glasses when I was in my early teens, and I might have felt like less of a dweeb if glasses had been considered cute and fashionable. So honestly, it might be a good thing.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 9:30 PM on March 13 [6 favorites]

Hi, it me, hello 👋

I was very nearsighted for more than 2 decades before I got LASIK. If anyone gives me (light-hearted) shit about it I have a preloaded quip that I've "done my time" and deserve to enjoy cute $20 frames from Zenni or wherever after all those years of $400 coke-bottle glasses. If anyone is actually judging me I would roll my eyes right back at them. We can all do whatever we want forever
posted by btfreek at 9:33 PM on March 13 [37 favorites]

I guess if people can wear sunglasses for fashion purposes then it's fine. Maybe a little cringe but I don't think I'd spend that long thinking about it.

(I've had prescription lenses since I was like two years old)
posted by BungaDunga at 9:37 PM on March 13

I'm an older millennial who has worn glasses since 1992.

Glasses (prescription) were deeply uncool when I was a kid, then around 2010-2015 they became quite trendy even if a prescription wasn't needed, and now IMO they are seen as more neutral or even a positive fashion choice that someone can make. Personally I like the way I look in glasses.

TLDR I don't care.
posted by muddgirl at 10:21 PM on March 13 [4 favorites]

I will be honest. Do I care care? No. Do I have a slightly negative reaction? Yes.

Glasses are not like jewellery. They are not purely decorative; they were invented for a medical purpose first and foremost, and then refined aesthetically over time to make it nicer for people who have to wear them.

Someone wearing glasses for zero medical necessity affects me not one jot, so I admit this is a ‘me’ problem. But would I find it off putting, in an eye-rolly ‘ugh, how affected’ way, and a slightly irritated ‘you don’t know how lucky you are not to actually need those things’ way? Yes.

(Full disclosure: I’ve had to wear glasses since I was a toddler, except for a brief glorious few years post-LASIK before my eyes regressed again. Can’t wear contacts. I hate it and would love to never put glasses on my face again. This undoubtedly colours my reaction.)
posted by Salamander at 10:24 PM on March 13 [18 favorites]

Don't care.

(Am wearer of prescription glasses) .

I don't care, mostly because I don't feel comfortable deciding on behalf of another person what they "really need", and which if their needs are valid.

Maybe they feel safer with something between them and the world? Maybe it helps them be the persona they need to project? Maybe it's just fun?

It doesn't do any harm, and it's non of my business.
posted by Zumbador at 10:26 PM on March 13 [11 favorites]

Kinda weird, but who cares?

I have to admit I was excited when I started needing reading glasses a few years ago. I do really like the way I look in black rimmed nerd glasses and wear them all day when I'm working (I have a pretty low prescription but it was also amazing when I first put them on and realized I'd been straining to see things and could relax my eyes a bit). So I have only a minor need for glasses. Probably would not have thought of getting glasses just to wear purely for fashion though and wouldn't have done it if it had occurred to me. However, to each his own.

I was told to expect my regular everyday vision to deteriorate over the coming years as well so am also excited for that, to have to start wearing glasses all the time.
posted by knownfossils at 10:38 PM on March 13

The only negative take I can think of is that wearing purely decorative glasses might make people without vision-related disabilities think that everyone who wears glasses does so as a fashion choice rather than as something we are basically legally required to do (if we drive). I can see it as akin to affecting a cane, or wearing a decorative cast. Maybe it belittles disabled people a little bit. But I can’t say I find it any more offensive than any other silly choice people make for fashion.
posted by Just the one swan, actually at 10:41 PM on March 13

I think it’s hot.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:25 PM on March 13 [6 favorites]

Sorry just wanted to add, this is potentially an example of "fake shaming" where people will justify judging a person for assuming a disabled identity, and justify that judgement by saying "other people, not me, will use this to say that *all* disabled people are faking it"

This is misjudged because abelism is already at 100% saturation, no one is going to to make it worse. The kind of person who acuses people of faking a disability is already doing that, they don't need any excuses to do it even more.

In this case it seems kind of benign, a person just wearing glasses for aesthetic reasons, but the negative, gatekeeping reactions (and the justifications for those reactions) comes from the same place as people attempting to gatekeep who is allowed to call themselves disabled or neurodivergent or trans.
posted by Zumbador at 11:25 PM on March 13 [16 favorites]

Almost every single person, if they live long enough, will eventually benefit from corrective lenses - this is just how eyes age. As we generally live longer lives social standards of fashion and beauty will have to shift - there is an obsessive focus on youth, particularly around the appearance of eyes, that is imo detrimental to overall happiness. (It’s also fairly racist.) Glasses are something you can wear regardless of skin tone, eye shape, gender presentation, perceived age, tolerance to cosmetics, and quite a lot of sensory preferences. Humans love to adorn ourselves. Why would glasses have to be any different?

Also, I’m all for people doing whatever they want when it comes to assistive devices. If someone uses a cane they do not need to prove to me or anyone that they “need” it, just like nobody should have to prove they need to use the accessible stall in a public bathroom. The more things that are cool for anyone to use or enjoy that are also very useful for disabled people the better, like curb cuts, audible walk signals, ergonomic chairs, and jar openers. I love that ear plugs and headphones have fashion options now. My father is trying desperately to ignore his growing balance issues and took great offense to me suggesting a shower chair, but he loved the seats in Japanese style baths. I’ve worn glasses since I was six years old; my first pair were glittery purple frames, and I’ve circled back around because I’m currently wearing glittery purple frames as I type this, after decades of different variations of boring. Medical devices can be fashion, fashion can be medical devices, everyone wins.
posted by Mizu at 11:38 PM on March 13 [24 favorites]

Don't care.

(I am also wearer of prescription glasses.)

But I did think the guy that wore frames without lens was a little strange. He said he was practicing for the time when he would need glasses.

Whatever.
posted by Marky at 12:54 AM on March 14

That person is probably going to need glasses at some point, and I have absolutely no problem with them getting the handling and maintenance practice squared away before then. I would personally have found my own presbyopia much less of a nuisance if the fragile, fiddly, necessary object it forced into my life was something I had already been used to dealing with for years.

I carry plenty of pointless resentment over having to wear my own glasses. I don't need to burden myself with additional, entirely optional pointless resentment of other people's preferences in grooming and presentation.

I might have a bit of an internal snicker and chuckle about it, but my difficulty keeping a straight face would be nowhere near as intense as what I routinely experience in response to, say, hair gel or shoulder pads or tatts or heavy gold bling or makeup or implants or fillers or The Cruel Shoes or any of the thousands of absurd forms of entirely avoidable suffering that other people choose to inflict upon themselves.

And as one who has long held the view that dress codes are always and everywhere stupid and oppressive, I have no wish to be the kind of hypocrite who could maintain that position while objecting to what somebody else chooses to wear.
posted by flabdablet at 1:00 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

It's not like they're trying to park in a disabled spot or anything. I'd think it was dumb, but I see 1000 dumb things a day. Wouldn't remember 5 minutes later.
posted by ctmf at 1:27 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

I wear glasses for my eyesight, so I want glasses to be seen as attractive and stylish. For most of my early life glasses were basically unfashionable, and I didn’t love it.

Wearing non-prescription glasses seems slightly silly to me, but fashion is often slightly silly, and that’s fine.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:28 AM on March 14 [4 favorites]

My first reaction when I met someone like that was that it was kind of weird and fake, but on the other hand I'm really happy that glasses are consistered fashionable these days as opposed to inherently geeky and stigmatizing so in a way it's kind of great. Probably my reaction had more to do with my own baggage about glasses (and fashion).
posted by trig at 1:49 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

Cute. Frames can be very stylish, I can see why ppl who don't need them might like to rock them anyway.
posted by tovarisch at 2:18 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

I wear glasses and I am not bothered by this in the slightest. Even if it's driven entirely by vanity.

Because the idea of having to go about my day with my eyes exposed to the world gives me the heebie-jeebies and I don't know how non-glasses-wearers deal with this. If somebody wants to add some barrier between their eyes and a rogue fridge magnet, I am 100% on board.

(Before I needed glasses, a fridge magnet came off the fridge and hit my right eye on the way down. When I need to have cataract surgery, I plan to go with whatever lens option lets me plausibly continue to wear glasses all the time.)
posted by smangosbubbles at 2:27 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

It's a bit vain and silly.

But it's not actually problematic in any way.
posted by Klipspringer at 3:10 AM on March 14 [4 favorites]

Did you find out directly from the person or through hearsay? I wear prescription glasses but my eyesight is accurate enough that if I’m not driving anywhere that day, I don’t wear them. I’m sure there are some people who have seen me on weekends and thought “I thought she needed glasses…”

If the person told you directly, then yeah it’s a little unusual, but they might realize that at some point and you don’t have to be the one to ruin their day over it.
posted by donut_princess at 3:53 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

I’d spend about three seconds thinking it was a little silly, and then never think or care about it again.
posted by Stacey at 4:10 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

Meh, there's already enough stuff to get annoyed about in this world. As a person with pretty extreme myopia, what bothers me more is when my spouse loses her glasses because her prescription is so slight that she can barely tell the difference between wearing them and not.
posted by number9dream at 4:13 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

I've worn prescription eyeglasses for 50+ years so have my bonefides. They are expensive and I could only have new frames maybe every 5 years or so. It was decidedly uncool.

Now with so many options out there for more affordable eyewear, I have multiple frame styles and I select from one of my pairs depending on my mood or whatever the day may hold. Fight me on having such choices but it's something that I enjoy.

It's no longer uncool to wear glasses and I'm as pleased about that as any four-eyed person can be because now I am mainstream in something and no longer an outlier. Whenever I have cataract surgery and don't need eyeglasses I will continue to wear frames.

Whenever an assistive device becomes mainstream I believe it makes that item less of a stigma. If we as a society didn't mark others as less than normal for differences it would be great, but that's not the society we're presently in. Eyeglasses can be an assistive device and also fashion wear. They're no longer identified as stigmatizing.

Nowadays a person has the option of no longer looking "less-than" just because they need to wear eyeglasses. Fashion is fluid and I don't find the desire to were glasses for fashion to be insulting or posing.
posted by mightshould at 4:13 AM on March 14 [8 favorites]

I would think such a person doesn’t have much going on in his life. People on a mission don’t add a gratuitous ongoing complication to their lives like wearing fake eyeglasses. I might even judge them more severely than someone with non-cultural-heritage facial tattoos or piercings, which for better or worse are a serious and substantive statement about their desired social position.
posted by MattD at 4:26 AM on March 14

I have such mixed feelings. I'd view it as a little affected, I guess, and it might make me think of the person as a little bit frivolous at first, but I know myself and I'm sure that if they were otherwise solid, it would quickly become just a silly quirk - I run in hippie circles, we all have silly quirks.

In fairness, I really like wearing glasses and feel that I look better with them, and that's one reason I never even looked at lasik or really tried out contacts - I'd hate to give up my favorite accessory.

My ultimate thought is that this is just...well, why not? I can't think of a good reason not to do it. There's no shortage of glasses frames, it takes nothing away from me, so many people wear glasses now that it's not like there's some service or accommodation that gets used up.

If this is you thinking about how you'd like to wear some glasses for fashion sometimes, I guess I'd say go right ahead. If a coworker wore glasses very occasionally I'd probably assume either the only needed them very occasionally or that they had contacts for most days, and in addition to it being rude to ask about people's assistive devices, I don't think I'd care enough to ask.
posted by Frowner at 4:54 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

It's as neutral to me as wearing a hat or not or a necklace or wearing more/less clothes than functionally necessary for the current weather based on fashion.

I actually own a pair of non-functional glasses. I'm far-sighted and when I first started needing near-vision glasses I got them to feel more comfortable about wearing glasses. When I worked a desk job I needed to wear glasses to see a computer (so half the day) anyway and for a time I decided to be glasses-all-the-time guy instead of glasses-half-the-time guy.
posted by firefly5 at 5:05 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

I'd recommend "The billion dollar race for truly smart glasses" for a reminder that we are only a very small distance away (5 years tops) from the point where somebody wearing glasses without a prescription, would be primarily presumed to have a likelihood of actually wearing these as AR devices.
posted by rongorongo at 5:25 AM on March 14

+1 to "mild eyeroll."

I mean, you do you, but I'll think you're slightly ridiculous.
posted by adamrice at 5:26 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

I'd find it kind of obnoxious, but I couldn't really tell you why. This was a fashion maybe 25 years ago (I remember Sammy Sosa wearing "fake" glasses) and it seemed deeply dumb. I think part of my reaction is rooted in glasses being fairly expensive and thus not something one swaps out on a whim. (Yes, reading glasses can be inexpensive and people have loads of them, but they're dealing with the hassle of having to find a pair rather than them already being on your face.)
posted by hoyland at 5:35 AM on March 14

None of my business.
posted by terrapin at 5:40 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

I've worn glasses since I was 11 and someone else wearing them does not affect me in the least. There's no scarcity issues with glasses and there's no advantage to wearing them. It's not pretending you have an issue that requires a special pass at a theme park that lets you jump the line. It's not taking an accessible seat or parking space away from someone who actually needs it.
posted by kimberussell at 5:51 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

The person I know who does this is a 10 year old girl. So yeah, maybe not the most serious of people. But also, let's not be mean about a harmless expression of self.
posted by ewok_academy at 5:52 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

In addition to the safety glasses angle (blocking wind, bugs, debris), they may be wearing blue-blocking glasses that help them with eyestrain at work. So there are a few benefits of eyeglasses that don't have to do with prescription.

As for the psycho-social aspects: meh. I agree with Redstart above that it's objectively less silly and harmful than other "normal" things people do. But I also don't generally hang out with people who drive gross status symbol cars or have huge collections of heels, ymmv.

I do often wear safety glasses or sunglasses when I'm not wearing my regular glasses, but that's often when I'm working outdoors or hiking etc. and I do want some extra protection.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:57 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

I think that due to their ubiquity and high visibility, glasses have become an accessory that goes beyond their use as assisistive device. Almost everyone needs glasses at some point, even if sunglasses (which are definitely a fashion accessory). And they are certainly made by hugh fashion brands. So, no, to me this does not count as making fun of a disability (as someone who wears glasses).
posted by bearette at 5:57 AM on March 14

I am a glasses-wearer, and I don't much like wearing them. So I think it's a mildly weird choice, like voluntarily wearing uncomfortable clothes, but a lot of people do that (e.g., high heels and cinch waists).

My son got a pair of so-called computer glasses. He doesn't have a prescription, so it kind of tweaked me at first -- and I think the blue-blocking thing is not proven -- but I quickly got used to seeing them on him.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:58 AM on March 14

I've worn glasses full-time for 30 years... I'm in the "who cares" camp. It strikes me as obnoxious but harmless.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:17 AM on March 14

I wear Gunnar glasses often for the heck of it, as my prescription glasses don't look nearly as class-y, IMHO of course. I don't need my prescriptions to read or to drive, just to get 20/20 vision. So often I go without, or I wear my Gunnars.

(Gunnars are often regarded as "gaming" glasses)
posted by kschang at 6:21 AM on March 14

I have worn glasses for nearly 60 years. I also love costumes and dress up. Firmly on Team Who Cares, so if the OP wants such glasses, I encourage them to go for it.
posted by Bella Donna at 6:29 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

Also if the person is babyfaced, they might find that nonprescription lenses adjust the way that people interact with them. For example: the average stranger might take them more seriously, they might not get carded as often at bars, or people might consider them “smart.”

None of those things actually tie in with eyesight obviously, but human society can be weird in the assumptions they make 🤷🏻‍♀️
posted by donut_princess at 6:30 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

Not saying this is rational or sensible, but if I found out they're wearing glasses purely for appearance I'd give it an internal eyeroll and +1 my shallowness score for them. Like, when we're chatting later and they mention that they broke up with someone because they just couldn't get past them having attached earlobes, I'll think "Yup."
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:34 AM on March 14 [4 favorites]

I've worn glasses since the 80s, multi-focal lenses since 2003, and I'm pretty useless without them. I can no longer wear contacts for various reasons, so I'm a bit jealous of people who don't have to wear glasses.

Being candid, I think I would find it a bit shallow for someone to wear glasses if they don't need to — and then I'd be annoyed at myself for caring. Yes, glasses are a corrective medical device, but they're also a fashion choice. If the worst trait a person has is wearing unnecessary glasses for style purposes, they're a better person than I am by far. So ... I'd treat it as "not a choice I'd make, but ultimately harmless."
posted by jzb at 6:58 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

The more I think about this, though, the more I think that life is short and if someone would like to pick out a fun pair at Zenni, why not?

I make all kinds of aesthetic choices that people hate, and several of them are the kind of choices that people have various different moral objections about - I wear leather shoes and wool socks, I have some piercings and modestly stretched ears, I am visibly queer and transmasculine and wear fashions associated with these identities rather than attempting to dress like a feminine modest cis woman of my age and general type, I pay good money for secondhand or sale Very Expensive shoes and clothes rather than buying cheaper ones and giving the savings to causes I believe in, etc.

Some of those moral objections have some weight with me and I adjust my practice modestly - my shoes are leather but they are secondhand, I don't wear any kind of piercing/gauge that can be read as "tribal" and stick to more earring-like forms, etc. Other moral objections I disagree with.

But basically, life is short and you can't please all the people all the time. There will always be someone - who may even have a point!! - who thinks what you're doing is wrong. But you've got to pick your battles because we live under capitalism and only have a certain amount of willpower and time.

Unless you have the exact right type of personality, always trying to suss out the exactly morally correct action and forcing yourself to do it is just going to lead to you ping-ponging around without a moral center of your own, doing stuff you don't want to do, burning out on one thing and taking up another with zeal, etc. Pick the big stuff and the really small stuff - try to lead a moral life when considering important matters and try to do the moral thing whenever you can do it easily, like tipping, respecting picket lines, etc - and then give yourself some slack.

Wearing fake glasses doesn't hurt anyone, and frankly who cares if it offends someone? If you were literally pretending to have poor vision in order to get attention or access resources, yeah, that would be bad, but if you're just letting people assume that you are inconsequentially nearsighted because you like wearing glasses, who cares? Save your caring and your moral concerns for the tough stuff, because life is long and capitalism is bad.
posted by Frowner at 7:01 AM on March 14

It wouldn't change my opinion of the person at all.

I started wearing (prescription) glasses very recently, so I often leave them at home by accident because I'm not in the habit of putting them on every day yet, or sometimes I have to take them off for a little while because of discomfort. I wonder how many people are perceiving me as shallow or obnoxious because of this. What a depressing thought!
posted by birthday cake at 7:03 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

In general my feelings to any of folks life choices is “if they dont affect anyone else, why should i care?” So in theory, as long as wearing glasses for fashions sake isn't, oh, i dunno, driving up the price for people who legitimately need them, I don’t care. My internal eye roll is irrelevant. But it does exist.
posted by cgg at 7:13 AM on March 14

Wow. The number of folks jumping straight to shallow/pretentious/silly/offensive(??) is much more what I’d expect of a class full of eighth graders than from Metafilter. And not even the cool eighth graders nowadays, I’m talking about the eighth graders when I was in eighth grade and everyone’s biggest concern was being labeled a poseur.

But to answer the question directly: hot. What business of mine is it to tell someone what to do with their body?
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 7:17 AM on March 14 [9 favorites]

People who do this are silly and tedious. It isn't cultural appropriation in the way that some non-Black women wear braids, but it is not an excuse for fashion accessorizing, either. Sorry, not sorry, even if that offends people with normal vision. Deal with it.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 7:41 AM on March 14 [4 favorites]

If I got LASIK tomorrow I'd probably still sometimes wear glasses in public for introversion/social anxiety/neurospicy reasons. There are times when I'm more comfortable if I could please just not Be Perceived, and one of the greatest things about glasses is that people define your face mostly as the glasses and hair.

But also, as a glasses wearer: glasses are cool and most of us wear "fashion" glasses too, if for no other reason than because that's what's in the catalogs - you CAN pick the ugliest ones there if you want, but to somebody somewhere that look is what they crave. But you really can change your whole vibe, and how other people perceive you, with a $8 piece of plastic or metal. I buy lots of cheap glasses - most of them I don't even bother with the more expensive bifocal I only need for reading - when technically I only need one pair.

This is also a good reminder that other people do not owe you an accounting (or justification, or acknowledgement, or any details whatsoever) of their disabilities or insecurities or desire to look a specific way. Any of us are free to lie and say we do something for fashion or fun when we have a real underlying reason that ain't your business.

If you are concerned this is somehow myopia appropriation, it's not high-stakes or individualized enough to harm people who require vision correction or partial-barrier eye protection for work or environmental reasons, and while there are still a couple of niche industries that discriminate or don't fully accommodate corrective-lens users you probably don't work in the Test Pilot office so it's fine. I wouldn't consider fashion (or emotional support) eyewear any different from hair color, nail polish, jewelry, shoes, bags, cute masks/mask covers, or hats.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:47 AM on March 14 [5 favorites]

One more thought - the internet has shown us that everything offends someone. You can find a subreddit for people who are actually mad that you're wearing sneakers instead of dress shoes, the wrong kind of dress shoes, the wrong kind of sneakers, sneakers that are not customary for your age and demographic, dress shoes that are not maintained correctly, etc. People get mad when women have short hair, they get mad if the hair is too long or pulled back wrong, if the woman's hair is long but not the right kind of hair, etc etc. They get mad if you're body positive, they get mad if you are older and wear plain "old lady" clothing, they get mad if you're older and don't wear "old lady" clothing. There are organized communities for getting into other people's business for essentially made-up reasons all over the place. (And yes, "I think it's feminist for older women to feel they can stay fashionable, so it annoys me when older women wear unfashionable clothes" is the moral equivalent of "that body positivity blogger is kind of cringe!")

Just by walking down the street in your existing body and clothes you are pissing off some subreddit somewhere, so what I say is to hell with them. It's reasonable to take moral arguments seriously when you encounter them, but it's also reasonable to weigh them up and feel that you don't agree.
posted by Frowner at 8:04 AM on March 14 [10 favorites]

I'm firmly in the "don't care" category. It's nobody's business whether another person needs glasses or not, so let them wear what they want to wear.
I'm chuckling over the gatekeeping by people who think glasses are a medical device and only a medical device. Safety glasses are for protection, sunglasses, for goodness sake run the gamut of protective/stylish/comical uses, some folks might have anxieties that they find they can manage behind a thing they wear on their face.
I certainly wouldn't look negatively at someone wearing colored contacts as a fashion statement, so why glasses?
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:04 AM on March 14

but it is not an excuse for fashion accessorizing, either

For any reason? I’ve been wearing glasses for nearly forty years, and it’s never even crossed my mind that my prescription somehow gives me some kind of medical license to wear glasses that others wouldn’t have.

I’m not calling out this comment as wrong per se; I’ve just seen it expressed in this thread from multiple people and I’m curious to hear the reasoning behind the sentiment.
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 8:09 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

If you are concerned this is somehow myopia appropriation

If there is an oppressed myope culture to even be appropriated from, it has somehow escaped my attention my entire life since age four. I wish people would accept that sometimes you can find things pretentious or tacky or tasteless without their actually offending broader principles of social justice.
posted by praemunire at 8:09 AM on March 14 [10 favorites]

I'm another person who wears glasses out of necessity and doesn't care what anyone else does with their eyes. Don't quite understand why I would care. I also understand that there are people who wear hats despite not needing protection from the sun, and who wear scarves despite not needing the extra warmth.
posted by mark k at 8:10 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

Also, I don't really consider correctable nearsightedness or farsightedness to be disabilities. They're impairments, but our society is set up so that they're not, for most people, disabling. Most people in wealthy countries have relatively easy access to corrective lenses, and there isn't much stigma associated with wearing glasses. So I don't think that people who wear fashion glasses are appropriating the experience of disability.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:11 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

It's somewhere on either the who cares to cute/amusing continuum or the who cares to sympathetic continuum. Really close to the who cares end, whichever one it is.

Why sympathetic? Well, it could be that the person believes they have "A Rose for Emily" eyes and feels like they need the glasses to look "right." This one time I thought it would be cool to get rimless glasses like Stephen Colbert had back in the Report days, that would disappear on my face like his did. So I ordered a pair from one of those online places. I was displeased with the result. Turns out my Rx is heavy enough that glasses shrink my eyes down to tiny pinpricks (slight exaggeration) and dent in the sides of my face. Without frames, these phenomena were very apparent in the mirror, and I thought I looked like a weird alien creature. Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, but in reverse. I'd ordered two other pairs from the company, so I put on one of the normal framed ones and realized that the glasses frames kind of stand in for eyes or at least distract from the extreme tininess of the heavily nearsight-corrected eye and compensate for the broken side-of-the-face line so that one doesn't look quite so startling.

A "flaw" doesn't have to be apparent to anybody else to be a problem for somebody. They might believe they need glasses to "fix" their face--which would cause me to feel empathy for a fellow traveler.

Or they might just think they look hot in glasses--which people who don't need vision correction or need only minor vision correction in fact often do because they don't have to contend with the Bubbles/reverse Bubbles phenomenon. Because feeling jealous about this would strongly indicate I have not matured at all since the age of 9, my official opinion of people who sometimes wear optional glasses just to look hot is that they are cute and amusing.

I do reserve the right to feel jealous of people who don't wear glasses when it's Halloween and I've once again failed to figure out how my nonoptional glasses will work with my elaborate costume idea.
posted by Don Pepino at 8:15 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

Wearing corrective lenses is a burden. It just is, sorry not sorry. Also, it is unfortunate that society is ruled by physical appearance, but it is, sorry not sorry, and having bad eyesight negatively impacts your professional and social opportunities, as anyone who has had some partial to full degree of blindness will be able to explain to anyone who is not being obtuse about the subject. People who have had normal vision throughout their lives cannot understand that and they never will. I would feel the same way about people who wear fake glasses as I would about someone wearing crutches who does not need them.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:18 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

Do the glasses enhance their look? Love it!
If they make the person look not-as-good then I judge, judge, judge.
posted by wryly at 8:21 AM on March 14

Pretentious and annoying, AND I don't care one whit. It certainly would push buttons for some people, I'm sure, but the less I care about other people and their non-harmful decisions, the happier I find I am.
posted by Meldanthral at 8:22 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

Maybe they're getting used to the idea that they're going to need glasses sooner or later anyway and want to learn to rock them. Everyone needs glasses eventually. I guess except people who have one near and one far vision lens put in after e.g. cataract surgery.

(I truly don't care what you put in or on your face as long as it doesn't smell bad.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:28 AM on March 14

Wearing corrective lenses is a burden. It just is, sorry not sorry. Also, it is unfortunate that society is ruled by physical appearance, but it is, sorry not sorry, and having bad eyesight negatively impacts your professional and social opportunities, as anyone who has had some partial to full degree of blindness will be able to explain to anyone who is not being obtuse about the subject.

This has very much not been my experience, and I have pretty bad vision. (Severe myopia is defined as anything over -6 diopters of myopia. My bad eye is -10.) There are aspects of my bad vision that can't entirely be corrected with glasses or contacts, and that is a bit of a burden and could be much more of one at some later date if it prevents me from driving. But I don't think I have particularly suffered for needing to wear corrective lenses. It has not affected my professional or social opportunities in any way. And I don't consider it to qualify as partial blindness, since I can and do correct it.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:38 AM on March 14 [4 favorites]

I just received my non script glasses from overseas. I have three pair.I have always worn glasses with a Rx lens, since high school. Recently had cataract surgery and have 20/20 vision now. But I view glasses and frames as a fashion accessory...being homo and in the biz for many years helped of course. I also view them as a mask of sorts. My lenses are usually rose tinted top, because Mother always said view the world thru rose colored glasses.
posted by Czjewel at 8:45 AM on March 14

Wearing corrective lenses is a burden. It just is, sorry not sorry. Also, it is unfortunate that society is ruled by physical appearance, but it is, sorry not sorry, and having bad eyesight negatively impacts your professional and social opportunities, as anyone who has had some partial to full degree of blindness will be able to explain to anyone who is not being obtuse about the subject.

This hasn’t been my experience either. I find it really interesting (and a bit disturbing) how much universalizing of our experiences is happening in this thread.
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 8:59 AM on March 14 [5 favorites]

I am super nearsighted, I wear glasses, and I don't care if anyone rocks my look.
posted by Sauce Trough at 9:03 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

I've worn glasses for nearsightedness since I was a kid.

I don't care. Though if I knew someone who was wearing non-corrective lenses, I would constantly joke about how they should be like Kevin in Ghostbusters and take the lenses out of the frames so they won't get dirty.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:18 AM on March 14

I posted way upthread about being someone who does sometimes wear non-prescription glasses after getting LASIK later in life, and wanted to share a couple other observations. One thing is that I have found that I do get treated differently when wearing glasses - specifically, as a young-ish woman with a baby face and atypical gender presentation, some people seem to take me much more seriously in professional contexts when I stick a set of frames on my face. Infuriating but true!

The other is that, within the parameters of this question ("You have a coworker or acquaintance...") I find it hard to believe that this would ever come up in the first place unless the person actually volunteered the information themselves. Most people, when encountering someone who sometimes wears glasses and sometimes does not, will assume that either that person is an occasional contacts-wearer, or simply has a prescription low enough that it doesn't need to be corrected 100% of the time.
posted by btfreek at 9:19 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

Also judging people for rocking a nerdly look is venturing into highly problematic Fake Geek territory.
posted by Sauce Trough at 9:32 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

Mostly in the Who Cares camp, but... don't underestimate how style changes the perception of the person you're interacting with.

For instance, in the past few months I've gotten countless compliments on my beard. From friends, strangers, and acquaintances. But I've had a beard for 15 years. The same beard. But I did get new glasses just before the compliments started coming and I have not worn glasses in more than a decade. When I point this out to people they do not believe me. "No, no. The beard is new for sure."

Nope.

Glasses change what people think of your face.
posted by dobbs at 9:34 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

I've worn prescription glasses since I was a kid - my whole family does. I'm the only one who has continued wearing them into adulthood on a daily basis (rather than switching to contacts) because I like the way I look better when I'm wearing glasses. They suit me, I like them, I think they look good. I am choosing to wear them, essentially, because I could make another choice.

If I discovered that an acquaintance was wearing glasses they didn't need for aesthetic reasons, my response would be the same as my response to any other acquaintance making a slightly unusual fashion choice - I'm happy for them, because they found something that makes them happy, and that's always good. It otherwise doesn't affect me in any way.
posted by darchildre at 9:37 AM on March 14

Everyone looks better with glasses; specs shouldn't be denied someone just because they (unfairly) have good eyes.
posted by kensington314 at 9:40 AM on March 14 [7 favorites]

I feel like I'm the perfect person to answer this, having had strong myopia which has necessitated glasses all my life and which caused me a retinal detachment last year leaving me visually impaired.

Short answer: who cares.

Long answer: it's a positive that glasses are considered fashionable nowadays; wasn't the case when I was growing up.

So go for it!
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:56 AM on March 14 [4 favorites]

I wear Rx glasses full-time, find them occasionally annoying, and I couldn't care less if someone else wears them for reasons other than correcting their vision.
posted by Aleyn at 10:09 AM on March 14

I've had a thick prescription since I was 3 years old. The 1980s technology for kid's glasses to support my prescription were both ugly and fragile. It seems like I had perpetually semi-broken glasses. I am totally envious of my young nephew's glasses that seem stylish and virtually indestructible.

In years past on the rare occasions I have come across people wearing non-Rx glasses it has annoyed me. Not the point of saying something but then again I am a non-confrontational person by nature.

Nowadays, I am much more mellow and you-do-you about such things + it seems like the trend of "fashion" glasses are far more outré which makes it clear this is a style choice.
posted by mmascolino at 10:30 AM on March 14

Sounds like you might be in Bitch Eating Crackers territory.

People wearing glasses for aesthetic reasons maybe makes it easier and cooler for people who have to wear them for their vision. This is fine. I might be jealous that they don't have to wear glasses and also that they know what's fashionable.

(I love it when young folks in particular start wearing things I never stopped wearing. Look! I'm accidentally cool again! In my weird older person way!)
posted by bluedaisy at 10:34 AM on March 14 [5 favorites]

I can't believe we are this far into this and no one has even hinted at glasses being not just 'hot' but a full on KINK.
posted by zenon at 10:50 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

The number of folks jumping straight to shallow/pretentious/silly/offensive(??) is much more what I’d expect of a class full of eighth graders than from Metafilter.

This is AskMetafilter, people are supposed to answer the question honestly, not give fake answers than make them come off their most ideal self.

Personally, when I’ve found out that someone was wearing glasses not because they needed them but simply as a fashion accessory, my initial thought was, “That’s kind of weird”, but I didn’t think about it for long or anything.
posted by The Gooch at 11:17 AM on March 14 [4 favorites]

It would totally depend on what I think of the person otherwise. If I liked them it would be this quirky thing they did and if I didn't then it would be some weird affectation to make themselves seem interesting. I guess either way I'd consider it weird but harmless.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:21 AM on March 14

I have moderately bad eyesight and wear glasses. I don't find them to be a burden, and it doesn't bother me one bit whether people wear eyewear of any kind for any reason or no reason at all.

I also vehemently disagree with the suggestion that this is appropriative, as it implies that eyeglass-wearing is, like, a cultural trait or practice of a group of some kind. It's not. Prescription eyeglass-wearers are not members of a population that have anything in common with each other than the fact that their eye lenses don't work quite right for a particular purpose or under certain circumstances. I understand that some communities that use an assistive technology do have a cohesive identity and culture, but that's just not the case with glasses. Also, contrary to what some folks are asserting above, I don't believe there is any meaningful disadvantage or discrimination associated with wearing glasses, and besides the excellent point that garden-variety bad eyesight (distinct from "some degree of blindness") isn't a disability in a meaningful way, it's also simply too common--it could include almost anyone older than 40, and if you do think your glasses are causing some sort of problem in your life, you can easily switch to contacts, and nobody will be the wiser. This is like claiming that being a 5'11" bald white guy has a negative impact on your professional and social opportunities. It's ridiculous on its face. [NB I am also a 5'11" bald white guy]

Moreover, there are all sorts of perfectly valid reasons people could be wearing eyeglasses or something eyeglasses-like without an orthodox prescription for corrective lenses. Maybe they need to read small print, tie flies, or sew delicate needlepoint, and their vision isn't quite up to it. Maybe they feel like blue-blocking lenses improve their well-being or make it easier to look at a screen all day. Maybe their job requires eye protection and they don't want to wear the Chuck-in-a-truck polycarbonate safety goggles. Maybe they prefer to wear UV-blocking lenses because they believe it's reducing their chance of developing cataracts in later life. And, like, what about sunglasses?
posted by pullayup at 11:31 AM on March 14 [5 favorites]

I have extremely bad eyesight. Ive worn coke bottle glasses since I was five. Glasses have always been the absolute bane of my existence. I was teased so much as a kid and it had a MASSIVE effect on my self esteem. The fact that some people wear glasses for fun or fashion is mind boggling to me. I could not agree with They Sucked Their Brains Out more.

That being said, people have the right to wear whatever they want and I would never, not for one second, say anything or treat that person any differently. But inside, I would be annoyed. Sorry. Can't help it.
posted by silverstatue at 11:34 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

I don't really care in theory or on principle but the one person I know who did this also sucked in some ways that kind of dovetailed with the wearing-of-fake-glasses. Not directly, obviously, but just in a kind of "they're a person so dedicated to IMAGE that they will do some mildly bananas stuff to maintain their image" way.

So in practice if I met someone else doing this I have to admit I'd be a bit wary of their whole deal. But it's not like they'd be irredeemable, and I'd surely get past it if they turned out otherwise to be a straightforward sort who just has a couple of vanity things. (Because who among us, right?)
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:37 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

I remember being pissed off by someone doing this in the late 1980s when I felt that they were doing it to see special -- there was someone else I knew who would occasionally pretend to be Deaf, and I lumped them together as able-bodied people pretending to have disabilities. I've worn glasses since I was four, I've had to deal with people saying all kinds of shit to me about it, my glasses cost hundreds of dollars per pair, and for her to take on what she saw as the positive aspects with none of the negative was so annoying that I remember it well, 30+ years later.

But now? Eh, now I don't really care. You be you.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:38 AM on March 14

Has Clark Kent entered the chat yet? Because "glasses as a fashion statement" has a long history.
Didn't Marilyn Monroe rock spectacles? Or was that just in "How to Marry a Millionaire?"

My own brief dip into the world of contacts was not fun. Vanity was not an obstacle, but pain was.
Glasses prevent injury, eye strain, and dry eyes (bicycles, car rides).
Transition lenses mean that you don't need both prescription sunglasses and regular glasses.
And glasses are simply cool.

Until they invent x-ray vision shades, I'll give a thumbs up to the fashionable crowd.
posted by TrishaU at 11:40 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

> I don't believe there is any meaningful disadvantage or discrimination associated with wearing glasses

Maybe that's how we're so polarized -- oh, I amuse myself -- here. I definitely faced disadvantages and discrimination based on growing up wearing thick glasses. It's mild compared to what people in many protected classes face, but it existed, and it was meaningful to me.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:41 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

I'm curious how much our reactions correlate with whether we grew up bespectacled during the long "glasses make you ugly" years or not. I felt so sad and ugly in them as a kid, and now I wonder what it would have been like back then if they'd been considered so cool or fun that other kids wore them just to look good.
posted by trig at 11:51 AM on March 14 [8 favorites]

Whether or not my colleague wears glasses (and why) is none of my business. Outside additional info, I would assume that this person decided that wearing blue light glasses was helpful.

I think you are getting mixed responses, because glasses occupy the spaces of both a medical device and fashion accessory. Especially in the workplace where talk of medical conditions is verboten, it is probably not a best practice for someone to advertise that her glasses use is for fashion… since that in itself that is medical info.

FWIW I think some of the talking points around Privilege/ cultural appropriation are at least partially relevant to consider regarding this ask.

I don’t think at this point in time that wearing glasses as a fashion statement without medical need can be universally perceived as making a positive statement. There’s too much history here.

I think it’s possible that societal opinions might shift if there is ever widespread adoption of virtual / augmented reality via glasses.
posted by oceano at 12:03 PM on March 14

After 40 years of wearing glasses for severe myopia, I had cataract surgery. My distance vision is 20/20 (with a minor astigmatism in one eye), but I need reading or computer glasses. I have the option of taking the reading glasses off when I'm not actively using them, leaving reading glasses low on my nose and peering over them all the time, or wearing full-height frames with progressive lenses with 0 power on top. Is it affect for me to do the last thing? If your answer to that is yes, what about if I say that the progressive lenses correct that minor astigmatism, so even though my distance vision is 20/20 without them, it's even clearer with them, and therefore I prefer wearing them? Is that still affect?

Is it affect to choose stylish frames when they're used for a necessary prescription? Should we all be limited to the basic frames you can get for "free" when you pay for lenses?

I'm a bald man. If I wear cool glasses, people will focus on my cool glasses. If I go without, they're going to have to look at the rest of me. I was a person who wore cool glasses before my cataract surgery, and for better or worse that was part of my visual identity. Does that identity have to change because I had medically-necessary surgery? Is it affect to realize that you just look better with stylish frames? Is it vain? (OK, it probably is vain, but you can't take my stylish frames from me).

Also, this kind of goes for any sort of clothing and not just glasses. If you saw a man in a suit and you knew he wasn't a government employee, a banker, or a lawyer, would you think he didn't deserve to wear a suit?
posted by fedward at 12:08 PM on March 14 [3 favorites]

I'm curious how much our reactions correlate with whether we grew up bespectacled during the long "glasses make you ugly" years or not.

For me, at least, not much. My vision was worse when I was younger (I had a vertical astygmatism that resolved itself as I got into my late 20s and early 30s, though I'm still farsighted and still wear glasses full-time in my 40s), and I had thick lenses and unstylish, inexpensive frames throughout the 1980s, when I was a preteen. I was picked on for them, but started insisting on choosing my own frames fairly quickly and managed to integrate them as a positive part of my identity. I credit the ascension of LensCrafters in the late 1980s, who would gamely and relatively inexpensively grind lenses for vintage frames, freeing me from the obligation to choose the cheapest model at my childhood optician's shop.

I realize other people had contrary experiences, but the fact is that virtually any physical trait or difference can be fodder for abuse when you're being bullied or ostracized. If your red hair was a focus for your bully when you were a kid, would you consider it reasonable resent adults who dye their hair the same shade as an adult?
posted by pullayup at 12:18 PM on March 14 [3 favorites]

Wearing corrective lenses is a burden.

...some people seem to take me much more seriously in professional contexts when I stick a set of frames on my face.

I view glasses and frames as a fashion accessory...

...I wear glasses, and I don't care if anyone rocks my look.

I might be jealous that they don't have to wear glasses and also that they know what's fashionable.

Glasses have always been the absolute bane of my existence.

Eh, it just goes to show that MetaFilter is a land of contrasts.

I can't believe we are this far into this and no one has even hinted at glasses being not just 'hot' but a full on KINK.
Oh, yeah, baby!

IMHO, the award for the best comment in this thread goes to The corpse in the library:
You be you.
posted by BlueHorse at 12:36 PM on March 14 [3 favorites]

Wearing slightly tinted or full on shades is fine. Clear lenses strikes me as silly/affected but you do you.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:39 PM on March 14

I wear corrective lenses, and am poleaxed that it would even occur to anyone to care about someone wearing glasses for whatever reason. Unless they’re openly doing it to mock someone, it’s none of anyone’s business.
posted by holborne at 12:46 PM on March 14 [2 favorites]

I come from a family chock full of poor eyesight. When my siblings started having kids, most of them had really great vision, but some elected to wear glasses because they wanted to look like their aunts and uncle. One of my nieces was actually excited when she eventually needed a prescription - familial cultural norms are a kooky thing.

So as a person who has had to wear glasses for 40+ years - I vote WHO CARES what someone else puts on their face. I am deeply neutral on this subject.
posted by Julnyes at 1:22 PM on March 14

if you do think your glasses are causing some sort of problem in your life, you can easily switch to contacts, and nobody will be the wiser.

You are wrong. Many of us prescription glasses wearers can’t switch to contacts ‘easily’, or at all. I had LASIK 20 years ago and my corneas are now too flat to take a contact lens. They literally won’t stick. It’s more complicated than that, but the point is that it is not at all uncommon for people to not be able to use contacts.

I think some more sensitivity on this thread wouldn’t go astray. I’m very glad (genuinely) for the posters who grew up in a time/place/milieu where glasses were cool, fashionable and even sexy. News flash: that has very much not always been the case. Lucky me got to grow up in a rural area in the 80s and hear ‘four-eyes’ and ‘boys don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses’. Wearing glasses was just another thing that made nerdy, chubby, frizzy-haired me feel ugly.

Going through that in my formative years made me hate wearing glasses. It’s psychologically affected the way I feel about glasses. Choosing a pair of frames is something I agonise over, because I’m trying to find the least-worst version of something I don’t want at all, but have to have.

So yes, I have an internal negative reaction to people choosing to wear these (to me) cumbersome, ugly, expensive things on their face when they don’t have to. I will never tell them that, or treat them differently, and they’ll be none the wiser, so it’s all good. But i also can’t help my feelings and I’m entitled to feel however I damn want, without being shamed and compared to an eighth-grader.
posted by Salamander at 2:27 PM on March 14 [7 favorites]

Boy. I wish I could honestly say I wouldn’t care, but I would probably find it at least a little off-putting. Big asterisk that the amount of off-putting would depend on what else I know about that person, if they’re generally cool, if they have a sense of humor about this weird-but-harmless affectation (vs being defensive or cagey), etc. Intellectually I know it doesn’t really matter and would try not to let it affect how I interact with or talk about the person.

(My eyes are terrible and I wear glasses.)
posted by Suedeltica at 2:34 PM on March 14

This is none of your business.
posted by crush at 2:40 PM on March 14 [2 favorites]

One more comment on this: learning this information means likely that someone is probing into another person's reason for wearing glasses and then sharing that, which is also pretty distasteful! Especially if it's a coworker. If you regard glasses as a medical device or aid, then I would suggest not asking questions about their reasons for using it, just like it's not appropriate to ask someone why they need a cane or wheelchair or hearing aid.

If this information was shared casually, without any probing, and you're reacting negatively, I suspect it's related to your feelings about the person (see BEC).
posted by bluedaisy at 2:52 PM on March 14 [4 favorites]

As the kids say, weird flex but ok.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 2:53 PM on March 14

Very, very much who cares. How does their wearing glasses - prescription or otherwise - impact your life in any way whatsoever?
posted by pdb at 2:54 PM on March 14

A world of "who cares?" Most fashion accessories are kind of silly when you think about them, and other folks' fashion choices do not affect me in any way, shape, or form. So... who cares?
posted by maryellenreads at 2:59 PM on March 14

I had a coworker who did this! With glasses without lenses. We also just ignored it, although one person was clearly holding back some laughter sometimes.
posted by meepmeow at 3:13 PM on March 14

Wait, no lenses at all?? The mind boggles.
posted by Klipspringer at 3:30 PM on March 14

My first reaction would probably be to judge them pretty mildly, and consider it a bit affected. But my more considered reaction would be to judge myself for caring about it even a little bit.

We're all wired to make judgements about people based on how they present themselves, but it's absolutely not my business what people want to put on their bodies, and it's not up to my to decide whether they meet whatever arbitrary line to "need" the thing or not. And even if determining that line were up to me, preferring blue-light blocking, or guiding how people perceive them, or wanting some separation from the world is a good enough reason.
posted by duien at 3:43 PM on March 14

If you want to really roll your eyes... young-teen me wore contact lenses, but also wanted to wear cool, Sassy-inspired nerd glasses, so... I bought fake glasses and wore them with my contact lenses.

(In my defense, those cool, stylish frames were way too expensive for my family to afford. All we could afford were really ugly, Se4ars-optical-special wire frames that I hated.)
posted by maryellenreads at 3:54 PM on March 14 [2 favorites]

Don't really care. I guess I think it's a little bit cringe - an affectation - but if you pressed me to justify that feeling I'd probably struggle to come up with a good reason for it. It seems similar to wearing a band-aid you don't need.

To me it doesn't feel like putting on a disability. I wear glasses but don't consider myself disabled because my society doesn't treat me as disabled. Glasses are worn by people like me, who can get by without them most of the time, and glasses are worn by people who are legally blind. In fact I usually don't wear my glasses unless I'm driving and get by fine, but sometimes I will wear them because I like how they look with an outfit or whatever. Is that an affectation? Is that appropriation? I suppose my perspective on this is different than someone for whom glasses are an annoying, all-the-time necessity, especially if they were teased about them.

I just bought some really cute band-aids...
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 4:53 PM on March 14 [1 favorite]

Glasses are to some extent a fashion choice for a large proportion of people who wear them. Tons of us could get contacts or laser surgery if it were important to us not to wear glasses. I keep going with the glasses and have been for 25 years, because I like them. I would be a complete hypocrite to judge someone else who wore glasses because they liked them.
posted by potrzebie at 5:40 PM on March 14 [1 favorite]

This is AskMetafilter, people are supposed to answer the question honestly, not give fake answers than make them come off their most ideal self.

Oh, trust me, my taken-aback-ness has nothing to do with the fact that folks were giving honest answers. It’s what those answers were…
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 5:47 PM on March 14

My glasses fell off my nightstand last night (or my cat knocked them off) and I spent like the first fifteen minutes I was up this morning looking for them/looking for my old glasses (which I have stashed... somewhere for just this situation). I was thinking about this question as I was looking and it took me a while to figure out the connection. I assume most people who need glasses are going to experience that sort of problem to some degree at least occasionally. (After all, if they could go about their day seeing perfectly, they wouldn't need glasses.)

Even if I see you with glasses only intermittently, I'm going to assume you're a person who sometimes wears contacts or only wears glasses in certain circumstances, not someone who's making a purely aesthetic choice. So if I mention my early morning search to you (and it totally comes up as office chit chat or whatever once in a while) and it turns out you never needed glasses, it's going to be awkward in a way that a response from someone who actually needs glasses (even in only narrow circumstances) isn't.
posted by hoyland at 6:02 PM on March 14

90% of the time I don't absolutely need glasses but if I'm going to be doing a bunch of detail work or word processing I wear them because it's easier on my eyes. I currently have no analogue to having to spend a chunk of my morning searching for them if they're misplaced but I do still need them at times.

My response to hearing someone talk about that experience would have to come from basic human empathy of understanding that not being able to access the thing you need to function sucks but I can still get there without having gone through the exact same issue.
posted by Ferreous at 8:03 PM on March 14

I know a Black guy who wears fake glasses because when he wears them, white people are nicer to him, more respectful of his intelligence, and, most importantly, less afraid of him. Those fake glasses could literally save his life if they influenced someone's snap decision about him.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:24 PM on March 14 [5 favorites]

I'll refine my answer to say eh, whatever BUT
If they start doing some affected "oh you handed me a piece of paper wait, let me get my glasses" schtick and I know they're just a fashion accessory and in no way corrective or magnifying... or if they start doing that "looking at me over the glasses" thing...
That moves it into super-annoying.
posted by ctmf at 1:24 AM on March 15

I wear glasses and I think it's fine. There are lots of cool glasses frames around, I can see someone wanting to wear them.

Also it might be an age thing: when I was young glasses were uncool, but I think kids and younger people think of them more as a fashion item. Maybe laser eye surgery and soft contacts have made it seem more of a choice than it used to be.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:16 AM on March 15

Also what you "need" can be ambiguous. Some people need glasses for distances or for reading. My left eye is hopeless, but my right eye is almost normal, so I can get by without glasses for an hour or two, though I have no depth perception and a bit worse distance vision. After a while though I get eyestrain and headaches.

Don't assume someone doesn't "need" an aid because they use it some times but not others.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:22 AM on March 15 [1 favorite]

Medically-necessary glasses-wearer here!

My brother, for a period of time before it would have been considered as déclassé as it would be today—well before the idea of accessorizing with glasses was a thing—ran a very early Web site called 'Girls in Glasses' in an attempt to destigmatize the whole glasses look. At the time it was considered pretty weird, and my brother's a pretty weird dude, but I agreed with his general philosophy. Glasses can and often do look good on people.

Fast-forward to today: glasses are jewelry/accessory/fashion, as far as I'm concerned. Mine happen to also be an assistive device. I do not consider this to have been appropriative in nature; quite the opposite, I consider it to have been normalizing in nature.

So, hypothetical person, go ahead and put your -0.00 / -0.00 pair on, and rock some glasses. Welcome to the club of looking real-the-fuck good.
posted by majick at 7:56 AM on March 15 [2 favorites]

if you do think your glasses are causing some sort of problem in your life, you can easily switch to contacts, and nobody will be the wiser.

You are wrong. Many of us prescription glasses wearers can’t switch to contacts ‘easily’, or at all.

I apologize, this was insensitvely put and offensive. Let me give it another shot:

Because the majority of people who don't have perfect vision have options other than wearing glasses, I think it's safe to assume that the majority of people who we observe wearing glasses at any time are doing so by choice. The boundaries of the glasses-wearing population are porous enough that it's not meaningful to treat it as a cohesive group whose identity can be appropriated. As a corrolary, most people who are wearing glasses at any time are doing so by choice, because they think it's fashionable or they confer some other advantage that's not strictly related to correcting their vision. Is this considerably different than someone who doesn't need vision correction at all deciding to wear glasses?
posted by pullayup at 8:33 AM on March 15 [1 favorite]

As a corrolary, most people who are wearing glasses at any time are doing so by choice, because they think it's fashionable or they confer some other advantage that's not strictly related to correcting their vision.

BTW, I don't agree with this statement for a variety of reasons—I think there's a lot more nuance to the world than this implies—but I still think it's totally fine to choose to wear glasses for any reason. In fact, I prefer to live in a world where it is a choice anyone could freely make, without stigma; as well as a need that others could have, also without stigma.
posted by majick at 8:55 AM on March 15 [1 favorite]

I think it's safe to assume that the majority of people who we observe wearing glasses at any time are doing so by choice.

It's quite dangerous to assume that the majority of people we observe wearing glasses can afford contact lenses or Lasik.

Besides being an expensive hassle, contacts are riskier than glasses, contacts are WILDLY INCONVENIENT, and you can't see as well/at all well in contacts if you are over 40 and need bi- or trifocals. Not everybody wants to risk Lasik or can afford it. So lots of people who have to wear glasses wish they didn't have to wear glasses and in fact don't have another option.

(But people who like glasses should still rock out joyfully in their no-Rx glasses.)
posted by Don Pepino at 9:24 AM on March 15 [4 favorites]

I mean, technically I'm wearing glasses by choice as it would be physically possible for me to get contacts or Lasik. But having worn them for 36 years now, they feel like a part of me and it honestly feels strange to have them off. I understand that other people did have bad childhood experiences wearing glasses but those experiences aren't universal for anyone who had glasses in childhood, and my glasses don't feel like a burden or frustration to me. They're just a thing that's part of being me.
posted by augustimagination at 3:07 PM on March 15

Seems pointless, like wearing safety specs or a welding mask for the fun of it. But it wouldn’t offend me, I’d just think “weird choice bro”.
posted by tinkletown at 4:20 PM on March 16

I've worn glasses for over 50 years. My prescription was getting into legally blind territory, and one of my chemo drugs makes cataracts 100 times worse/gives you cataracts. I just got my cataract surgery and I can fucking see for the first time since fourth grade.

But it's weird as hell and I feel like I'm walking around without pants. I have lots of very cute, very expensive frames and I've always been hard to fit, so I could never buy cheap things online. I need reading glasses and when they're fully done with their shakedown cruise, I'll know whether I need any kind of assistive prescription or computer glasses, but I can tell you that I will probably want to get some kind of glasses I can wear around even if I don't need them, because it just feels so weird to be out here seeing all the time with nothing on my face. Which is just a big white blancmange with no strong features--my glasses gave me features.

I don't give a fuck if someone wants to call me ableist for that. I've had this most of my life, and if I want to wear fake glasses to feel normal, they can bite me. I'm on limited time anyway, with a terminal illness, so I'm gonna do what I want. This life's too short.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 6:27 PM on March 16 [7 favorites]

Yes, completely understand. I wore contact lenses for about three years in high school and college and after years in glasses. the "no pants on" feeling was strong.
posted by Don Pepino at 8:07 PM on March 16

Don't care, and I wear high-prescription eyeglasses; have done so for about 25 years. Some people just look good with frames ("fake" or not). Not my business.
posted by dubious_dude at 9:07 PM on March 16 [3 favorites]