con coda: a tranny moment

[sistawendy]

I forgot a couple of incidents in the last entry. I'm chatting with mamishka in the hallway in my Hester Prynne outfit when a girl of eleven or so comes up to me and asks, "Are you really a lady?"
I laughed. "No," I answer. She seems a little freaked, but I don't think too much of it.

Fast forward a few hours. I pass the same girl in the hallway, when she volunteers, "You don't really look like a girl."
"Oh well," I shrug.

Yeah, I could have pointed out to her that she had to ask earlier. L'esprit d'escalier. Besides, I was on my way elsewhere, and I was picking up a hostile vibe from her. How sad. I wonder where she got it.

Comments

[ms-vermilion.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see a world where people could view gender in broader terms and not focus on it as being the primary launching point regarding how to communicate with other people. I don't see that happening anytime within my lifetime, though, and in fact I've seen quite a bit of evidence that there's even more strictures on gender identity than ever, which is sad.

I hope that your encounter with her had some lingering, positive impact, which it probably did, but I also know how painful those sorts of in-your-face confrontations might be for you.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

If there's a war against gender roles going on, I'm a reluctant draftee at best. I'll settle for an indefinite truce.

Yeah, it isn't fun to hear that you don't present well, even from an eleven-year-old, but I figure I need to grow a thick skin in my situation.

[ms-vermilion.livejournal.com]

Being unapologetically yourself is a supportive part of that war. There are plenty of other people to step up and take on the fight through the more confrontational aspects of writing, discussions, etc.