Are attitudes towards TGs changing?

[Gemma Rhodes]

Hi Girls,

I was just wondering if you think that attitudes to the TG community are changing. I bought some make-up in drab last week and the girl in Boots could not have been more friendly and helpful even when I told her it was for me.

I am thinking of going clothes shopping next (in drab) and if any questions are asked I will be upfront about it. When I was last dressing regularly over 10 years ago the TG community were frowned upon but now society seems a lot more tolerant.

Gemma xx

[Cheery GG]

HI gemma,

I think your right, i do think the publics outlook is changing. Most of my friends at uni know about darren/Lisa, and none of them have aproblem with it. Darren has also been into boots and several other make up shops, and said he is looking for himself, and no one has batted an eye lid.

It can only be a good thing. I know from experience after working in retail mysel for several yrs that the shp assistants are trained to be non discriminatory towards the customers. This kind of training is good i think as there are people out there from all sorts of backgrounds and walks of life, so why should cross dressers be treated any differently.

C
xx

[Katie Ashe]

Hi girls, I think the world will change, but not over night. I went to the doc's office dressed and no one really cared. I wasn't out of place. I get more respect from employee's than customers. All my outings have been good.

Cheery, Marla, Tamara, Cathy, etc... It beacuse of GG's like you that help make our stay here on earth a little more comfortable.

[MonaSmith]

I have shopped for clothes, shoes and make-up, in drab and never had a problem. Shop assisstants are usually more helpful when they know that it is for you. I always buy make-up in Boots, and I always wear make-up while I shop for it, the assistants are extra helpful and you usually get compliments and sweet smiles from the checkout girls

Are people more accepting? Maybe, but I don't know what it was like before. The key is that we get out there, the more exposure that people get to us, the more accepting they will become. It is up to us to make society change, just like all the other minority groups did before us.

Mona xx

[Kimberly]

When I was last dressing regularly over 10 years ago the TG community were frowned upon but now society seems a lot more tolerant.

Times 'a changin', hunny!!

But we still have a long way to go for full acceptance, if it is even reached. That's for my generation to do.

[ChrissyCrossedLegs]

I think that some of it comes down to the person themsleves and how they act when out.. shopping is what was mentioned.
If you shop as a man for woman's things, it todays society where so many men are at home while the women work it really isnt a big deal.. how ever if you do it twitching and looking around every 0.5 seconds either, you are shoplifting, or there is something wierd going on.
I walk through womens clothes shops like they were made for me, that I am THE most important customer they have, and that they WILL serve me and help me if I need it.
I think it also helps if you know what you want. I mean I have heard of some CD's going clothes shopping without actually knowing what size they are! Attitudes of a saint would be hard pressed in that situation.
Society on the whole - well until we call it a day on adverts on TV such as the Bounce kitchen towel - the breakfast cerial one -etc etc.. no I dont think they will change.. we will still be seen as a joke - and for me.. well call me weird, call me perverted, I can cope with that.. but say what I do is a joke ---GRRRRRrrrrrrrr
Hugz Sammy

[urban gypsy]

Although there are still some small minded people out there,but as a society TG/CD are becoming more accepted but there is still a long way to go,But when I go out dressed I seem to attract less stares than I did 10 years ago. I don't think its because I look more convincing because personally I don't think I do.

[Rachel Morley]

Are people more accepting? Maybe, but I don't know what it was like before. The key is that we get out there, the more exposure that people get to us, the more accepting they will become.

So true Mona, the problem is (at least for me) that I'm a little bit too chicken to be the trail blazer who casts caution to the wind and just does it for the sake of furthering the cause of cd acceptance.

Having said that, I do actually wear fairly feminine clothes (for a guy) in public, however, not at work. At work it's more subtle. People don't notice the buttons on the other side or the cut of my t-shirt or that my jeans are a bit too fitted round my butt and legs to be guys ones.

At all other times I wear tighter jeans (some with pink stitching), girl's tennis shoes, satin trimmed t-shirts, classic high buttoning cardigans, earrings, subtle make-up, and perfume.

But I digress.....to answer Gemma's question, are people's attitudes in the community changing towards cders? Well, if they are I've not see it. Unless the acceptance comes off the back of the more tolerance of being gay. i.e. wearing women's clothes......must be gay?

[Phoebe Reece]

I suppose the answer to this question depends a lot on where you are living and how long you have been getting out dressed. I've been dressing and going out off and on for over 30 years. I would say that in my little corner of the southeastern USA, things for TG people have definately improved. I go places dressed around Atlanta all the time now and no one raises an eyebrow - not even when getting an ID at the Drivers License office.

There are certainly a lot of ignorant and bigoted people out there in the world and there always will be. And there will be more in some places than others. The media does not depict us as we are, and that is as much our own fault as the fault of the media itself. Our own secretive nature keeps the real story on crossdressers from getting out.

[Jamie M]

I can only speak for what I have seen in my local area , I cannot speak for anywhere else , but i would say that things have never been better for for TG community as a whole.

I have NEVER had a bad experience whilst shopping and very rarely whilst out en femme in general. I think as Sammy said, if you look like you have a right to be doing what you are doing no-one will think twice but if you look "a bit shifty" then people will take notice and think "wierdo".

Our cause is being promtoed every day in more publications than you care to think . Only the other day i read a bout a TG driving instructor in 'Chat' magazine and it went without notice. People ( ithink) are becoming more used to it.

This does not mean that everyone is happy or comfortable with it but I think that more and more are coming round to seeing it as a harmless thing.

[Lauren_T]

Let me share a prediction I made a few weeks back, which I have become even more convinced of...

In 10 to 30 years, acceptance of gender-variant people will be won without a fight - because a critical mass of people in Western society will then be in controlling positions in society, people who will have have grown up with numerous GVs around - friends, schoolmates, even relatives - who won't be anything unfamilar or unacceptable to them...

...and remember you heard it here first...