[SIZE="2"]Recently, there was a thread, begun by Ms. Larousse, where the idea of “rights” was put forth during the discussion. I chimed in, stating that rights are imaginary, or an illusion. This happens to be a theme of mine – whenever someone mentions rights, I will say they don’t exist, and this often leads to further discussion behind the scenes. In this case, I got a PM about my declaration (was I trolling?), since the author of the OP didn’t want to derail her own thread. I explained myself, and, in response, I received the words quoted above. I’ve been trying to write about something else, but this concept of having the RIGHT to crossdress in public fascinates me...Originally Posted by Annabelle Larousse
What exactly is a “right?” A right is a just and fair claim to anything whatever (like a power or a privilege) that belongs to a person by law, nature, or tradition. A right is also that to which one has a just claim according to law, justice, etc, in an upright way. Speaking of justice, in order to do justice to this idea of “rights,” we need to think about law, nature, tradition, and belonging...
Laws are rules of conduct established and reinforced by the authority, legislation, or customs of a given community. Also, a law is any rule or principle expected to be observed. I find the phrase “given community” to be telling in regards to rights – surely I have the right to express myself by dressing contrary to my birth gender, but, in my given community they would rather I stay out of sight, for the good of the people (children) who cannot understand such a thing. If I saunter forth in my cute schoolgirl outfit, in broad daylight, placing myself perpendicular to all straight-line thinking the locals may possess, am I not bumping into their right to have a world with clearly-defined gender roles? I wonder. Do I have to yield my right to crossdress in public in favor of majority rule? After all, I doubt if anyone considered the plight (or existence) of the crossdresser when the rules were drawn up for “upright behavior,” so does my purported right hold water?
What about the laws of nature? These so-called laws are a sequence of events in nature or in human activities (same thing!) that has been observed to occur with unvarying uniformity under the same conditions. Since I have declared on several occasions that crossdressing is natural AND inevitable, I think we must have the right to crossdress in public under the laws of nature. I mean, we’re stuck on this spinning ball, with few options in regards to gender expression, and the progress of civilization has created space for LIVING. Therefore, wouldn’t it be human to try everything, even if it questioned these human laws that constrain expression and emotion? I saw the phrase “question everything” on TV the other night, put forth as an empty challenge. If I, or we, actually do question everything, then we have the human right to dress as we see fit, since it is a form of questioning. I suppose I have the right to question everything, correct?
Let’s talk about tradition. A tradition is a statement, opinion, or belief that has been handed down from one generation to another. A tradition is also a long-established custom or practice that has the effect of an unwritten law. No doubt about it, crossdressing is a human tradition. It has existed for thousands of years, so, by rights, it should be seen as an entrenched custom or practice, and thus accepted for what it is. Of course, attitudes towards crossdressing change like the weather, and we are now in a stormy period of intolerance. In my little corner of the prairie, there is NO tradition of crossdressing, but traditions, real or imagined, drive the blinkered minds of the locals. If I were to say “There is a tradition of crossdressing throughout history,” THEY would surely reply “Not around here, it ain’t....” and the censure, either voiced or delivered, would shortly commence. It is an unwritten law that you shouldn’t crossdress in such a place, and I wouldn’t expect to find many champions of transgendered “rights” in the Land of Nod...
There’s one more thing to discuss, namely the concept of “belonging.” The right to crossdress in public surely belongs to me, but do I put myself at risk to verify its existence? I have a very close relationship with my “self,” and I have the proper qualities to “be” who I choose. The world sees me as a crossdresser, if they see me at all, but I just see my “self,” dressed appropriately for true living. Surely I have the right to do this AND belong in the family of humans, but I am very much in the minority, a queer individual, meek by definition, so the laws and traditions of those in charge tend to exclude people like me. Rights should be the same for everyone, regardless of how they are dressed, but immense effort is required to affect change, effort I would rather employ in the pursuit of happiness. I belong in the transgendered community, but out there, out in the world of gender-specificity, I don’t belong, even though I have a “right” to...
I keep thinking about this concept of rights as it pertains to me, the semi-closeted crossdresser. I don’t have a SO at the moment, and I don’t expect to have one in the near future, but if I DID have a significant other, one who was disturbed by my penchant for crossdressing, I could say, “I have the right to crossdress!” What if she said, “Well, I have the right to not like it, and I have the right to express my displeasure about it....” She has a point, which I why I dislike this idea of trotting out “rights” to claim that something we feel belongs to us – we’re stepping outside the rules of conduct that have been established to keep everyone in line, and that means that I, or you, the gender-queer explorer, are going a little too far. Do the powers that BE have the right to constrain us? Apparently, since they are by-and-large elected or sanctioned by the public, charged to wield power as they see fit. We may be seen as a type of threat, not to unseat the powerful, but to undermine the upright traditions that a given community bases itself upon. All because I want to wear panties in lieu of uncomfortable male underwear, or enhance my lips with a little color...
Do we have the right to crossdress in public? I guess so, if you want to put it that way, but I prefer to avoid this idea of “rights” and do what I can, when I can, according to my own relationship with the real world. I’m not a foundation-shaker, and I’m not an activist seeking change – I crossdress for pleasure, in an attempt to distance myself from a reality, or a human community, that either cannot or will not incorporate me into its distracting traditions. That’s fine by me – I can be happy and leave rights to the righteous. They’ll never see me as a moralist, even though I am a law-abiding citizen that never creates a scene for the sake of creating one. I could certainly tap into my “right” to crossdress in public by walking out the front door of my house, skipping across the street to see my male neighbor, the former mayor. I could say to him, in my best approximation of a female voice, “I’m expressing my right to crossdress!” As soon as he realizes there is no costume party nearby, and no joke forthcoming, I will know, purely by facial expression alone, just how meaningless my purported “rights” are...
It’s not easy out there, but we certainly have a right to do whatever we want to do in private, I suppose, unless someone (like a SO) would prefer we didn’t. I’m very lucky in that regard...
PS – Keep in mind that I live in an area of the country where Larry the Cable Guy is not only a cultural icon, but a paragon of fashion as well. In this heady atmosphere of severe appearance deficits, any “right” to crossdress is ethereal at best…
PPS – I wash to thank Annabelle Larousse for sparking my interest in this topic…[/SIZE]
If you don't like the way I'm livin', you just leave this long haired country girl alone:
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