Hey ladies! 'sup? Yes we're talking about passing again -_- But I do feel like every so often the subject should be brought up again, as new crossdressers are being born even as we speak, and it has been that way for oh, about a couple thousand years or so. There will always be new people going through periods of self discovery looking for other perspectives.
Anyway, I hate really long-ass posts, so let's go over the aspects of passing, shall we?
(Disclaimer: I am not the Queen of all things Passing. This is just the opinion of one person. These are ideas not laws so yeah, whatever works for you.)
Passing is about acceptance! Um, NO. Passing is about power. The power that comes from information. Simply put, they can't judge you for your transgender presentation if they don't know it's a transgender presentation. People who accept us are all kinds of awesome, but they have used their power of judgement to do so.
Passing is about self confidence! Um... well.. sorta. Not quite. Self confidence can be a factor. If you act like you are hiding something people will notice. On the other hand, if you are obviously male-bodied and someone wishes to harm or ridicule you for it, it's unlikely that your self-confidence will stop them.
Passing is not important! Probably not important to you. Personally, when I look in the mirror I want to see a woman. I'd rather look like a homely woman than a pretty crossdresser. I'm not always successful, I got very loudly "SIR'ed" by someone driving by not too long ago. It hurts when people go out of there way to make me feel self-conscious.
Passing is all in the mind! Not going to spend too much time on this one, just going to say that unless you are Charles Xavier, the image in your head is going to have very little bearing on whether or not OTHER people see that you are male (or female) bodied.
Any thoughts would be welcome.