I am also a bearded one most of the time, however when NOvember started, I shaved mine. Just to do the opposite. I like my crossdressed look much better without the beard. However, my wife likes my beard more!
I am also a bearded one most of the time, however when NOvember started, I shaved mine. Just to do the opposite. I like my crossdressed look much better without the beard. However, my wife likes my beard more!
Well said Mikell. I I too was a bit repulsed by that comment you refer to. Like so many have already said ... are all CDers men in women's clothing?
It's not what you look like outside that is so important as who you are on the inside.
Walked past a dude, with beard in a dress last week.
Sorry he wasn't a female.
He was a dude, doing his own thing, being a bloke, while wearing a dress.
I would say, alternative lifestyler.
But absolutely nothing about his manor said "female"
He was happy, and I liked that
See all my photos, read many stories of my outings and my early days at
http://rachelsauckland.blogspot.co.nz
I saw this exact ad, but in magazine format, in the New York Times Magazine Dec 7/14 issue.
http://blog.parrot.com/wp-content/up...se-450x253.jpg
Conchita Wurst is the new face for the headphone company, Parrot Zik. The caption is "Create Your Own World".
I'm not sure what to think of it. Knowing what I know of advertising, the goal is to create an ad that people will remember so they will recognize the product when they see it ... a sensationalism of sorts. A lot of companies go for controversy in order to accomplish this, and this ad definitely pushes the boundaries.
But is this the message that transfolks want for themselves? To be in a world of their own, rather than being accepted in everyone else's world?
Reine
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter one bit how we define ourselves, and we can debate ad infinitum as to what constitutes a "crossdresser", the same way that medieval scholars used to debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. What really matters in the end is how others see us, and in line with the old adage that "perception is reality".
The other point is that we here on this forum are a fairly inclusive bunch, and most are inclined to give our fellow participants some degree of leeway in the way we practice our "craft" - particularly when it is in private and/or in the presence of consenting partners or other adults. So if you want to wear a dress, 6" stilettos, and a sequined Armani gown around your home while sporting a Duck Dynasty or ZZ Top-style beard , then IMHO opinion, go for it. However, when it comes to going out in public, that becomes a bit of a game-changer for me, because then your behavior ("guilt by association") can be reflected back on me in terms of how well I am accepted when out in "Leslie" mode.
Despite much pro-TG education by the media in recent years (ABC and NBC specials on transgender children and their parents, Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and Carmen Carrera interviews, Barbara Walters specials, the Time Magazine cover story on the "Transgender Tipping Point" etc., etc.), we still represent a little understood mystery to most "muggles", and unfortunately, it is human nature for people to fear and reject what they don't understand - and sometimes violently so.
We are also in the process of a prolonged "re-branding" exercise at the moment, for lack of a better word. Time was, we were "transvestites", with all of its creepy, pervy, fetishistic connotations. Then we morphed into "crossdressers"...a more benign species of weirdos who at least could be trusted (somewhat) to behave properly in the presence of children, although the jury was still out as to whether or not we went into womens' washrooms to get our jollies at the expense of unsuspecting GG's, or simply to do our business there. Now we are lumped in among the "transgender" folk, and as such, the TG activists have seen to it that rather than being defined as something to be feared and reviled, we are now regarded as victims of biology who cannot help being what we are. Part of this narrative is the realization (finally!) that trans people suffer from an extraordinarily high per capita rate of suicide, homelessness, and joblessness, and often lead diminished lives due to this as well as the generalized discrimination that we still face. So yes - some progress has been made overall, but we're still not there yet in terms of full acceptance.
I can't speak for the others here, but I, for one, have a real issue with those among us who choose to go out in public and deliberately present themselves in a way that John Q. Public finds jarring - and that includes those crossdressers who deliberately seek to stand out by presenting as the proverbial "man in a dress" or the like. Sure, flaunt convention, stick it to "the man", and assert your right to self-expression, but don't for one minute presume that you are speaking for me, because you aren't. And don't wrap yourself in the cloak of righteousness and pretend that you are doing this to drive change in outdated societal conventions. In my view, those types of people are simply self-centered narcissists who will do anything to attract attention, and the "man in a dress" schtick is certainly a good way to do this - just like having one's whole body covered by tattoos, multiple piercings, or else dying one's hair (preferably spiked, Mowhawk-ed, or half-shaved off) in every color of the rainbow. Anything to stand out in a crowd...
When I go out in public in "Leslie" mode, I aim to blend in (if not downright "pass"), and try to dress in a manner that is both age-appropriate and respectful of women. This has always served me well in the past, and has even garnered me compliments at times. Yes, I, too, would like to see changes in how we are perceived and accepted by the public at large, but I prefer the non-confrontational Mahatma Gandhi type of approach to achieve this, and win people over as opposed to the in-your-face, Black Panther-style mindset practiced by the "man in a dress" proponents. As the saying goes "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar"...
We are all entitled to our own opinion. And none of us should take anyone's opinion as gospel. We all have our own reasons for doing what we do. I for one go out in public wearing a skirt with out any other indication that I'm trying to be female. Because I'm not.
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