Originally Posted by
Stephenie S
Well, part of your confusion comes from your misaprehensions.
Men CAN wear lipstick. Many men DO wear lipstick. Actors and models spring to mind quickly, but there are many men who, in daily life, DO wear lipstick. You clearly aren't exposed to them, or don't notice, because they are good at it. A good lipstick color should be pretty close to your own natural color. I wore lipstick (Chapstick) for years before I transitioned.
Men CAN wear skirts. There are businessmen's suits made with skirts instead of trousers. Spend some time in a big city or in alternative lifestyle circles and you will see men in skirts. BTW, this whole forum is made up of men who wear skirts. I tell the story of the man I met in Border's Bookstore a few years ago. He was big, a tall hefty man with a full beard, a lumberjack plaid shirt, work boots, and a nice navy blue pleated skirt. If you want to wear a skirt, you just have to DO it.
Your masculinity is NOT determined by what you wear. If you feel this way you are exhibiting a very shallow view of life. Come on, hon. Very masculine weightlifters, wrestlers, swimmers, bicycle racers, models shave all their body hair. Would you question the masculinity of Bruce Willis? Probably not to his face. He wears makeup. Everyone on TV, male or female, wears makeup. Do you question THEIR masculinity?
If you want to wear makeup (and I can't imagine why, what a PIA that is) go ahead. It's not that much fun. It will add lots of time to your morning routine if you do. When I fell a couple of years ago and raised a huge purple bruise on my face, I covered it with makeup from Mary Kay. My co-workers were surprised at how quickly my bruise had healed. I told them, "No, it's just covered with makeup." I got several compliments on how good I was with makeup. It was really how good my sales lady at Mary Kay was at matching my skin tone. See, NOBODY knew I was wearing makeup. If a man is wearing makeup and is good at it, you won't be able to tell anyway. This is true for women also. The ones who are really good at it are the ones you think just have perfect skin. You can't tell they are wearing makeup.
So go ahead dear, it's a lot of work, one more expense, and takes time to learn (did you think that women were BORN with the ability to use makeup?), but if you want to, you can.
Wear a skirt too, if you want. It's not that big a deal.
I suspect, however, that it's not wearing a skirt or wearing makeup that you want to do. I suspect that what you really want to do is to pretend that you are a women for however long a time as you like. I suspect that what you really want to do is present to the world as a woman. This is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish, and is not so easy, or socially acceptable for you. But that is what this whole forum is all about. There's lots of help and lots of info here. But there's not a lot of answers about why men can't wear skirts or wear makeup, because they can.
Lovies,
Stephenie
Read Batty's post again. Batty can argue philosophy with a lampost, and she can be a bit verbose, but she is intelligent and very well read. As she clearly points out and illustrates, fashion is fluid. There have been times when very masculine men wore wigs, lace, high heels, and corsets. Masculinity (and femininity) have little to do with what clothes you happen to be wearing. It would be a bad idea to question the masculinity of a group of skirt wearing Scottish soldiers, for instance.
Steph