Isn't perception of society is changing?

[laurenscarlett]

After getting tremendous encouragement from community members,here going to share another incident.

So i am from India and usually once or twice i would visit my family and friends over there.This has been going on from couple of years and every year i am noticing lot of changes going on. I mean everything, from expensive automobiles to high end smartphones,fashion etc. Now society is more open, i can't say about other regions but mine is doing alot. The town now a city,I remember the most difficult task was to buy "mens briefs" , yess!! mens brief, i sound weird but thats true,everybody would just go and use a codeword like thing, then the shopkeeper with eye measurement gives you your stuff and that too in black carry bag ok,fast forward now. {I have attached picture of what kind of store i am talking about :P}

This year i thought i should buy stuff for me ,i mean womens one and lets see how it has changed.I went to shop with lot of girls, nobody seems to care and i asked for women panties.
Then the guy just looked at my figure and said "do you know the size?" and i said "i don't have any idea but..." then i said loudly,"brought xl" one and without hesitation he was showing all colors and information about fabrics,bla bla bla so on... and when i paid and was leaving he said "next week we would have more stuff, give that a shot you would like that" and i dont know what to say :P i just said "thanks"

Next, I went to another one and feeling more confident, i just told them that i was looking stuff for me and the girl selling was quite keen in assisting me and for me it was win win situation.she was very nice and asked me if i want to try those and questions like "are you wearing those right now?" " any bras for you?" "we have valentine stuff also" and told me many men are buying stuff for them openly.we did chatted for 20 minutes about girly stuff and At the end of my shopping conquest i bought couple of those and thanks her for wonderful experience.She did give me her contact so that if i wanted to buy more all i have to do is just send her pictures of what kind of stuff i am looking for,she would arrange.

I was pretty amazed at how things went very well, i am not criticizing my country but there were times when society was and still is conservative but now i can feel those change in perception. May be because of internet or they just care about business but one thing for sure,it is positive signal and hope for best of best.
What do you think about it? please do share your experience when you felt the same ;*
Thanks

[Laura912]

One wonders if India is like the US in that in some areas, it is very easy to shop openly, and in others, there is risk to ones self. Bet you got some great prices also!

[suzanne]

It just goes to show how in a conservative region there are always people who are ahead of the curve at opening their minds. It's through these leaders that the general society makes change happen. I'm glad to know you are able to be successful with your dressing.

[Beverley Sims]

You are right society is changing, and I have been led to believe in India acceptance is becoming more wide spread.

There are still areas that it is taboo and probably always will be.

[ShyLibrarian]

Some schoolboys in Britain wore skirts last summer to protest against not being able to wear shorts in unseasonable heat. There are also other instances of boys wearing skirts in Europe and boys wearing skirts at parties in the US for a laugh. at the same time/au meme temps, I believe skirts and other femme attire showed up on fashion runways over the last year or two. I agree that skirts are only the tip of the iceberg but it's encouraging. There's also the proliferation of terms such as metrosexual, heteroflexual, lumbersexual (perhaps from the lumberjack song in Monty Python). As for other evidence, though more bizarre. I remember one of my grandmothers way back in the 1960s (she was a Theosophist and rather mystical) that the world is moving into a more androgynous age. This was the early 60s, way before anyone knew anything about anything in terms of paraphilias and alternative lifestyles (except Gertrude Stein).

So, imagine the cross-dressing life you lead today and contrast it with how you would have fared back in the 50s or back in the pre- summer of love 60s and you'll find it's a lot looser and getting looser all the time.

i remember buying some panties and pretty tops at one of our local emporia here in rural eastern Ontario and the cheeky wee girl at the cash asked me if I wanted to try them on and i got tres buzzed at the thought (and she was adorable), so . . . I have my late g/friend's slips and nighties hanging on the backs of several doors in the house and am wondering if I'm going to bother hiding the out of sight when friends come over.Thinking actually of just saying - those were Mary's things and they happily remind me of her sweet presence.

There are always going to be rough and ready types who can't take CDs onboard intellectually but I think we're inching toward wider acceptance

Carole

[Pat]

The Supreme Court in India has been very affirming of transgender people over the last couple of years, so I gather it's a topic that the culture is changing on rapidly. That's good to hear. And it sounds like things went really well for you. Maybe some of the difference is that now your former town is a city? As population grows, folks' ability to mind other people's business diminishes.

[Leslie Langford]

Given that hijras (a.k.a the "Third Sex") are very much a part of the landscape in the Indian subcontinent, and the fact that the decidedly guilt and shame-free Hindu Kama Sutra texts/teachings on sexual behavior originated there (not to mention all those very graphic carvings on Hindu temples), I'm surprised that you would expect to find the type of conservatism there that you allude to.

[Pat]

...I'm surprised that you would expect to find the type of conservatism there that you allude to.

Two words: European Colonialism. Many cultures were shattered by European expansion all over the globe. The most recent statistic I read is that 150 New World tribes had more than two gender roles (some up to five gender roles) before the New World was colonized. Now only a few retain three-gender role models -- they were "re-educated" to reject non-binary genders. Same throughout Asia, Africa and the Pacific. India had English values hammered into the culture in a not-very-delicate way.

[Jenn26]

I think the perception has changed in the US, at least is some portions when shopping. I used to exclusively stick to online purchases, but I've recently ventured out and met virtually no odd looks or comments. But then again, I chose the stores very selectively, so my perception may be skewed a little.

[sherri]

Regardless of what country, receptivity in the marketplace is certainly encouraging and hopefully indicative, but any assumptions based solely on reactions predicated on profit motive are prolly skewed. Ditto for governmental policies or media coverage, although it's logical to think those influences are significant over the long term. For the most accurate reading you still can't beat grassroots reactions or observations from people you know or interact with every day.

[kimdl93]

Commerce and knowledge have driven change for millennia! Ideas (good and bad) spread more easily than viruses. Once cultures interact, it changes both.

[docrobbysherry]

Let me ask u!
"Is our perception of society changing?"