A few interactions I had today

[Emily Barton]

This morning I woke up to an unexpectedly clear day, and a quick check of the weather forecast showed it would be sunny all day with highs of 8 degrees (that seems high right now after the awful weather we've had the past few months!).

So obviously with such scorching weather I had to dress the part. I've got this new pink maxi skirt that I've been looking forward to wearing and paired it with some yellow wedges. My red toenails are looking a little sorry for themselves but I didn't have time to do anything about them so I decided they'd have to do! Threw on a t-shirt (tucked into the skirt though as it's super high-waisted) and a coat and set off on the walk to work.

I'm about 10 minutes in when I hear someone say "Hello". I look up to find a man has stopped and got out of his car right by me. I say "Hi" and smile, unsure of what to expect, and he continues: "My son is a crossdresser. I just thought I'd say hello". I beamed and thanked him, then continued on my way.

The work day passes by and no one says a word/bats an eyelid - they're all totally used to it by now (although even when they weren't, the only reactions were positive). On the walk back, pretty much at exactly the same point as the morning, I hear someone behind me wolf whistle and start laughing. I don't turn around and just continue walking, at which point they start calling out things like "Hey, gorgeous!" and "Give us your number!". Whatever - nothing I haven't dealt with before.

Once I reached my house I decided to carry on past it and go for a bit of a walk in the sun. I strolled past a group of women who were part of some kind of exercise class, and one of them asked if I could take a picture for them. "Of course", I said, and as I took the phone from her she told me she loved my skirt. As I took the photo one of the other ladies complimented me on it too. Awesome, chalk that up as a 2-1 win to common decency!

Unfortunately, as I headed home there was another equaliser. Walking down a fairly busy road I heard a car horn, and turned to find a car slowing as it passed me so that the guy in the passenger seat could yell something obscene out of the window. I won't repeat it here, but suffice to say it wasn't nice! I'm thankful to have thick enough skin that it bounces right off, but it does anger me how much hurt it could cause someone else. Unfortunately they were gone too fast for me to take a license plate - not that anything would've come of reporting them anyway I'm sure.

So, that was my day, and I guess you can call it a 2-2 draw. I think the thing that's always worth pointing out, though, is the hundreds of opportunities for an interaction that resulted in absolutely nothing. The real winner of the day was, and will always be, the "non-events" - the score should really be more like 2-2-500! I'm not claiming that assholes aren't out there - my day clearly demonstrates that they are. But of the hundreds of people who saw me today, only 2 spoke out negatively in any way whatsoever. Why should fear of them stop any of us from just being ourselves?

In other news, it's looking like highs of 11 tomorrow so if I haven't died of heat exhaustion () I'll be out in my finery again. Something floral, perhaps?

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[KymG]

Well done Emily.
Unfortunately there will always be assholes like that, and Im glad you didnt worry about it. I personally like to think that they are few and far between.

[Queen Bridget]

As someone looking to go out for the first time soon, this post is very inspiring.

Aside from the two negative bits, it's great that you had such a positive experience. And that lady was right. That is a nice skirt.

Yes, something floral would be nice for tomorrow

[Samm]

Well done, Emily! I don't know if I could (or how I would) handle the negatives, but the positives would surely keep me getting out there.
I've been out only twice, but neither of which was that close to the general public.

[Patricia_Campi]

Congratulations Emily,

For your choice of clothes!! The skirt and wedges are gorgeous!! And of course for your walking!!

Cheers,

Patricia

[t-girlxsophie]

I think the score should be 2-0 as the negatives you experienced came from complete zeroes.Love the skirt btw

[Dana44]

Very nice Emily. The guys in the car was a bigot. Don't worry about them they are bad.

[Beverley Sims]

We all have these brushes with life, I like what you were wearing, but maybe it stood out a bit.

I have made unfortunate choices of apparel on many occasions.

Usually I only notice a longer look and think, must change that. :-)

[phili]

Yay for you! Brave and holding your own- which tends to wear out the negative folks, as after a while they see that no one is listening.

And it gives others a chance to relax and try being friendly. I found that once they do, stiffly the first time, by the third time they don't even think about the dress anymore, and happy greetings are lavished.

People want to be friendly and to feel comfortable and trusting of those they encounter, so being a nice person when out is the ticket.

[Becky Blue]

Well done Emily, two positives are way better and more relevant than the 2 negatives.... you go girl!!

[Alice_2014_B]

It's all about the confidence, which you have plenty of, Emily.
The pink skirt, though looks to draw attention, is very pretty.
Not my style personally, but is very nice with the open-toe shoes.

[Melanie Moxon]

I think the positive comments/interactions more than made up for any negative comments

That skirt is gorgeous and goes great with those super cute shoes

[Emily Barton]

Well, in the end today it was pretty overcast so I settled for winter florals instead. Wore this cute midi skirt and on impulse threw on these awesome ghilly heels - I've previously only worn them on nights out or at parties! So my look was probably even more 'out there' than yesterday.

On my way in the morning a woman called out "please tell me someone has dared you to go out like that". I turned, smiled and just said "nope, it's all me I'm afraid". Would've loved to have seen her face, but I turned back and just carried on walking. It felt pretty good, although I did feel like all eyes were on me even more than normal. I've been wearing heels exclusively for months now, but mostly heeled booties which are pretty conservative. This was anything but!

To be honest, by the walk back I was feeling fairly self-conscious - it's a nice look but I think I pushed it a little too far (for myself) this time. That said, I had an *awesome* interaction on my way home - there were two little girls playing in the street who stopped and stared when they saw me. There was a woman them who turned with them, and the interaction between them was one of those "faith restored in humanity" moments. To my best recollection it went something along the lines of:

"That's right, he's a boy and a girl. And that's ok, isn't it?"
"..."
"Perhaps he'll let you ask some questions?"
"..."
"He can wear a dress if he likes. You two are both wearing trousers."
One girl finally pipes up: "but why is he wearing... high..." and sort of trailed off.
"He's wearing amazing shoes, isn't he? Maybe it's because he wants to show off his nice painted toenails? Your nails are painted too, aren't they?"

Then one of the girls beamed and showed her fingernails to me, which were painted white. I told her they looked very nice, and we said goodbye to each other and parted ways. It was just brilliant!

So all in all, another positive day. Although I think my feet have earned a rest after walking 4 miles in those things... I hope I don't have too many blisters in the morning!

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[Melanie Moxon]

those shoes are gorgeous, not sure I'd have wanted to walk four miles in them though!

Sometimes people surprise you

[Queen Bridget]

That outfit is certainly an attention-getter

I find it interesting that they kept refering to you as "he". I always figured that people would say "Her" out of politeness (Personally, I don't mind either way. But some people do)

[Emily Barton]

Well, I'm not trying to pass for a woman (no wig, make-up etc) so I thought it was pretty normal. I agree that if I were out in fully Emily mode then using the feminine pronouns would be more standard, though!

[Queen Bridget]

Well, I'm not trying to pass for a woman (no wig, make-up etc) so I thought it was pretty normal.

Ah, that's fine then :P