[SIZE="2"]I admire your bravery, Sara – you’ve started this thread on one of those special days set aside for the glorification of masculinity. I came out of my closet of solitude to reply! I recently wrote a thread about male behavior, specifically the “dark” yet whimsical side of manliness, but I didn’t dare to submit it for reasons that will soon become clear. Anyway, well done…Originally Posted by Sara Jessica
[/SIZE]
[SIZE="2"]I keep trying to describe my surroundings in terms of latent intolerance for "concepts," but it (androgyny) is exactly as you describe, namely FOREIGN, and anything foreign is subject to castigation. Of course, I live on an island (for lack of a better word) in the middle of the country, far away from any cultural ideas or influence. If you live near an ocean, you may gaze at the horizon and wonder what is on the other side, while here in the Heartland such thoughts are, in themselves, suspect. Small town America keeps itself small by choice, and a display of androgyny is neither welcome nor tolerated. Looking around in my very small town, I don’t see anything that can possibly indicate gender experimentation, or expression of a feeling about gender, unless the girly girls and invariably manly males somehow qualify by harboring desires they dare not mention, let alone express visually. It all seems very conformist to me, but I’ve lived near the ocean and stared at the horizon, so I have at least learned to entertain any possibilities that may exist in life…[/SIZE]Even in major metropolitan areas, I cannot picture skirts hanging along side typical male clothing in men's departments in places as varied as department stores (ie-Macy's, etc), specialty shops (ie-PacSun, etc) or mass market (Target, WalMart, etc). Perhaps in trendy and specialty stores but not so much in the mainstream. Take this concept into small town America and I think the androgyny concept would be even more foreign.
[SIZE="2"]And this idea seems dangerous to the men who insist on being men. Imagine having to actually embrace ignorance in accordance with an imaginary characteristic your gender is supposed to celebrate (at this point in time)! I’m glad I’m on the other side, away from all this manliness, safe in the knowledge that there are other ways to BE. An individual must always be on guard against falling back upon pre-determined behavior that the majority agrees is correct – true bravery is reaching for, or attaining, this blessed acceptance of a state that is diametrically at odds with the male mindset……the TG world is real to all of us with methods of expression all over the map. We strive for mere acceptance, to live our lives as Pythos describes, free from hate, ignorance, bigotry and sexism.
[/SIZE]
