crossdressing

[ewx]

Apropos of conversation on irc:

[Poll #474756]

(Oh, I suppose those should have been radio buttons, being mutually exclusive. Never mind.)

Comments

[megamole.livejournal.com]

Unless a cassock counts.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I don't think so...

[j4.livejournal.com]

I routinely wear trousers and shirts. What counts as cross-dressing for women?

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

My default answer to that is "men's suits".

[ewx.livejournal.com]

There's certainly a gray area (at least in my mind, and not just because it's late in the afternoon), which trousers and shirt falls into; perhaps when you're in the gray area it's intent that matters?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

A necktie?

[emperor]

[though it was on-stage]

[imc.livejournal.com]

Since mine was on-stage and before the age of 13 (not to mention I didn't volunteer for the part) I didn't count it. It happened twice, but that's still not enough to claim "occasionally".

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I have also cross-dressed on stage although I didn't count that for the purpose of my answer. Moreover, onstage in one particular production, I have been a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman pretending to be a man.

Mind you, I've also been an existentialist lion, Shirley Bassey being Shirley Jones, an aboriginal leader, an imp, an angel, an OAP (my 'son' was 10 years older than I am), a vampire, a policeman's wife, a nesting bird, a member of two opposing political parties in the same production, and a flapper, among other things. And I've 'died' 40 times in one week. Compared to all that, wearing a false beard suddenly seems quite dull. ;-)

[senji.livejournal.com]

Slightly confuse answer, because whilst I have never cross-dressed I've stated that I would under certain circumstances.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what it means for a woman to cross dress these days, so my answer is either "Almost all the time" or "Not at all". I wear whatever fits and is comfortable and appropriate for the occasion. Lots of my clothes are from the men's section of shops, lots from the women's. I rarely wear skirts, dresses, blouses or the like; when I do, that feels like cross dressing to me, particularly since most people's reaction is "Gosh, you're wearing a skirt".

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Presumably a dinner jacket would count? It's not unnaceptable, but it's clearly non-usual.

Or swimming trunks, but I guess that's out :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I'd expect most people to check 'a few times' :)

Actually, I don't think I have. I *would* for parties and such like, modulo borrowing really big female clothes :)

[kjaneway.livejournal.com]

Women wearing "male identified" clothing, is, these days, much less of an issue than the other way around.

So, while I routinely wear men's trousers and often men's shirts, day to day, it's less often that I go any further.

I do, however, own a black dinner suit, a very nice white dinner jacket, and a set of USAF formal mess dress (don't ask).

There's defintiely an air of gender bending, that I'd associate with cross dressing, on the occasions that I wear those.

I'm not above admiting that I find the Drag King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_king) scene interesting.

Both my gender and identity are female, but there's still a certain thrill to be had in pretending otherwise.

[kjaneway.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and another thing... I routinely wore a bow tie to school for my entire sixth form.

[sparrowsion]

I'm going to take advantage of them not being radio buttons—while "routinely" would be an appropriate answer, I think there should be space at that end of the scale beyond me.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

My new brown belt has a previous owner, the (very) female senior student at Bethnal Green Aikido club (http://www.livejournal.com/users/hairyears/38108.html).

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

For our blue belts, both ewx and I got children's belts, because there were no adult size ones. I stuck with that size when I got my purple belt, cos it's much more convenient, but he didn't.

[uon.livejournal.com]

There's a purity test somewhere which asks "Have you ever cross-dressed for sexual purposes?", which while not the same question, is, I think, somewhat better defined and more interesting anyway.

[kjaneway.livejournal.com]

That opens up how to define sexual purposes...

Is it just getting a bit of a thrill from wearing clothes of associated with the other gender, or is it with the deliberate aim of attracting sexual partners by wearing those clothes?

[liv]

I have cross-dressed in the sense of deliberately appearing as male (and in some cases specific men), but only for Purim and I don't know how far you count religious traditions. I also have a bunch of clothes that are intended for men (eg shirts with buttons on the wrong side) but I am pretty certain I am not perceived as cross-dressing when I wear them.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

<tempted to put on a shirt inside-out for the purposes of pedantry>

[teleute.livejournal.com]

I'm selecting 'occasionally' becasue my favourite hat was a musketeers style hat, and all the musketeers were guys. Shaky logic, I know :-)

[teleute.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I've worn Adrians jumpers too, but I doubt that counts ;-)

[nja.livejournal.com]

I'm not counting the time I was in the school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, because the part of Thisbe is played by Flute the bellows-mender, not by the actor who is playing the part of Flute the bellows-mender. It was not me who kissed Andrew Francis's Bottom, either. I had no beard then, but I did have legs which were far too hairy for that dress.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Those may have been part of your casting, if the person in charge knew of them. It definitely adds to the intended effect if 'Thisbe' has hairy legs.

And people say Shakespeare isn't funny. Tchah.

[armb.livejournal.com]

I had a kilt when I was young, which was probably a tartan pleated skirt not a proper kilt really. I don't think I ever had a woman's part in plays at school, I tended to do lighting or backstage.

[kaet.livejournal.com]

One of the popular experiments at the moments that psychologists play is to give you a list of loaded words (for whatever their research area is) in one of four colours (RGYB), and then ask you to hit a button as fast as you can representing the colour of the word. The idea is that if it's an area where it causes little other barin load, then it's relatively quick, but if it's something which has a strong reaction (names of beers for recovering alcoholics, for example), then it takes much longer. I'm not sure what the experiment is called though. It's almost certainly called something like the Miller-Fortesque test or something, so that it's difficult to find!

[kaet.livejournal.com]

You didn't have an option which said:


Marry, and you will regret it. Do not marry, and you will also regret it. Marry or do not marry, you will regret it either way. Whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the stupidities of the world, and you will regret it; weep over them, and you will also regret it. Laugh at the stupidities of the world or weep over them, you will regret it either way. Whether you laugh at the stupidities of the world or you weep over them, you will regret it either way. Trust a girl, and you will regret it. Do not trust her, and you will also regret it. Trust a girl or do not trust her, you will regret it either way. Whether you trust a girl or do not trust her, you will regret it either way. Hang yourself, and you will regret it. Do not hang yourself, and you will also regret it. Hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret it either way. Whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret it either way.

Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or

:).