Showing posts with label International Trans Day of Visibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International Trans Day of Visibility. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

My Trans Days of Visibility

Diana wrote this about Trans Day of Visibility (TDoV), “For those of us who have transitioned it really doesn’t make too much sense, for us everyday is a TDoV. For those who crossdress what are they supposed to do, get dressed up and walk up and down the a street?”

Well, yeah.

I never walked up and down the street on TDoV. In fact, I don’t recall dressing pretty at all on the official TDoV. My TDoV occurred on October 31, when I crossdressed as authentically as possible and went to work. 

First two times I did it (in 2000 and 2003), the office was having costume contests, so I had a legitimate excuse. Then I did five years in a row (2012-2016) without a safety net, that is, there were no costume contests.

What was I thinking?

First time, I encountered knowing smiles from a couple of my female co-workers as well as comments from other co-workers hinting that I looked too good for a one-shot female impersonation. So right from the get-go, I realized that I was outing myself, but I did not care. In fact, I was very open about it. 

More than once, co-workers asked, “Who did your makeup?” I could have said my wife or daughter, but instead, I admitted that I did my own makeup. 

One time, my pantyhose developed a run and I halted its progress by applying some clear nail polish to the run. When I mentioned it to the woman in the next cubicle, she remarked, “How did you know to do that?”

After my fourth or fifth on-the-job femulation, my wife commented, “Don’t your co-workers suspect something?” I figured my co-workers were idiots if they did not have some suspicions and that was confirmed when I finally came out to my boss and she responded, “I'm not surprised.” 

And it was probably not a surprise to my other co-workers. After retirement, I was invited back to the company Christmas party and no one blinked when I showed up en femme. They socialized with me as if everything was normal — Stan is in drag again — nothing to see here. 

So my Trans Days of Visibility were an unmitigated success.




Source: New York & Company
Wearing New York & Company




Sadri Alisik and Yusuf Sezgin femulating in the 1970 film Fistik Gibi, a remake of the 1964 film Fistik Gibi Masallahthe Turkish version of Some Like It Hot. You can view both films on YouTube — the 1964 version and the 1970 remake.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

The Dark Side of Trans “Visibility”

The "transgender tipping point" was a welcome milestone—it's also made trans adults and youth more visible targets

...one of my close friends, who is trans and who hadn’t heard of the holiday (International Trans Day of Visibility), responded with a scowl when I told her about it.
“My goal isn’t visibility, my goal is survival,” she said. “The Jews were extremely visible in 1930s Europe, how much good did it do them?”
Please read the rest of Arthur Chu's thought-provoking article on Salon.

Source: Boston Proper
Wearing Boston Proper.
Dave Thomas Brown
Dave Thomas Brown on stage in The Legend of Georgia McBride (NYC 2015).