Aug
13
This weekend’s New York Times Magazine cover story had the same name as this post. I recommend it to you. Click here for the article. (their photo too.)
When you read it, note the hundreds and hundreds of comments it generated in its first days. That should give you an idea of how sensitive this issue is.
It is astounding to see how the world has changed, and also to see a pattern of commentary that shows some folks stuck in the past and others racing ahead of where we are.
Any sea change in social structure tends to follow the same course. Think of the resistance to women wearing pants, or becoming capable leaders, or showing their elbows in public, or getting the vote.
The most amusing thing about all this is that people look at what their life was like, what their parents did, and perhaps what their grandparents did and think they know all of history – enough for sure to judge what’s normal and socially acceptable.
The truth is that boys wore frilly tops and skirts, the same as girls, for many years and in many cultures in previous centuries.
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Jun
09
The victims are different but the language of discrimination stays the same.
California is considering providing protections that would allow crossdressers to wear whatever they want to work.
One news source quoted a commentator on this issue, as follows:
Read More»“It will inherently cause customers to be uncomfortable and not want to do business… This is about employers having to deal with employees who dress in a way that employers know will cost them either in terms of customers, employer morale, or employee operational efficiency… If you have a mother taking her son to a store for back-to-school shopping and the retail clerk is a man dressed like a woman, the mother is going to take her son and go to another store.”
Feb
24
I have made mention several times in the recent past about crossdressing in popular media.
There is some dispute as to whether or not the portrayal of us, such as it is, is helpful or rather insulting, but what seems now undeniable is that we have been part of popular culture for hundreds of years.
I never noticed any reference to crossdressers in my childhood, but with a different set of eyes, watching reruns of everything from Bewitched to Get Smart, there we are!
And, of course, before that, there were references in Shakespeare, Greek mythology, Mark Twain, etc.
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