No Dress Code (Thesis Part I)

Some behaviour is described as being on a line or spectrum, as people often describe (in the strictest sense) straight and gay as endpoints and we're all somewhere on that line.

We inhabit a plane.

Suppose we made a list of attributes and adjectives relating to gender ("never mixes male and female," "favourite item of clothing is ___," "sometimes skips having gender-appropriate hair" and so on). Then all of you were to stand in a spot that represented agreement with those personal levels/ideas of gender presentation, there would be a large percentage of people who are all by themselves.

I'm probably unclear.

Suppose we took 100 people on the transplane and said "go into groups based on what your favourite item of t-clothing is."  We might now have ten groups of participants who each love bras, slips, panties, high heels, corsets, earrings, makeup, and so on.

Then if we had each group sort by "I wear this daily/sometimes/never in my cis-gender role" we might have little groups of three or four people.  Then separate by another criterion: "I plan to transition/take hormones/do other body modifications/carry on as I am" and we might split each group by those five options and everyone is suddenly alone.

We're a huge, diverse group.

......BUT......

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I have no doubt you will!): I think there are exactly two types of people on this planet: ones who always present as the same gender and ones who move back and forth.

I can hear y'all say "wait a second! How about people who present androgynously?"

As I see it, the either present androgynously as one gender (maybe a middle ground, like "Pat" on Saturday Night Live) or they present differently at different times, maybe emphasising or hiding their bust, or wearing a suit that is probably a man's but a woman might be "fashionable" by wearing it, or wearing a skirt that maybe is a kilt.  Or maybe adding male accessories to a female outfit, or makeup to a male presentation.

But even people who consider themselves androgynous or genderqueer or genderfluid (and I'll use that last one as an umbrella) fit into one of these two categories: always present as one gender (even if that gender is unclear), or move back and forth. I'd say the vast majority of genderfluid people are in the "back and forth" category. I'm working from gut; I don't know enough people in this category to back my opinion.

And of course, if you're not presenting as your assigned birth gender then you've been on both sides.  Or maybe you've played with different looks as a teen.

So instead of a lifetime of experience, let's consider a snapshot.  Look at the past year, or (better) how you were six months ago through how you see yourself six months hence.

I see myself dressing as Meg whenever I have either a reason or the urge.  Reasons are becoming fewer.  Urges are balancing out with time involved.

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