I went out again yesterday. I had a full loyalty rewards card from Salvos op shops, which would have expired at the end of the year, so my first 2 stops were Salvos stores. After using up the card at the second one, I went to a lingerie shop that used to carry Bella Bodies body shapers because the current one is about due for replacement. They don't carry the brand any more, and only had a few leftovers that didn't include what I was after. :( After that, I dropped into my local Lifeline op shop then did some shopping at the local Woolies.When I got home, I just couldn't convince myself to change. In the evening, I decided to go out to Charlestown Square to see if I could find a replacement body shaper. I tried all the places that I could think of and drew a blank at all of them, but had a bit of a look at costume jewellery while I was there. While wandering along between stores, I had an almost heart stopping moment when I realised that a work customer and her late teen or early 20s daughter were walking directly towards me, just a few metres away. There was no way that I could turn around without drawing their attention, so I just looked past them and kept waking. Unlike my wife's cousin last year, there was no double take. No hint of recognition. I didn't look back to see if they looked back at me, but from what I saw in my peripheral vision, they didn't pay any attention to me.
The funny part is that I stopped and chatted to this customer for about half an hour in the same shopping centre while in boy mode less than a week ago, and her daughter was present at the time.
It took a little while for the adrenaline rush to wear off. I considered doing a few laps of the centre to see if could find them again, but thought better of it and left. :)
Hey girl, you look great in this photo and so feminine. You are lucky that you are in the summer and able to get out in lovely light dresses; it was -10C here in Edinburgh last night.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look in a mirror I only see me, whoever I am, so I always think that I would be recognised if I met anyone who I know. The situation has never arisen so I don't know what would happen.
Before I came out to my wife recently my biggest fear was that sometime when she was away a neighbour would see me leaving the house and tell her later that they had seen a woman coming out of our house early in the morning. Strangely, I always thought that would be more acceptable than her being told that I had been seen leaving dressed as a woman.
Louise
Louise, I have always seen myself as the same regardless of makeup, wig etc, but have come to realise that even though I see myself like that, others don't. I have TG friends who make fun of me for making comments about not being recognised, but this incident is an example of where people haven't shown the slightest hint of recognition.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is also a huge psychological barrier. If people don't expect to see you crossdressed, they're less likely to recognise you when you are. Similarly, I'm sure some people will say "That's a guy" or "That's a crossdresser", but are so busy noticing that fact that they don't notice any detail and wouldn't be able to describe the person, let alone recognise them. :)