Cross-Dress This Way

The three of us met in the Jean Yawkey Center before making our way to Starbucks. Between the two places, there were a few sidelong glances, which were followed by heads that quickly turned as the people in question conferred with one another. Overall, the reactions were pretty minimal.

However, most striking to us were not other people’s responses but the change we felt in our own behavior. As females, there is a subconscious awareness of how our clothes fit, how our hair looks and how we appear to other people. Assuming the character of a man, we felt a different type of agency. When we sat down, we took up as much room as we felt necessary to be comfortable and talked about whatever we felt like talking about. Dressed in our usual “girl” clothes, we could have done the same, but assuming the character of guys made us feel unapologetic about it.

Although we eventually returned our usual garb, we were glad that, at least an afternoon, we got to experience what it feels to be the other half of the binary.

Of course the picture you se in the post is a much more realistic depiction of what we looked like, but this link is also a beautiful example of cross-dressing and the social construction of gender:
http://thebostonbazaar.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/bearded-ladies-hit-the-runway-in-berlin/