#wear a dress
The Power of Clothes…
The power of wearing a dress, or feminine skirt, is medicine to some like myself. It’s clothing that helps reflect outside who I am inside. Even if it’s just the feel on my skin, under-dressing gendered underwear, is powerful medicine. It’s something I did before I came out.
The need, and I do mean Need, to wear clothes that help you to project who you are inside, or just feel under any clothes on your skin, is part of this. Those who don’t feel this “need” may never completely understand some of the why’s because they don’t feel this.
They might just see the traditions of men’s and women’s clothes, staying in that box relating to their sex, male or female. They forget that most women have a desire to be perceived as female, feel pretty, feel feminine. Most men have a desire to be perceived as male, feel handsome, feel masculine. This is part of everyone’s gender identity which usually lines up with a person’s sex, but not always. They also don’t understand that gender is not binary. It has hues and shades. It can swing to the opposite. Some don’t want to project a gender, be gender neutral. Some dress as a mix of both masculine and feminine.
To often some people assume it’s all some fetish, all about sex or trying to attract someone, like a man. To them why else would you crossdress, wear women’s clothes? They assume you must be gay without any evidence except the clothes you wear. You must be labeled as a sissy and humiliated so you’ll conform back into wearing clothes of your birth sex. And all these assumptions and lack of respect helps contribute to transgender person’s having a 40% suicide rate.
Thankfully times have changed in many places. Most of us have already bought that dress, or skirt and blouse, and have all the needed accessories. All that dressing in the closet has prepared you. You’ve made a reasonable outfit you could wear outside. You’ve longed for the moment, maybe dreamed about it, to step outside and be seen in those clothes, be your true self. So if you’re ready for the consequences… just do it.
Going with a friend, or family member, is a good safety step. Where you go and what time of day is another consideration to be safe. The day I did the sky did not fall and no one laughed. Those who smiled at me were a powerful inspiration. Soon after that beautiful day I came out to family and friends. Today, many years later, my wardrobe has changed, out in the open, to many clothes that I wear outside to reflect who I am inside.
So bottom line is if you see a perceived male in a feminine dress just smile and go about your business. Nothing to see here. They are a person trying the best they can to be who they are inside. They are an example of why gender is not binary. They have just as much right to dress as they feel as you do. And yes… they have always been amongst us.
