Dina’s Diner 6/4/18

AN UNLIKELY PLACE FOR ACCEPTANCE

Contestants in a trans beauty pageant.

The New York Times had an article about transgender rights in the Philippines in the April 30, 2018 edition. As the Times reports, despite an overwhelming Catholic population of conservative bent, the people and government have an accepting laissez-faire attitude towards transgenderism.

The Times focused on a transgender pageant in a rural village.

“At the pageant, children sat cross-legged in the dirt, crowded close to the spindly stage where the contestants spun and danced in red feather headdresses, gold brocade and clouds of tulle. The crowd laughed and cheered as they delivered flowery speeches, weaving jokes with witty rhymes, beauty-queen platitudes and proclamations on gender equality.”

Gender equality has even been endorsed by the controversial president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. There are no official sanctions against homosexuality or transgenderism but neither are their no legal protections for LGBT citizens. The article pointed out that some local ordinances are in place to protect LGBT citizens.

The Times pointed out, “Geraldine Roman, the country’s first openly transgender member of Congress, is spearheading efforts to broaden legal protections in the Philippines. For nearly 20 years, conservative politicians, backed by Catholic and evangelical groups, have thwarted anti-discrimination measures, arguing that they would infringe on people’s right to religious expression. But last September, with Ms. Roman at the helm, a bill prohibiting bias on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression passed the House of Representatives unanimously.”

Filipinos support LGBT acceptance at a 73 percent rate in a recent Pew survey. Neighboring countries Indonesia and Malaysia responded in single digits on the issue. The Times further reported, “Attitudes in the Philippines were comparable to countries like Britain and Italy, and ahead of the United States, where acceptance is at 60 percent. The survey found that tolerance is correlated with rich, secular societies.”

I wrote about international attitudes towards LGBT in rich and poor countries a few Diners ago. And, in general, affluent people are more accepting of societal differences. It’s interesting to see a country — even in its rural areas — lead the curve in its attitudes despite countervailing religious and regional conservative leanings.

HARD OUT HERE FOR A PAGEANT OFFICIAL

Miss Venezuela 2017

The New York Times had a big piece in their opinion section titled “Pimping Out Miss Venezuela.” The item appeared in the Sunday May 20, 2018 edition by freelance writer and native Venezuelan, Tal Abbady. This is how Mr. Abbady opened his essay:

“When I was growing up, in the height of the oil boom, few events emptied the streets of Caracas like the Miss Venezuela pageant.”

He explains shortly after opening that Venezuela had a remarkable record in getting its Miss Venezuela winners crowned as Miss Universe. In the 60-plus years since the contest’s inception, Venezuela took seven Miss Universe titles, second only to the United States. This was a source of national pride for the country. The rest of Abbady’s piece dealt with serious problems within the national pageant that tracks the downward curve of the country’s political and economic situation.

Abbady writes, “It was perhaps only a matter of time before the country’s beauty-queen industry, its myth making machine, broke down. This spring, the Miss Venezuela Organization temporarily suspended pageant operations after accusations that organizers had procured young women as sexual companions for wealthy sponsors, including officials at the highest levels of President Nicolás Maduro’s government.” And later: ” Some of those former contestants say Mr. [Osmel] Sousa or his assistants pressured them to act as escorts or concubines for politicians and businessmen in exchange for money to finance their pageant runs. Mr. Sousa has also been accused of being paid by the men for his role in arranging these transactions.”

Based on interviews with former contestants, the article points out that some contestants felt that cozying up to wealthy men to become their “sponsors” was the only way they would ever make it in the competitive pageant world. A former runner-up said, “I quickly learned that getting into the Miss Venezuela contest meant I would have to start prostituting myself in order to find a sponsor.” Young women from poor rural areas were vulnerable to men who were “sharks” and who seemed to offer a way forward. As the country’s economic situation became more severe, the desperation of indigent young women became more pronounced. One contestant said, “You’re 18, from the hinterlands of the country, and they offer you villas and castles,” she said. “You don’t think about what’s good or bad or the future. You think about what’s within reach.”

You may be aware of the political discord in Venezuela that seemed to begin with Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro. Mr. Abbady writes, “Men who abuse power think they can do it everywhere. The last two decades in Venezuela have seen the creation of a puppet National Assembly and Supreme Court loyal to Mr. Chávez and Mr. Maduro; the end of term limits; the nationalization of private enterprise; and, above all, the rise of an elite governing class living on oil wealth. It’s no surprise that the men who’ve taken so much from their country assumed they could take its beauty queens, too. The pageant scandals have shaken Venezuelans who’ve already watched their country unravel in the decadence and strife of the government. Many are asking, “Now this?””

Another article online reported that the pageant was suspended as the prostitution scandal unfolded and Mr. Sousa, the former head pageant official, had stepped down suddenly.

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE CONVENTION-GOER

The New York Times ran a couple of pieces about Beautycon 2018 that took place in Manhattan in late April. I saw some other online articles about Beautycon, an organization that has been holding popular beauty conventions since 2011. An April 24, 2018 article on TheDailyBeast.com described the event this way: “Tens of thousands of beauty junkies poured through the doors of the Javits Center in New York on Saturday and Sunday for the seventh annual Beautycon, a sprawling festival that brings together beauty brands, makeup gurus, vloggers, wellness experts, celebrities, and fans from across the country.”

Tokyo Stylez

The galaxy of online sources of beauty information has spawned a new layer of “influencers” whom the faithful follow and whom the brands now covet for endorsements. The viewing audiences of beauty videos, instagrams, and what-all are the people who come out to see their idols in person. The Daily Beast reporter talked to some participants: “I’m really excited to meet a lot of the influencers I see on YouTube and the internet,” said Christina, a 13-year-old. “They teach me a lot about what the products are about and how to make my skin better.” Angie, a 15-year-old in the group, said she watches hours of beauty vlogger content and consumes at least two to three videos per day.” I’ve mentioned some online transgender cosmetic stars in past Diner columns and you’ve probably seen some yourself.

The theme of this year’s Beautycon events was “Inclusivity.” Among the trans celebrities making appearances were Laverne Cox and Gigi Gorgeous. Other gender neutral mavens like Tokyo Stylez (Cardi B’s wigmaker! Who knew?) and Alok V. Menon were also featured. But the inclusivity theme also included more minority participation and pride, body-positive, non-traditional models, and smaller women-owned beauty brands. Some traditional celebrities were there to be sure (Paris Hilton — remember her?) but it seemed that the democratization of beauty by diverse influencers has made old-school celebrity endorsements seem, well, old-school.

The Daily Beast article ended with this paragraph: “One large wall where attendees were asked to write what beauty means to them contained phrases like, “Beauty = freedom,” “Beauty is not perfect,” “Beauty is loving yourself,” and yards of scrawled messages from young girls asking people to follow them on YouTube.”

PRAY FOR RAIN

Fetish rainwear.

It has been a strange spring weather-wise in much of the northeast U.S. We had a prolonged snowy winter and now we seem to be in a period of frequent rainstorms. This latter weather pattern made me think of the people who have a “rainwear fetish.” I have plenty of fetishes and odd interests but rainwear is not among them.

It may be generalizing too easily but it seems to be especially popular with the English. I guess when it rains that often you learn to love aspects of it. When you start to get aroused at the sight of your neighbor’s wife in a slicker and rainboots, you may have a problem. But that is judgmental and maybe it isn’t a problem at all. I went online and Googled the term “rainwear fetish” and found all manner of women decked out in old-fashioned slickers, waterproof rain hats, expensive looking shiny vinyl trench coats and colored Wellies (a rubberized rainboot).

Of course, some crossdressers have combined their affinity for female accoutrements with their fetish for rainwear. I came across a Flickr.com photo site titled appropriately “Trannies in Rainwear.” It’s an odd focus for fetish because the rainwear itself is not form fitting, it completely covers the body, and in most cases looks downright dowdy on its adherents. So I can’t say that I will be a convert to the joys of crinkly PVC raincoats or flat soled Wellies for my own indulgence. I will confess to admiring one crossdresser who was wearing a clear plastic raincoat over a lingerie ensemble. It’s always nice to check off a couple of boxes at one time when indulging a fetish.

SOMEDAY THEIR PRINCE WILL COME

Her Royal Highness.

Did you hear that Prince Harry married Meghan Markle a couple weeks ago? It was in all the papers.

I had to look this up but officially she won’t be referred to as Princess Meghan. Apparently, only blood descendants of the crown are official princes and princesses. Princess Diana’s honorific was a courtesy as the wife of the Prince of Wales, successor to the throne. Meghan’s elevation does entitle her to be referred to as “Her Royal Highness.” But I’m sure the princess title will be popularly used in the states because Meghan is bound to attract lots of press coverage and the shorthand title will be more fun.

The fairytale wedding of an American commoner becoming a princess — official rules be damned — made me think of all the crossdressing princesses out there. A quick internet search turned up a fair amount of would-be princesses. Most of the photos seemed to be aimed more at Disney princesses than real-life royalty. Photos of Richard Schaefer, a talented cosplayer who transforms to become amazing Disney princesses, made up a lot of the online photos. I was surprised by the lack of Princess Leia inspirations. I saw a genetic female who gave her Princess Leia a little zing by wearing white thigh-hi’s under her shortened chemise — but we’re looking for crossdressers here, dammit.

Most of the outfits identified as crossdressing princesses were dressed in the lacy, petticoated fairy princess style. It was difficult to find any fellas who were trying to emulate a realistic royal. I guess using the word Queen to refer to elaborate drag has crowded out anyone trying to look like a Princess — not quite a Queen, a step below, but regal nonetheless.

If you watched The Crown series, you remember that the real-life princess (Margaret, sister of Elizabeth) was most often seen in normal dress rather than princess regalia. So if you eliminate the cartoonish princesses of fantasy you’re not left with much to work from. The “princess” has an identity problem. A determined crossdressing royal wannabe just needs to squeeze into a lovely frock, get the crown or tiara on and look regal — like Her Royal Highness pictured here.

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Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment, Transgender Opinion