Dina’s Diner 8/23/21

A TRANS TRIPLE PLAY

Meggan Sommerville

TGForum’s The Week in Trans had two consecutive short items that presented an interesting contrast. They appeared in the August 16, 2021 edition. The week prior on August 9, 2021 there was an item about a trans track runner at Boise State University that pointed out an interesting fact.

The first item linked to a story about Meggan Sommerville, a trans worker at craft store chain Hobby Lobby, who won the right to use the women’s restroom over the store’s objections. Hobby Lobby is a closely held company owned by a Christian family who also fought the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

It turns out Meggan was hired years ago and transitioned on the job with the company’s knowledge and – presumably – support since they didn’t gin up a reason to fire her. But they refused to allow her to use the women’s restroom and required her to use the unisex restroom in the store. She sued under gender discrimination and the state supreme court (even conservative justices according to the Washington Post report) unanimously ruled in her favor. The court found that since Hobby Lobby had acknowledged her trans status (protected under state law) they couldn’t prevent her from using the restroom for her acknowledged gender. Sort of a Catch-22 in reverse for Hobby Lobby.

The next item in TWIT told of the story of an employee at UK food chain Tesco who had the support of management if he wanted to wear a skirt while working. Jeremy Jeffrey was not transitioning gender – he just felt “more comfortable” in skirts. A triumph not just for crossdressing or whatever this was but also a nod to Britain’s acceptance of eccentricity.

Finally, a trans runner, Lindsay Hecox, at Boise State University in Idaho made the news when she tried out for the track team. Idaho has one of those proposals to disallow trans athletes from participating in women’s sports but it is suspended pending a court appeal filed by Lindsay. The upshot here was that she didn’t make the team. She was edged out by superior cis-female runners. “I’m kind of good. . .but not elite,” Lindsay said. She intends to try out again.

In these controversies over trans persons in women’s restrooms and women’s sports, there is an undercurrent of fear that men will begin using it as an excuse to get into women’s restrooms and women’s varsity sports for ill-defined kinky reasons. I guess it could happen (or has happened) in some bizarre, isolated incident – that has nothing to do with trans issues at all. At some point in the more accepting future, we may all look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.

I REDDIT ON THE INTERNET

I sometimes clicked on links that took me to Reddit.com postings but I never got the hang of how the site worked. I finally registered on it and it’s been an interesting diversion.

A Reddit user displaying herself.

Reddit users got a lot of attention earlier this year for – of all things – creating a stock market boom in previously low-priced Gamestop shares. The site works as a sort of community bulletin board for all sorts of topics including, of course, crossdressing.

The R/Crossdressing subreddit is a grab bag of posts from crossdressers, wannabes, pantyhose fetishists, you name it. I would say that the demographic skews to the younger set. Many photos of the twenty-something crossdressers show backgrounds of cramped apartments, or dorm rooms, or their childhood bedrooms. Given the apparent limitations of their circumstances, some of the girls look fabulous. There are a few photos of older crossdressers sprinkled throughout and they seem to clash with the youthful vibe even when the presentations are good – which is rare.

Each posting usually has a brief headline by the poster like these random choices from today. “Would I get the job as a secretary?” “Could you imagine me as your GF?” “Fishnet Friday.” “I love being me.” “I should get some heels to go with this dress.” “Tried a dress from my sister.” Some girls are hoping for compliments, some seem to want a simple acknowledgement of their existence.

With the collapse of in-person crossdressing support groups, it seems there is a great sense of longing for human interaction among isolated crossdressers in these posts. Reddit is one way of putting yourself “out there” but actually being “out there” with other humans is even better.

JOBS STRIPPED AWAY

Bristol dancer protesting.

I saw an interesting article on the news and cultural site TheDailyBeast.com headlined The City Waging War On Its Strippers. The article appeared on July 6, 2021.

The city in question is Bristol, England. The report started off this way: “In a move that would force a hundred dancers into unemployment, a British city council is pushing a proposal for an all-out ban on strip clubs. The proposal, introduced in Bristol in March, would force the only two strip clubs in the city to shut down—and has prompted strippers to flood the inboxes of local politicians and self-described gender equality experts who have been pushing for the ban.”

The rest of the article pointed out an interesting dynamic that pits the dancers against self-styled crusaders who think they are protecting women by fighting to close the strip clubs. The activists claim that the presence of the clubs normalizes male culture that objectifies women and leads to on-street harassment and actual assaults on women in the areas of the clubs.

The strippers themselves began organizing in England after a regulatory law went into effect back in 2009. (The push to ban strip bars is nationwide, not just in Bristol.) They dispute the “facts” about harassment and assaults supporting the crusaders’ arguments. And some of those facts have, in fact, been debunked. The issue for the dancers is economic: they need their dance gigs to make a living. Covid shut down the strip joints and now as they are reopening this new risk is forefront on their radar. It points out that many of the women who dance in the clubs are holding a “regular” job and dancing at night for extra money.

A few years before Covid hit and this mini-movement in England, stripping was having a bit of a moment. Remember all the “stripper pole workout” classes and videos? Upscale strip clubs were the modern day Playboy Clubs. For crossdressers, it’s tough to emulate a stripper because in most cases clothing is our friend needed to create a feminine illusion.

The Daily Beast report notes that in the past decade, the number of strip clubs in all of England dropped from about 350 to about 150. The renewed push to put more bars out of business prompted one of the dancers to forewarn her male customers, “Party’s over. If you want to see tits, get on the internet like everyone else.”

TIMELESS STYLE

Rachel Ann Jensen

I first saw Rachel Ann Jensen’s photo on Pinterest.com boards. Her unique look is striking and her reliance on fashion to create a very specific look is (please pardon me, Rachel Ann) similar to crossdressing.

As you can see, Rachel Ann chooses to recreate a modernized post-war glamour look. Her on-the-street modeling shoots in older sections of Manhattan seem like colorized versions of old fashion photos. Her personal webpage says, “I love the classic feminine silhouette and wear a corset almost daily – my hourglass figure has become my signature look. Expect to find old New York sprinkled in almost every backdrop of my weekly style posts. We love creating a mood and a feeling, so we work hard to bring you little ‘stories’ with each photo.”

According to her website bio, Rachel Ann spent time living in Rome which awakened her to “old world” fashions. Her husband is a custom tailor with his own shop. She’s been featured in a lot of other fashion websites, has her own Instagram site, and as mentioned earlier, is re-pinned many times on Pinterest.

I like the way she embodies the retro fashion look yet makes it look modern and not a complete homage to the old days. The timelessness of the tight fitted dresses, hosiery, and high heels with the eye-catching platinum hair is an interesting counterpoint to contemporary fashion. As crossdressers we sometimes adopt a certain look or experiment in trying to recreate a certain iconic look. It isn’t easy – as we know only so well. It helps if you’re a willowy blonde with a killer body. But the essence of her appeal, I think, comes from her mind.

COFFEE, TEA. . .OR MEAN?

Coffee, tea, or mean?

Among the after-effects of the Covid pandemic are the incidents of bad airplane behavior. Some of the mayhem has been caused by Covid anti-maskers but a lot of it is just plain outrageous acting out. Sometimes – but not always – alcohol plays a big part. On the front lines of this new battleground are flight crews including one of the age-old male fantasy icons: the female flight attendant or, quaintly, the stewardess.

Nattily attired in uniforms, opaque hosiery, nice shoes (even when not heels), the flight attendants were required (up until certain court challenges) to be youthful and figure conscious. The jet-age ’60s and swinging ’70s saw airlines hyping their pretty stewardesses to attract fliers. In a more genteel age of air travel (like, say, two years ago, ha) the stewardess was the smiling face of authority in the cabin, lording over 100-plus of your fellow humanoids.

I guess if just one passenger goes berserk on your average flight, that’s a one-percent or less incident rate. So maybe we should be wondering why more people aren’t losing it in coach. The most recent outrage (reported just yesterday as I write this) was some drunk who, while laying out in the aisle, put his head under the skirt of the flight attendant trying to make him behave. He’s getting a $45,000 fine if the reports are correct. Meanwhile, the flight attendant is probably back on the job as we read this.

If we are able to celebrate Halloween this year, may I suggest a costume? How about a disheveled flight attendant (blouse tail out, little cap askew, runners in stockings) sporting a shiner.

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Tags: featured, opinion

Category: crossdressing, Transgender Fun & Entertainment, Transgender Opinion