Dina’s Diner June 27, 2022

DRAG UNDER ATTACK!

As you probably know, local conservative activists are protesting Drag Queen Story Hour events across the country that were tied into Pride Week this month. The concept of Drag Queen Story Hour (which actually has an official organization with 50+ branches) began in 2015 in San Francisco. No surprise there. But the Story Hours for children in local libraries have taken place all over the U.S. hence the opposition that is occurring.

One can understand that children might be more captivated with an elaborately costumed drag queen than with some vanilla adult reading Johnny Has Two Mommies. I’ve never heard any specific charges that the queens were being inappropriate in what they say to the kids. They are trained or instructed by the DQSH folks about appropriate conduct before doing the readings. The queens are often called on — as you can imagine — to answer questions from the children about drag and why they do it. It’s these impromptu conversations that probably concern even some liberal parents. An article from 2018 said that one of the queens answered a question like this by saying “that drag queens are boys who like to dress up as girls and perform, and that drag kings are girls who like to dress up as boys and perform.” The children (the article noted) nodded. The kids probably get it on an intuitive level without even knowing anything else about gay or straight or gender spectrums, blah, blah, blah.

One story covering the recent anti-drag protests reported about a Bay Area event: “Last weekend, as the library hosted its second such event, at least five men – one of them wearing a T-shirt showing a rifle and the words “Kill Your Local Pedophile” – walked in and began hurling insults at Panda Dulce as she read to children and their parents, librarian Cindy Chadwick said. “The horrible irony of it was they said over and over, ‘We’re here to protect the kids.’ And it was the kids they were terrifying. The kids were afraid of them, and the kids were there with their parents who had brought them to this event,” Chadwick said.” An event in Illinois “was interrupted by protesters who tried to film children and yelled at their parents” according to an Associated Press article. [Why would they be filming children? Isn’t that as creepy as anything they are protesting?] In Mahwah, New Jersey, a flyer disseminated online and left on doorsteps and in condo lobbies misrepresented a drag performer as a “known PORNOGRAPHER” who “normalizes PEDOPHILIA AND ABUSE OF CHILDREN.” One of the story hour organizers told a reporter that the pedophilia and “grooming” language is the protesters go-to charge.

Beware of self-appointed guardians of children and parents who wouldn’t have been there except they chose to attend Drag Queen Story Hour. History is filled with instances of people and institutions causing a fuss over something they just didn’t understand or care to understand. That is playing out in all these protests.

SHE’S A TALL GIRL

Every so often I’ll see an internet post about unusually tall women. Most — but not all — have photoshopped the images to make the women seem taller than they really are. But it’s still sort of fun to see.

When I looked it up, macrophilia is the clinical term for fetishizing giants — usually giant women. Much of it is tied into S-M fantasies of being dominated by giant women. But there seems to be some more innocent fascination with unusually tall women as well. The average heights of men and women have been reported as 5’9” and 5’4” respectively. I’m a little surprised by the women’s average because it seems to me (by completely unscientific observation) that women — especially younger women — are taller than they were when I was a younger fellow. Women’s college and even high school sports teams regularly have members at 6’ and taller. Hardly anyone remarks anymore about 5’10”, 5’11”, or 6’ tall women models and actresses’ heights. When Nicole Kidman first became famous thirty years ago, her 5’11” height was often referred to.

Height — as I wrote just last month — has always been an impediment for crossdressers looking to pass in public settings. With heels and many full wig styles, we top out at 6’ or better. Would it be a more interesting world for us if public places were more liberally sprinkled with tall women? Probably. But because of long-held societal biases, many tall women avoid high heels so as not to stand out even more.

So when the world will not comply with our desires. . .there is the internet. The accompanying photo is typical of the tall women fetish postings. Is it photoshopped? Probably, although I don’t know how exactly you do that. As the song says, it’s a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world, and while we are trying to make ourselves as dainty as possible, some women are trying to look like giantesses. It’s the, uh, height of irony.

ON THE TOWN

The New York Times had a nice article about Fleet Week in New York City that appeared on May 28, 2022. Fleet Week is an annual Memorial Day week event when several naval vessels dock along the Hudson River and sailors are on shore leave for a few days. It was famously depicted in the Hollywood musical On The Town starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly in 1949.

Fleet Week

The pandemic interrupted Fleet Week visits in 2020 and 2021. So this past Memorial Day week marked the return of about three thousand sailors and officers ‘on the town’ in their dress white uniforms. The Times noted, however, that the number of female sailors was noticeable this year. The Times reported: “It takes a certain panache to wear white in New York City. And Khrzielle Vargas, a 21-year-old seaman apprentice from Fremont, Calif., was strolling through Times Square on Thursday afternoon in her white trousers, white jumper top and white sailor hat. “When you walk around the city in your uniform, you look like you’re glowing,” Ms. Vargas said.”

The article included a lot of photos of the women sailors (and a couple of marines too) on the streets of Manhattan. “Everyone wants to take pictures with us,” said Anna Rodriguez, 21, a crew member of the USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship. “They say, ‘Thank you for your service.’ Little kids smile really big.”

Dressing up and sightseeing in New York City may strike a chord with some of us. The women sailors and marines in the city for Fleet Week are neither trying to blend in nor stand out. But the excitement of being so visible because of their uniform might strike a bell for crossdressers. But it’s a heartwarming story of young women, patriotism, and the vibrancy of Manhattan. Check it out.

This is how The Times reported on one sailor’s feeling about Fleet Week and her service to our country: “Brianna Crigger, 20, a U.S.S. Bataan shipmate from West Jefferson, Ohio, was enjoying a break from her job refueling fighter jets. For one thing, the uniform “is just cool,” she said. “This is going to sound conceited, but I just like the way I look in it.” And more than that, she was proud of the message behind the uniform. “It’s a uniform you put on to show that you’re doing this for your country, you’re doing this for the people who died for your country, you’re doing this for the people back home,” Ms. Crigger said. “It just shows that you’re more than what you think you are.”

JUNE BRIDES

A lovely crossdressed bride.

You don’t hear the phrase “June bride” much anymore. Maybe it’s another tradition that’s gone by the boards, replaced by destination weddings in exotic locales. But the bridal dress is something that will never diminish in the hierarchy of fashion favorites. And it’s always been a favorite for some crossdressers who have donned various designs of white satin, lace, and tulle confections through the years.

A wedding dress sort of consumes its wearer. And the appeal of being surrounded by the fabric, the crinkling aural whoosh of the material, heightens the sensory awareness of femininity. And it’s photogenic as hell, a bonus for crossdressers who document much of their activity via the camera lens. The Pinterest page here is only one of many online collections, not to mention the hundreds of individual entries, of crossdressed brides.

Even if there’s no one waiting at the other end of the church, wouldn’t it be lovely to walk down the aisle in our wedding gowns? Don’t forget to hire the photographer.

TWO JERSEY GIRLS LOVE THE ’80S

I stumbled across an Instagram page for a young woman who is still living the 1980s dream. It turns out she has a friend with the same passion for the same decade. Violet Sky is a singer and her Instagram intro says she is “21 and living like it’s 1989.” Veronica Wheels’ Instagram says she is a “classic vehicle mechanic and absolute goonie for the ’80s!” I didn’t know this until I read further down on Veronica’s postings but it appears she is trans who had her name legally changed to Veronica just this month (!).

Violet Sky and Veronica.

Both Violet and Veronica live in New Jersey and both drive vintage wheels: Violet a Camaro convertible and Veronica a Trans Am. In all of the photos I saw on their Instagram pages, the girls are decked out in big, curly hair, some oversized sweatshirts, and slouch socks with Reeboks. You have to love the dedication to a decade that happened before they were born.

I was already a full-grown adult by the time the 1980s rolled in. It was the decade when I took my first serious steps towards crossdressing. I began corresponding with other crossdressers via post office boxes (this was before the internet, of course). And I took my first steps outside the house, going to Renaissance meetings and The Cartwheel bar both just outside Philadelphia.

In some respects, the 1980s were sort of a golden age for crossdressing popularity and a grudging acceptance by society. The daytime talk shows like Phil Donahue, Montel Williams, Jerry Springer, and others had panels of crossdressers on to discuss the concept of heterosexual crossdressing. There were support groups all over the country with vibrant memberships, magazines, and newsletters that catered to crossdressers in a non-pornographic way. A lot of that has fallen by the wayside now. And I think we’re poorer for that demise.

But back to the ’80s ladies. Veronica had a photo of herself by her Trans Am and the caption says people ask her “why a Trans Am?” I thought the answer might be a sly nod to her own transition. But no. She says, “Look at it. It’s hair metal on wheels.” A nod to another 1980s phenomenon — the glam metal bands of that decade. Violet Sky has recorded some singles with the jingly electronic music of 1980s pop. Maybe someday while the girls are tooling around the Jersey shore in their vintage muscle cars they will see A Flock Of Seagulls.

Tags: crossdressing, drag, featured, opinion, Transgender

Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment