posted
I'm curious how everyone feels about getting dressed at the start of the day, and how you go about deciding how to present your gender identity to the world.
For example, some days I present as almost ironically masculine, other days I dress more androgynously or femininely. I tend to get my hair cut with a couple very different ways of styling it in mind, and get a haircut that lets me do whatever on various days.
Does anyone else feel like the way they present themselves changes from day to day? How do you go about putting together your identity in the morning?
-------------------- “In a strange room, before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are filled with sleep you never were. I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I am or not... how often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.” Posts: 1269 | From: London, UK | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
Nice topic! I was actually thinking about that this morning as I was getting dressed, because I seem to be having a butch day.
Most days I get dressed without thinking much about it, especially when I have to go to work and don't have much choice in what I wear, anyway.
But my gender identity is very flexible, and I like to play around with it when I get the chance. I had a phase in high school where I only wore baggy pants and t-shirts, and even bound my breasts on occasion. These days, I'm more likely to look girly than butch, but it definitely varies and I like being able to play around and present myself in different ways.
-------------------- -joey Scarleteen Volunteer
"The question is not who will let me, but who is going to stop me." -Ayn Rand Posts: 8422 | From: Cologne, Germany | Registered: Sep 2005
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This morning: check chest - still hurts from binding: mini dress it is then! with bike shorts. it's cool outside so I'll wear this flannel shirt (wow, the colors work really well together) and knee-high canvas shoes to round out the outfit. glance in mirror: yay, I still look way androgynous to myself!
I have no idea what my appearance expresses to other people (hopefully: raging geek), so I usually tend to dress starting from one idea and then flowing from there to hit the different points of weather-appropriateness, style, and, uhh, whatever I have clean/available. I don't really see clothing as gendered unless I'm trying to think about how other people might see me, which I have to be careful with, so I make sure it's a positive self-expression instead of a means to stressing myself out.
Posts: 11 | From: SLC, Utah | Registered: Oct 2008
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I'm cisgender, so I decide what I'm wearing on the basis of how much I want to stand out, suitability for what I'm doing that day, what part of my body I feel best about, sometimes how I want to wear my hair, and of course the weather.
-------------------- Please captain, not in front of the Klingons. They need not see such a passionate display! Posts: 8 | From: some Australian town | Registered: Mar 2011
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No makeup- ever because then I couldn't touch my face without smudging it (plus I don't like how it looks on me) and I'd eventually have to take it off; far too much effort for something that doesn't make me happy or feel good anyway. Although I used to wear make up every day. Shirt: t-shirt, I actually only own one shirt that isn't a t-shirt. They're all "female" t-shirts. In the winter I just wear jeans, but now that the weathers getting warmer that isn't very practical. Current;y I've outgrown all my shorts so I'm stuck in all one of my school appropriate skirts or sweating in jeans. I find skirts far too girly most days, but practicality overrides everything else. My hair is either in a ponytail (when I don't shower that morning) or hanging loosely.
-------------------- ~moonlight
I am ME and that is the only label I need. Posts: 817 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Oct 2009
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I'm possibly looking at doing some altering of clothes now that university has finished for the summer, too - I have a pair of jeans I want to make into cut-off shorts and some t-shirts I want to make into waistcoats. Need to have more options! I'm going to get a friend to help me shop for makeup soon too. Although unfortunately, not being out to my parents (one of whom is quite conservative) means that now I'm at home over the holidays, I don't feel able to present the same way I would like to, which is a bummer.
-------------------- “In a strange room, before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are filled with sleep you never were. I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I am or not... how often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.” Posts: 1269 | From: London, UK | Registered: Jun 2006
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I'm going to get a friend to help me shop for makeup soon too. Although unfortunately, not being out to my parents (one of whom is quite conservative) means that now I'm at home over the holidays, I don't feel able to present the same way I would like to, which is a bummer.
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