This was written before I decided that I was transsexual, and so now reads totally weirdly. I still hold with the basic principles though, and couldn't be bothered to rewrite the thing. (and besides, it's quite ammusing)
I remember when I was studying Shakespeare for GCSE English the plot involved a female character dressing up as a man (I think it was Jessica in The Merchant of Venice but I'm not sure). Our teacher felt it necessary to explain to us that this would have been highly irregular for somebody in Shakespeare's time and probably quite embarassing for the character. The reason why she thought it necessary to tell us this is quite simply that this is no longer the case. Society now accepts women wearing what would traditionally have ben viewed as men's clothes. Granted, there are some limitations to what they can wear, but compared to societies attitude towards men wearing what are traditionally viewed as women's clothes this is negligible. If men wear skirts or dresses, or even wear their hair long then it is noticed, and often commented upon, usually in a derogatory manner. The ironic thing is, that back in the days of Shakespeare all the women's rôles, including those of the women pretending to be men, would have ben played by men; men who wore dresses and were respected for it.

So what has changed? Truthfully, very little. Actors are still allowed to wear women's clothes, make-up, etc. as are pop musicians (Quarantine, an episode of Red Dwarf for example, or Boy George) but Joe Public will still be ostracised for exactly the same behaviour. For a reason entirely unknown to me it is in fact regularly associated with homosexuality, which for equally bewildering reasons is generally thought of as a bad thing. Interestingly, although perhaps unsurprisingly, it is generally only men that hold this attitude. In my experience most women don't care how other people look or what they get up to behind clothes doors. In fact, I know one woman who likes men in skirts and have heard of several others holding the same attitude, or being attracted to men in make-up. I wouldn't want to stereotype though because I know some extremely liberal, open-minded men and some foolish, close-minded women. That just seems to be the prevailing trend.

The truth of the matter is I have been on the wrong end of such narrow-mindedness on more than one occasion (or possibly the right side depending on your perspective. I'd much rather be the victim of such petty tauntings than the victimiser). Two instances from earlier this (academic) year spring to mind where I was taunted for differing from the social norm (and I make no claims otherwise. I admit to being a none conformist and to some extent enjoy the attention this brings, so don't feel the need to feel sympathy for me).

The first incident involves a story I have written, which involves me wearing a skirt. This story was in every respect a work of fiction. None of the events in it had any basis on the truth. This should have been immediately obvious to any reader because it quite strongly parodies several television shows, and involves many events that are physically impossible. Anyhow, I put this story up on my website and through some means or other some school acquaintances came to see it. They signed my guestbook twice; once pretending to be someone else, and once pretending to be someone else pretending to be a third person. To this date I don't know who it actually was that signed my guestbook those two times. Whoever it was that saw it initially though word soon got around and it wasn't long before one of them confronted me about it. He clearly objected to the fact that I had it written a story in which I did something other than what is considered to be "normal". He questioned me about my personal habits and I neither confirmed nor denied anything he said, which I think left him rather worried. He has never spoken to me since and I can't say I'm sorry about that.

The other memorable incident involved a few people I had never met before in my life, again at my school. One of them started being disparaging about my hair, which is shoulder length. Once I had made it clear that I really couldn't care less what this person thought of my hair style he then asked if I was gay. This puzzled me. I asked why he asked me. He said that he figured I must be given the way I wore my hair.

Now, this supposed insult didn't effect me in the least. I'm not homosexual (at least not to my knowledge, and I figure I'm in a better position than anyone else to judge this) but I wouldn't care even if I was. The point that being called gay is considered an insult is not what this essay is about though. What is relevant is that I was unable to appear how I choose to appear without risk of being persecuted. And this is wrong.

Fortunately for me though, I'm perfectly capable of standing up for myself, and this small amount of abuse is not really a cause for concern. For other people this may not be the case though. Some men may be forced to appear a certain way because they are unable to stand the peer pressure.

In my life, I have never worn a skirt, and have only worn make-up when involved in amateur dramatics. The reason for this is not that I believe there is anything fundamentally wrong with men wearing skirts. If I were being honest I would have to say I would quite like to. Partly out of curiosity, and partly because of the non-conformist in me. No, the reason is that I'm a coward. I could never walk into a shop and buy a skirt. I could never go out in public in a dress. I couldn't stand the pressure, the ridicule, and, more importantly, the very real probability of being beaten up by someone I don't know.

Ultimately, I feel that it is a sad, but unsurprising fact that there is still a large amount of discrimination in our society. In all society. Sexual discrimination is supposed to be a thing of the past, but this is just one instance of where it remains. Don't get me wrong, I believe sexual discrimination effects women much more than men, but it works both ways. I long for a world in which men and women are treated equally. I long for a world in which discrimination is a thing of the past. I long for a world in which a man can go out in the street wearing a skirt and have nobody bat an eyelid. Is this a forlorn hope? Probably, but is it wrong to dream?

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Last updated: 2000/08/15