Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live one day in somebody else’s shoes? I was asked to do a small study of my own; and disrupt a social norm over the weekend and record people’s reaction. I found the reaction that I got from my friends was very different than the reaction that I got from people who didn’t know me.
So I live in a two bed room apartment with my two friends Deidre and James. They are life partners. Now one of them is a Transgendered female turned male. We also have a group of friends that we perform with that are from all walks of life. Males, females, males turned females, females turned males, and everything in between. On Saturday we had a show at this local bar here in Covington. We sing, dance, and some of the performers dress in drag. Well on this day I made the choice to dress in drag too and do everything that a trans-boy can do. I was going to introduce myself as “Evan” for one whole day. I wanted to get the reaction from my peers and the many friends and family that were going to be there that night to see our show. †
I woke up at 9:00am to take a shower and get dressed for the long day ahead of me. Instead of my usual attire, tight jeans, tank top and some flip-flop sandles; I put on some boxer shorts, a binder to hold my chest down, baggy blues jeans, a white tank (wife beater), and a black, button down, dress shirt. I had my hair pulled back, a white and black bandana, and a black base ball cap. I painted on a full gote and headed out the door. All day long I did the same things that a man would do. I used the men’s bathroom and I answered to “sir” and “mr” all day. When I had arrived at the bar, the shock on the faces of so many that recognized me through my sharade, was priceless. My roommates thought it was awesome and hilarious. They acted like nothing was different about me. All my friends not only called me Evan all night, but they introduced me as Evan as well.
There were also a lot of people...