Femaleness or femininity?

[Marlena Dahlstrom]

Trisha kindly emailed me privately to tell me that DRAB meant Dressed As a Boy, as opposed to DRAG, meaning Dressed as a Girl. Oh. Sorry about that...

Nothing to be sorry about. As I said previously, while "drab" obviously plays off "drag," it's also fairly telling...

[Kerri]

Iv'e never heard of that definition of DRAB. I cannot refute it but it does not cover the meaning of Drab from my point of view.
From a very early age I have considered all male clothing, especially my father black 3-piece suits to be dark and boring. or drab, dreary, unexciting etc...

Maybe that was the start of my interest in feminine clothes. My elder sisters wore clothes which were flamboyant by comparison, I envied them then.

Kerri

[Absaroka]

I think DRAG and DRAB originated as show business terms, same as cut to the chase (the tag end of a song which is played as the singer exits) or send in the clowns (what you do in the circus when someone screws up their performance)

And while it is true that a good deal of the "women having all the power" feelings men have has to do with the whole men initiate and women then pass judgement (and of course leaving out the whole issue of the woman trying to figure out the right way to be noticed for the initial approach) most of us have very early on a very powerful, almost godlike power figure in our mother. I don't think that ever completely leaves us

Andrea

[Needra]

A CD or TG seldom expresses much interest in these unglamorous aspects of being a woman. Does this not suggest the aim of the CD/TG, then, is not to be an actual woman, since 90% of being a woman involves these other, unglamourous things, but rather to display an exaggerated, one might even say, caricatured image of femininity? No, and No, and where did you get 90 percent. I see what you are trying to convey to me or us rather,but no, it does not suggest or imply a lack of femininity or interest --your over the top on this one

First star to the right, then straight on 'till mornin!---is this by the same writer-----"The Earth is my dwelling place and the stars my destination" ? That line has stuck in my little brain for years"--Which has been replaced by my big brain, which can't run software on the little brain-so everything has come to a halt. -Needra

[Beauty]

Hi Needra,

In your experiences you haven't seen any CD'rs or TG'd people who express interest in unglamorous apsects of being a woman. I said it that way because that's a mighty wide brush you're using.

From what I got from reading your post, I disagree with you.

It's going to be hard for us to probably agree to because you refer to a CD'r and group them in with TG and for me TG is an umbrella from transvestites to transsexuals. Since transsexuals, in large part, do not mind living with the unglamorous parts of womanhood because we feel we are women I can't call myself a caricatured image of femininity. However, it would be super easy to say that about a drag queen.

Maybe I misunderstood you? It happens. I don't even know who you were talking to in your post, to be honest. When you said whoever was over the top.

Gracie

[Loretta Ann]

Hi Gracie,

The way I read Needra's post is she is talking to the author of the thread. The first part of her post is a quote from the authors first post in this thread.

It did take a considerable amount of research (last night) for me to find that out.

[Marlena Dahlstrom]

To be honest, I couldn't understand what Needra was saying either, but Loretta is correct, the first part of her post was quoting from the original post that started the thread.

Since transsexuals, in large part, do not mind living with the unglamorous parts of womanhood because we feel we are women I can't call myself a caricatured image of femininity. However, it would be super easy to say that about a drag queen.

This does suggest some interesting differences beween TSs, CDs, and drag queens. DQs are consciously presenting a caricatured image of femininity, whereas TSs are usually trying to be "just another woman." Some CDs definitely do present a caricatured image of femininity, but to me it seems to be more out of obliviousness than conscious intention.

That's probably not the best way to word it, because there's definitely CDs who are consciously living out their sex goddess fantasies while en femme. But I guess the difference is that they're trying to look "realistic" even if the goal is looking like a porn starlette rather than the GG next door, whereas the DQ revels in her artificiality. I guess the analog to the tarty CD is the GG of a certain age who's trying to look like Britney Spears. Both the GG and tarty CD may look like a caricuture to others, but in their own mind they're looking good.

For me as a CD with some transgendered tendencies, it's still more about a chance to dress up and be someone else. In other words, while I'm perfectly able of feeling femme wearing pants, I'm still more interested in the "fun" bits of being a girl. Which makes more more of a girly girl than your average GG.

[Eva]

Hi,
I was just going to jot down info on the word 'drag," but in re-reading the postings 3X, guess I'm here for the whole show.
Recently I found a button from the International Association of Machinists that simply says "IAM." I wear it to signifying to all that "I Am'...
It does not tell anyone what I am, just "I am,".
As for this female-feminine thing, I simply am a tiny dot on the bell curve of the universe...and since I'm not out in space, dont know exactly where the dot is or how it moves. Some daze I might want one thing, other daze, another..
I believe ggs are the same. There are some who want to be totally feminine, others who just accept that they are female. The bell has been loudly ringing last century, things have changed alot for them mentally, hasn't it?.
I dont get fully dressed up---skirt and underthings will do for now; sweatshirt on top. Very similar to my male attire...I agree with Darla, am escaping maleness, hate the responsibility -- especially enforced by EX gg, who hides behind "feminity" when she wants something,..."women don't do that" blah blah etc. I'm sure there are other reasons too.
Well, that's enough before beauty flourishes her magic wand and deletes or moves me for something or other-- perhaps this sentence (that's a joke, luv).
Finale------------------- I am dressed partial "en femme" now, which to me is total en femme, Eva is ever Eva whether Eva or not.
Curtain call....Lookup book informs: "Drag -- a transvestite rather than a homosexual term, referring to dressing up in clothing of the opposite sex. It was an 1850s word for petticoat worn by male actors playing female roles, because it created an unfamiliar 'drag' when they walked"....kudos Andrea....
Encore from Georgia's term "en homme." ....Why do we refer to CD dress as "en femme." Is it because French is supposedly the romantic tongue? more delicate, refined or acceptable than "as a woman" or "female?" While other codes could be used, i go along with the crowd and am just being curious.
second encore....:::::: When I first followed various posts i thought why or how do those "en femmes" write such lengthy tomes. Now I know.
luv eva