If you think we have problems with social conventions

Martina · Post by **Martina** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:22 am

I watched a programme on the BBC recently about the moslem equivalent of sunday school in England. The male teacher was drumming into his class of boys about the importance of wearing your trousers below your ankles because it is feminine to wear your trousers above your ankle and he said "why would you want to immitate a woman?". There were about 200 boys in the hall and there must have been some among them who were experimenting with crossdressing. They would have felt very conflicted in the class. Ironically I have often thought that male moslem clothing would be better for underdressing than male western clothes and I would be confident that many moslem men have enjoyed the pleasure of it. I know if I lived in a society where I had to wear frock like outer clothes I would wear the frilliest underware at every opertunity. You not have to worry about panties showing above your belt or ruffles causing vpl.

Absaroka · Post by **Absaroka** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:01 am

On the other hand the penalty for getting caught in some of these societies is far more serious.

Post by **DonnaT** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:31 pm

some places don't even have frilly underwear for women.

Wendae · Post by **Wendae** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:05 pm

I would suspect that under some of those robes there may be something fem. I seem to remember reading that some where. Isn't Khadaffi a know crossdresser?

Ralitsa · Post by **Ralitsa** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:46 am

Kadaffi???

I sure hope not!! The last thing I would want is to be in any way associated with him.

But seriously, I wouldn't be much surprised. In his day, he was a comparative "good guy". It was before my time, but I understand he liberalized much of Libyan society, and modernized and westernized it to a large extent. Now I think he's just been in power too long and it has corrupted him.
But my point is that he was a radical, a revolutionary, one who overthrew the conventions of his society and caused a major transformation. So to think that such a person is also a crossdresser really isn't strange at all.
I've long had the notion that crossdressing can be correlated to other aspects of exceptional behavior, higher levels of creativity, innovation, etc. I think the mind that rejects some social conventions and refuses to be constrained to a particular belief will also tend to manifest other unique traits. The independence of thought required to CD, isn't limited only to CDing.

Absaroka · Post by **Absaroka** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:01 am

Some 20 years ago when we were having trouble with Quaddafi there were a number of news stories about his crossdressing, ostensibly as a disguise to ward off assassination attempts. It was part of an effort to portray him as paranoid, although people certainly were out to get him. At the time I wondered if it was true, or some sort of disinformation used as part of a propaganda campaign.

He may have introduced a number of reforms. In that part of the world in particular, reform and liberalization and brutal dictatorship are not mutually exclusive. A number of leaders, such as the shah of Iran, have tried to modernize their countries at gunpoint.

Remember that Pol Pot was considered a good guy prior to coming to power. So was Castro.

Anthony Simon · Post by **Anthony Simon** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:10 am

Ralitsa wrote:I've long had the notion that crossdressing can be correlated to other aspects of exceptional behavior, higher levels of creativity, innovation, etc. I think the mind that rejects some social conventions and refuses to be constrained to a particular belief will also tend to manifest other unique traits. The independence of thought required to CD, isn't limited only to CDing.

Well, yeah. I mean crossdressing is, per se, going against the standard view of gender roles - and, because those gender roles are so central to people's sense of self, it kind of attacks that as well. So then it does have all sorts of potential in terms of upsetting the status quo. Which means it's a threat to all sorts of people and in all sorts of situations.

I do have a kind of independence of thought, too. But, for me, that's kind of distinct from the cross-dressing. I'm just obsessed with truth. This is because of my personal history, which means the only solid ground I could find was truth because otherwise I'd fall into the lies everyone else made up about me. Like for me independence of thought allowed me to create a truthful space for myself - like to go on existing. But that sort of obsessive truthfulness is also a threat.

I'm not actually sure that crossdressing is going to make you think outside the box that much - even if your actions tend to imply it. I know one of the things I cherish about it is that I actually stop thinking when I'm doing it. Like my brain is kind of hyperactive and when I dress up, that just goes away.

I wonder if that's, in part why I do it. To create a space where I'm not a threat. Like, to quote Anita, I'd have put down my weapons. I've never been out dressed up, but I sometimes think that the combination of the thinking and the crossdressing might be too much for people and I'd really get it. Or maybe I really wouldn't be a threat.