There is a reason why some things don't really catch on too much! Come on in for the discussion question at the end, as I think its really good!
Made this one for Dawn (Commentator) who made me a wonderful caption based on the song, "Spread Your Wings" by Queen that I've always fancied as being an underrated classic of theirs. She had named a caption for someone else that same title and read it thinking she had made that connection, since she's been doing a bunch of captions based off of songs people suggest to her.
I didn't want to take forever to return a caption for her as I've done in the past, and I don't really have much of a caption debt at this moment so I figured it'd be a good time to whip something up for her. That meant surfing the internet for some good source material .. and I wasn't particularly looking for anything specific, though I was looking for youngish .. I believe that Dawn is in her 50's and who doesn't want to start their life over as a fair maiden in the modern world, especially if you can draw upon your previous life experience?
When I found this one, I was drawn to exactly where her hands were, and it made me think that she was acting like a guy would. It didn't take much in the way of fiddling around with that idea to highlight a key difference between most men and women .. where to put your stuff! I don't use a wallet, and my left and right pockets each have certain functions. My left has a tiny pill container, personal flash drives, and current, spendable money. The right side has work flash drives, my asthma inhaler, a stylus for my cell phone, all identification and credit cards, and emergency and/or non-spendable money (a la money in case the car breaks down, stranded and need a hotel that only takes cash, money set aside to pay someone back, etc ... usually between 1-3 hundred dollars worth.)
I actually feel lost if one of those things isn't there, and its happened a few times, mostly with my asthma medicine. Most women are the same way with their pocketbooks, with each compartment having certain items, though they can pair down if they are using a clutch for the night, etc ...
I think this could be one of the hardest things to cope with if I was ever blessed/cursed to become a female .. the whole purse thing. It would be pretty weird to have something hanging off my shoulder all the time, and like my daughter when she was learning the same thing at age 12, I would probably leave it behind all the time and wondering where I last saw it. It also seems like there isn't a whole hell of a lot of protection in dealing with it .. almost telling thieves .. "HERE is EVERYTHING that I have that is important and valuable, all in a handy, easy to snatch, carrying case!"
The point I was trying to drive home most here in the caption is that he was slowly starting to think like a female. Coming up with the prototype is something a guy would definitely try to do, "why can't I get any friggin' pockets on my short-shorts, yoga pants, or skirts?" and then figuring it out.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: I think I've come up with a good one now so have at it! Feel free to post it on your own blogs to see what your readers have to say about this if you want. Here is the scenario and how it'd play out.
Somehow some sort of phenomenon happens and you (among other men) are turned into a female. You are pretty much still yourself, but in a female body. Everyone knows but globally it isn't a big deal because like 1 percent of the population had this happen. Its rare but you aren't a social leper, and the government gives you all new ID's, birth certs, etc .. and you can keep your job if you can handle it. Perhaps your sexual orientation changes, maybe it doesn't, or maybe it evolves over time. The whole thing seems to be more of an irritation than anything, and is not a curse.
So, how long do you think it would take for you to assimilate into a fully acting woman? Getting down all the mannerisms, quirks and eccentricities that many women share, clothing, etc ... Do you attempt to totally immerse yourself into the new role, or rebel and try to retain as much of the male you as you can, even in a new form? How would your current family (wife, kids, parents) and friends deal with it? Would they help or be scared to see how you evolved? Being someone that reads TG fiction and/or captions, would you embrace it right away, even though it might end up revealing to all you know that you sort of wanted this or do you play it cool?
I think the toughest part of the assimilation would be adjusting to how the world views me. All the other stuff is somewhat choice. I could choose to wear makeup or choose to wear dresses. I could be "feminine" in the way society expect or I can be more of a tomboy. However, just because you are a woman alone would change peoples perception of you. People would treat you differently on that basis. How someone would talk to you as opposed to a male. How they act in public around you. How would it be to have someone objectify you. All of THAT would be the tough part.
ReplyDeleteAs for the mannerism and quirks; all of that would be based on attitude. I would either have to accept that it will take work and just understand I will mess up for a while. If my attitude is horrid, it's going to take longer and be a bigger pain. Realistically i think it would take a few years to "get" it. I think after that I could walk around and be accepted without a second glance but beyond that it would require a while to get things good on all fronts.
Exactly the sort of insights I was looking for.
DeleteJust how you hold yourself physically, sitting and walking would be hard to adapt. You would have a different sort of center of balance. I knew a FtM and she was having trouble with her "power walk" as she called it, standing tall, with a wider stride and different posture as a man. Vocal inflections are another thing that might take a bit of time to work on.
I enjoyed the cap Dee made for me and the thoughts it provoked. The thing is I can actually speak with some experience being a male to female pre-op. You may know you're a woman inside but you've spent years assimilating the mannerisms and cult of male. It's very difficult for that not to pop up in your daily life. The fact is men seldom notice when you're a bit off but women will zoom in on it like a heat seeking missile. yet at the same time they are more forgiving if you bend the gender role as they do it all the time (according to men) but bend it too much and men will finally notice and not in a good way.
ReplyDeleteBut to answer the question I can say the 20 years ago this question would have been more vital than now. You can maintain a lot of 'man'nerisms without question, even be one of the guys but the fact is THEY never forget you are a woman. The problem is YOU forgetting you were a man. Adaptation will never succeed as long as you don't internally accept the fact. Once you do then others will also. All the rst is like learning to ride a bicycle.
Nice cap Dee. I really like the idea of a man trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to being feminine only to realize that the wheel has existed for some time.
ReplyDeleteOn to your discussion question. With the assumption that 'suddenly' being female isn't something to be scorned by the general public I really can't see much changing about myself. Most of my 'male' mannerisms are from physical realities. For instance, I currently tend to slouch quite a bit. Why? Because I'm quite tall. I like to be eye to eye with people I'm talking with and slouching helps me not tower over people. I walk with a long powerful stride... but I have long legs and am often in a hurry. Becoming feminine would change these things, but only because my body would change.
I believe I would try to pick up the mannerisms, quirks and eccentricities that women share in the same way that I pick up on the mannerisms, quirks, and eccentricities that men share. In other words, I wouldn't. I would let me define me instead of letting my gender define me. I am a man, but I make no effort to flaunt or accentuate that. I just can't see that changing by becoming a woman.
Having no wife or current girlfriend certainly makes acceptance easier. Again, if this were something that was looked upon as rare but not unusual, I believe my family and friends would support me in any way that I needed supporting. I may gravitate toward a female friend more often for advice and guidance on things like clothes/style/attitudes, but it wouldn't be that different than me currently gravitating toward my male friends for those same things.
As for the core question... how long would it take me to fully assimilate? Even with what I said, I think it would take years. Mainly because of what Simone said... I would have to get used to how the world currently views me. Getting physically used to the body would take weeks... maybe months. Adjusting my own self view would take months... maybe a year for it to really settle into my core. But getting used to being treated differently... no that would take much longer.
Great work on this cap, Dee!
ReplyDeleteAs for the discussion question, I think I would take a while to adapt to my new body, if at all. I wouldn't know for sure unless it happened for real. I think it would take some female friends to force me into trying girly things, clothing, etc. One thing I am sure I might be right about is that my family might have trouble adjusting to my new altered self. I predict plenty of awkward moments among family, maybe even a few friends.