Ok girls, lets assume you are fairly competent at dressing. Slim, good legs, makeup and hair not bad. So, what next? You decide you are ready for a joint in daylight amongst ‘normal’ people. Think you can pass as a woman? Forget it! You can’t! Something will give you away. Your height, your figure, the way you walk, or your voice will blow it! So, what to do then. If, no matter how convincing you are, you will always be ‘read’ then your choices are simple – back in the closet with your stilettos never seeing the light of day OR you say “SOD IT, I AM GOING OUT!”

I chose the latter – only recently, I grant you – but I did!  How did I manage it, I hear you ask? You have a giant hurdle to overcome – YOURSELF! Dressing in public is a state of mind not how convincing you are. Readers of my previous blogs may recall that I started by going out at midnight or later. Highly dangerous and foolhardy, I hear you cry. Well, yes and no. I stayed local, took my phone, stayed near main roads and carried a crowbar in my handbag! Only kidding – it was a taser actually!

The point is that it gave me confidence, the one thing all trans-girls need, to overcome the hurdle of self-doubt.

 Was I scared the first time out in daytime dressed? Petrified! I left my house, got in my car and went shopping at 8:00am on a Saturday. I decided that as scummy, bigoted, trans-phobic bastards are probably still in bed at that time and probably hungover or off their tits on drugs – only decent, liberal-minded people will be there to see Angie in all her glory! And I was right! Of course, most people who noticed the over-dressed bimbo in a short skirt and boots will have read me – but it didn’t matter! What was the worst they could do in Tesco? They might say “Ethel, I am sure that’s a guy dressed like a prostitute – good legs though!” or “tut tut, what is this place coming to!”

You get my point? This is Britain! You could be having sex in the chilled meals aisle and nobody would say anything! Too polite, we are!

So, back to the hurdle. Where to start for your first trip out as Gloria or Wendy?  I tried a supermarket, but another t/girl suggested a garden centre – after all there will be few curious kids and most of the old folk will be more interested in hanging-baskets or compost to notice me clip-clopping around in heels looking gorgeous! Its all in your head’s darlings! Dress sensibly (i.e. not like Angels!) wear flattish heels (definitely not like Angela!) and just look as though you are there to do what all the others are doing. Pay by cash so you don’t tremble at the till and spill the contents of your bag all over the floor – its not an attractive look gathering up all your stuff from down there! eeWalk slowly but purposefully as if you do this every week, hold your head up but watch where you are going – and SMILE!  Checkout girls have seen it all before – drunks, nutters, bag-ladies, kleptomaniacs etc and some even comment on my nail polish!!

The more you do this, the easier it gets – trust me.  Plus, it is the most fun you will have in stilettos!  Well – maybe the second most fun!

Or, you could just stay indoors, frightened or your doorbell ringing or what the neighbours will say.

The choice is yours darlings – happy strutting and mincing!

Angie

If you would like to find a trans support group in your area, check out Trans Unite website here.