I was able to go to about half the time I attended last year at Sakura-con. The long days meant that I often was just unable to get back out of bed after a nap. But what I did go and see, I tried to enjoy and maximize to the fullest (and still managed to spend to the fullest…odd that). With Sakura-con being a fun fest for fans of all types and ages, often I did not know what character they played as it could be from games, anime, manga, film, Japanese unreleased manga, or products. For example, I don’t know what her costume represents except “YES!” and “Go Pink” (and a desire to take her for a drink).
Sakura-con has a full venue for the kids as well, and many parents brought children who were dressed in cosplay (including a 10 girl with a blood splattered apron and a giant knife/syringe tool – I hope that is a game?). Here is a young girl who was playing Edward from Full Metal Alchemist. Crossdressed, or Cross Cosplay was very high among females this year, including at the Cosplay Chess. About 20-30% of females in Cosplay were portraying male characters, like Ginko, the spiritual wandering doctor of Mushishi (in manga and anime here). Mushishi are the spiritual aspects of nature, like the river, or mountain god, or man of the living spirits, as seen in the Ghibli Film Spirited Away (the white figures). Ginko, who has only one eye, and a hairstyle to hide this, cures maladies where humans and mushishi intermix with a poor outcome. This girl had not just his clothes, backpack and haircut but his cigarette too. While here is a furry game character, part animal, which I think is from Final Fantasy (oh, here comes the wrath on getting it wrong). I admire her dedication to the nails.
There were the ‘idol’ and ‘moe’ type girls, who come together to make the heart, which is familiar with intro’s on the Japan photo machines.But there were also crowds of Sweet lolitas. This year had a higher number of lolita’s because h.nauto, the designer of my wheelchair backpack had a stall where they sold western sized clothing (huzzah, we can be taller than 5’2”) and promoted the all girl visual kei band Exist stance. But more on that next blog.
I went to a large storefront which in the exhibitor list was ‘Man in a Dress’. I could find nothing on them online and I wondered if this was for the males cross crossplaying as females (only 1-3% this year, sadly). But I found a ‘sweet lolita’ dress shoppe. The worker there explained that the clothes were for girls but the designer and creator of each was male and tried on each style first so they ending up naming it ‘Man in a dress’. At this point the creator came by and verified that yes, he was the ‘Man in a Dress’. As it happened, there was a group of six sweet lolita’s walking by and I asked a couple to pose, this pair, with matching heights (thanks to 5 inch heels) and bows, one bio male and one female. A last costume were these two girls, one who was dressed as Ceil from Black Butler (a very popular choice for girls doing cosplay) and the other is the classmate of ‘Zero’ in Code Geass (for females in Wheelchair the sister of ‘Zero’ is in a wheelchair, as is a character in To Hearts). I had brought the manga of Jo Chen to Sakura-con for signing. Two volumes titled The Other Side of the Mirror, is a series I enjoy and recommend. I had emailed her to ask for her to hold her art book for me, but she was too busy the weeks before to check and answer me. But she still had some of the limited edition art books from her blog, which come with a limited edition postcard. I wanted to get the artbook as she is off for so many cons this year including Comic-con that I knew they would go quickly. I had several long conversations with her about how she broke into drawing for D.C., Marvel and the mainstream US comics (she drew Buffy 8, Runaways and more) which I will write about in a future blog. It was hard to catch her as she was also promoting her drawn doujinshi of boy love and between signings and panels, she was away a few times every day.
5:00 am and time to head to bed for the AMV contest tomorrow!
Welcome to the night and weekend where trans is IN, trans-eve, or Halloween,the time when gender bending doesn’t get you beaten up but picked up or winning awards. It is the night for feminine loving men to go Rococo! Trans, the T in LGBTQI, is short for transgender and covers an umbrella from the effeminate and feminine male, and Drag Queens, like the ones who rioted at Stonewall, getting gay, lesbians, bisexual AND T rights out in the open. But also includes the largest group which are heterosexual males who like to cross dress, as well as variance in gender roles, gender play, gender identity and gender perception preference. Presentation, or gender identity has nothing to do with sexual orientation, which is often misunderstood, as many famous female early cross dressers were as heterosexual as the majority of men (most married), like Dr. Mary Edward’s Walker (who won the Congressional Medal of Honor as a Doctor in the Civil War, 1868) to Katherine Helpburn (the heartthrob of so many baby-dykes)and now, the Butch Clothing Company has launched this year, selling to women who want to wear men’s clothes. Gender presentation, or even identity has nothing to do with orientation (gender is how you see or want others to see you: male, female, or a mix, while orientation is who you are attracted to sexually).
Transgender acts as an umbrella term for those whose gender identity or gender presentation for periods of time or completely do not mesh with the assigned birth gender. It has later evolved to include those who do not conform to gender norms. The term was created by Charles Prince who created Tri-ess, a group for cross-dressers as different than the medical term ‘transsexual’ (those whose assigned birth gender or body does not match their gender identity and take steps so that the two match, which can include medical such as hormone treatment). Charles Prince created the term because cross dressers and drag queens were being mistaken for (medical term) transsexuals and said, I “know the difference between sex and gender and have simply elected to change the latter and not the former” (changing the gender not the sex – it is if you ask a Drag Queen backstage if they are male or female, they will say male, even if they spend 75% of their time dressed and perceived as female). The umbrella though includes those who identify as trans, which ranges from cross dressers, genderqueer, Drag queen and kings, boi’s, transvestites, those who live cross gender and androgynous (and, of course, transsexuals, and those whose gender identity is not aligned to their birth assigned gender)
For Halloween, this is in North America, almost a ‘free zone’ for gender variation expression and behavior, particularly cross play and genderplay, where through clothing, appearance and/or behavior you are not your identified (for example, your birth) gender. For example, when we went to Japan we went to a ‘Butler Café’ where the Butlers were actually women doing gender play. But as two lesbians, we saw ‘Butch’ and so didn’t understand how in a society where even the food is gender designated (dark chocolate pocky is ‘mens’ while sweet and strawberry is ‘female’ – men drink: coffee, while women drink: milk tea), that this was a living stage of gender play. So the goth lolita’s, ultra femme, come into this café (which is female patrons only), where they are greeted, fawned over and have some male patronizing over what they have bought or are wearing, and how pretty they are by the gender playing Butlers. The Bulters, though biologically female, when on the job and website are socially male, and talk as men (while for us, we were thinking, ‘Butch women’ and missed the fun entirely). Thus the café is all hands covering the mouth and shy flirtation to the favorite Butler who develops a flirtatious fantasy gender play with a frequent patron.
Halloween offers a lot of fun opportunities this time and type of play, as regular restrictions don’t apply, and if all the girls want to wear those white wedding dresses, then a few of the boys might want to be ‘brides’ for a night as well. Of course, if you are going to pick up your girlfriend and plan on doing some gender play, and maybe later some gender play roleplay it is best to let her know BEFORE you show up in the tuxedo. There is also, ironic gender play, where one dresses very BADLY as a sailor scout for example. However, I can say that since you have the chance of fantasy and gender play, might as well go for ‘HOT!’ and girls in traditional male uniforms tend to be pretty hot. A warning: if you are just trying this out first time you can pick the wrong outfit BIG TIME, this is what females learn between 13 and 15, that though you LOVE as an outfit and it looks amazing: it might not look amazing on YOU. This is why you have those pictures of you in outfits that just aren’t your body shape. Avoid that and take a friend who has some fashion sense and say, "No, it's great, but it's not YOU"!
The other advantage of Halloween is that it is accepting, and femme boys can be femmes, and butch women can be gender boi’s. Linda is what we call a ‘lapsed femme’ in that she isn’t exactly ‘butch’ but rather just a REALLY lazy femme who gave up on jewelry (“too much hassle”), never learned make-up (“Why do I always have to wait while you put that…..STUFF on?”), and ends up buying what is comfortable even if it is in the men’s section (hint: if in a discount shoe store, your size is out and you rush to the men’s shoes to see how they look, you might be heading into ‘lapsed femme territory). Ironically she went as a ‘Butch’ one year and was told she was unconvincing, while as a ‘lapsed femme’ she is often assumed to be Butch. But as Linda would say, “So…it’s comfortable.” (yeah, and some of us are more comfortable femme, as I often have ‘I will dress, wear earrings and blow dry my hair into a style even if I don’t go out’ one of the standards of self will and self pride within a chronic illness). I'm not sure 'lapsed femme' counts as transgender, but it sure is easy to make a costume: Linda, "I'll wear this guy's sweatshirt and my dockers"
Me: "What is your costume exactly?"
Linda: "Relaxed."
For those who want to give cross dressing, gender bending or genderplay a try this year, usually it is males wanting to dress as females so beyond the ‘shave, shave, shave – like legs! PLEASE!’, I recommend using this Kay Cosmetics guide to going from a 2 day beard to a stunning beauty: highly recommended as the directions are accompanied by 12 pictures showing the exact change from Rob to Allison. Or if you want to try female impersonation/drag, use some of ehow’s tips. Or you will end up with this kind of difference (cute guy makes cute girl in gown with bunny ears while school girl is out of proportion, no wig, no make up, and well, skary).We have all seen scary cross dressing on Halloween, and why? Because guys don’t want to admit a little gender play can be fun? Newsbreak: the secret is out, okay? 20-30% of men acknowledge they cross dressing regularly for pleasure (singer G-Dragon announced he does – read the comments, which are very interesting), and only 45% have said they have never done it (women 20% for pleasure or other reasons, but then, as pointed out, gender bending for women is a lot more blurry). So put the embarrassment on hold for a night and if you are going out girl, go for it!
I mean, sometimes it is all about the attitude. Like her, it is sort of obvious about the woman but wow, got the male body set, use of space and sexy man vibe going on. But for those who want a bit more clothes on, ehow has a basic guide for gals who want to be guys for the night (think boxers, pressed breasts). And sometimes it is about the body and gait. How you walk tells the world your gender (men tend to take up more room and don’t move aside while women take up less room and move aside for males). In walking your hips, biology (the ‘package’) and social influences mix, so if you are cross dressing as female and guys are bumping into you, it means they ‘read’ you as female – same with how far the arms are from the body. For a fun minute or two, click here at the Biomotion lab, where you can see the difference clearly in how the two genders walk and also how weight and size change your gait (it has arms, hips, knees feet and head – really fun to move the slider and see the changes we recognize on the street). Click on ‘lines’ if you want to see as a stick figure. For women, the arms don’t go full extension, and for guys they do, the same with smiles (smaller for female, full on for guys). This is why a girl who loves horror films, team sports, belches and can keep up at a ‘chug a lug’ beer contest is known as both ‘dream girl’ and ‘one of the guys.’ But then, you can always go as a GOTH girl, which lets you love horror films, sports, plus you get to carry a plushie as well as things like knives or small chainsaws (a Hello Kitty or Emily the Strange Chainsaw is best)
However it goes, have a great Trans-eve, Halloween and maybe, if you want, you can send me pictures (I wanna see!). Be creative, because even if you always wanted to win a beauty pageant (though you are a guy, and this is your night to be Miss Billings, Montana). But your fashion friend says fru-fru dresses and speeches about wanting world peace aren’t for you, despair not, I bet you could still be a Zombie Beauty Queen! Have Fun, as this short video (2.5 minutes), The Sweetest Thing, to celebrate love, life and being who you are is about. Takumi, the younger brother of Mai (the heroine of Mai Hime anime) has a bad heart and needs a risky operation but isn’t interested in burdening his sister. He’s a feminine guy who likes his pink apron and cooking dinners, cakes and packing cute lunches. Akira is his roommate and has a few secrets, the first is that he is a Ninja (one who saves Takumi, and Takumi is gushing about this ‘cool ninja’ to his roommate). The other secret Akira has is that he is a transmale which has caused him to hope for love but not expect it. When his secret is found out, he flips, and realizes that all this time, getting to know Takumi (who makes him cute lunches) he has fallen in love. In Japan, the ending of the name (-chan for females and –kun for boys) lets you know how individuals are seen by each other. For Takumi, it is always Akira-kun (boy), for whom he decides to go ahead with the surgery, ‘because you gave me a reason to live’. These are teens having stutters, the anxiety, and the excitement of just being around each other of a first relationship.
This post started when I saw a newspage picture: a pirate Halloween costume. I saw it, I thought the pink a bit odd, but thought, ‘Wow, guess North America is okay to pink and gender for a ‘pink’ boy pirate.” Here’s the picture. When I moved my cursor, the title, “Girl’s Pirate costume.” came up. Of course…..pink.
The levels of ignorance in branding and in the internet ‘news’ in adding to this socialization irked me deeply. Not just because the idea of adding pink and re-branding to tweens or young girls, not just because as “Booty: Girl Pirates on the High Seas” starts by saying, “For as long as ships have sailed the seas there have been pirates. And for as long as there have been pirates, some of those pirates have been women.” What was worst was the deliberate socialization policing, enforced on children, who are protected into ignorance, stereotype and cruelty, so rigidly enforced that a ‘pink pirate’ boy WOULD be made fun of. A female tomboy pirate wouldn’t, but her mother would want her to wear the other outfit (‘pink is so NICE.’)
No, actually, pink is for boys. Before WWII, it was believed that children did not HAVE gender identities, so there were ‘infants’ and ‘boys’ and ‘girls’. In schools all over the UK, including a school two streets from where we lived in Cardiff, the three entrances with the word ‘infants’ in block above the double doors, where all children up to age 7 or so would enter. Pictures of Winston Churchhill and King George IV in dresses are seen in biographies as such. Adverts from Sears Ro. for getting your ‘child corset’ for good deportment and carriage, shows that the ‘manly’ and ‘womanly’ didn’t go down as far as children, not then. The picture shows one or two boys (often parents didn't cut the hair until age 4-6, so even Linda has a picture of an uncle looking like one of this 'girls')
In only a generation or two, now colors are branded, marketed for gender and from diapers to overalls, gendered as colors appropriate for 1 month old babies to 5 year olds is heavily advertised, socially pushed and debated on forums.
That is why this Goth Lolita outfit is considered ‘unisex’, if you notice it is based on the ‘infant’ style dresses and clothing and is for Goth Loli boys and girls in Japan.
But traditionally, pink is for boys, and blue for girls, as it still is in Belgium. One likely explanation I have found is that pink is a more juvenile version of RED, the manly color of MARS, and WAR – while light blue, feminine and tasteful is associated with the Virgin Mary (traditionally shown wearing pale blue and the embodiment of feminine attributes).
From the Guardian, in 1918 the Ladies' Home Journal wrote: "There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink being a more decided and stronger colour is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl."
Sunday Sentinel in 1914 told American mothers: "If you like the colour note on the little one's garments, use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention."
So yes, boys who were raised in pink frilly dresses went down mines, ruled countries and fought in the second world war. Clothing conventions change over time. Indeed the switch from pink to blue for boys is blamed on a marketing strategy by US department stores. That’s all, it simply made for a more interesting display.
Jump forward today and in a review of bad science, one team made a ‘scientific word test’ where you picked and rated your affinity to words which showed if you rated yourself as ‘gullible’ and ‘cheerful’ then you were a girl and liked PINK. – yeah, no social bias on that one. To test your social bias check out these twins. Yes, it is an April 1st cross-dressing, (the girl is in the clothes the boy normally wears and the boy is in the girl's clothes and hairband - keep trying to tell yourself the one in pink is a boy and the other a girl) and the mom received lots of comments on how pretty and beautiful her daughter was. The color determines the perceptions of gender, which in this case, is totally incorrect.
But, besides pink saying, ‘this is for girls’, is there any reason that girls shouldn’t have their own pirate look? And what would that be?
The pirate dress up re-emergence recently is thanks to Captain Jack Sparrow, whose open effeminate actions in the first movie launched the interest in Pirates in many boys and girls (and adults), along with a use for black eyeliner for men other than being emo. After the first movie, the fencing club was full of 10-12 year olds wanting to learn saber.
Jack Sparrow was beyond gender, up on screen acting feminine, and getting away with it (and the same year became the number 1choice for straight men if they were to have a romantic relationship with a guy – Angelina Jolie was number 1 for women). Even sexually, it is quite hard to tell with the first film whether Jack is going for the guy or the girl romantically, an added tension which I enjoyed far, far too much. If you have forgotten, here is Pretty Pirate, some classic Jack Sparrow from the first film.
Johnny Depp, whose career has included more than a couple gender bending characters, is the western world’s most acceptable (and sexy) actor who can play male, androgynous and feminine while still taking big money in the box office. You know, the kind of character that parents in North America/UK/Australia think is fine for your girl to pretend to be, but maybe not your five year old boy (and so I’ll show you later).
Indeed, one women’s sandal shop offers a blinged up sandal as “Likely Captain Jack Sparrow's favorite footwear for femmes, the Stingray from Two Lips is a treasure trove of a sandal.” Arg!
Jack Sparrow might have been loosely based on the real pirate Calico Jack, a snappy dresser, vain, heavy drinker and famed ladies man, pirate captain of the Caribbean. He also connects Anne Bonny with Mary Read: two of the most famous female pirates. Mary Read, daughter to a captian’s wife and illegitimate was raised as her brother in order to continue the allowance from her mothers’ mother-in-law. The allowance was just enough to allow them to live, based on her mother having a boy baby. The boy died in the first year and when Mary’s mother became pregnant while husband was at sea, she moved away to hide her marriage then presented her daughter Mary as her son, in order to keep the Allowance coming (enough to buy five loaves of bread a week).
When the mother-in-law died, leaving nothing to her daughter in law or her ‘grandson’ Mary who was 13 at the time, Mary continued living as a male, first as a ‘footman’ as a servant, then joining the navy as a ‘powder monkey’, and probably looking something like this (without the fancy sword). Finally, coming of age, she enlisted as a soldier and was raised to the rank of officer due to action on the field. She revealed herself to a fellow Flemish officer who was ‘oddly attracted’ to this good pal (she had taken several high risk assignments to be near him) and they married. Her wedding dress was the first female clothes she had worn. But this meant that Mary had to retire as an officer. Due to her popularity, the officers did a whip-round and Mary got enough money to buy and Inn, popular with the soldiers. But when the war moved, the Inn failed, and her husband died. So she returned, as a male, to be soldier and sailor. Working on a Dutch East Indies ship, she was attacked by Calico Jack the pirate and offered to join him as a pirate or die.
With her experience of dangerous missions, the royal navy and dueling history ‘Sailor Reed’ was a great pirate, and with many others enlisted under the Governor of the Bahamas to fight the Spanish as privateers. She was under Captain Jack and once in open ocean, these ‘pardoned’ pirates turned pirate again, taking the ship (score one free ship!). Mary fell in love with a young Englishman on board. They became good friends then she ‘accidentally’ flashed her breasts.
He asked, was she a female? Yes. And romance was born. BUT…
The Englishman had offended another pirate who had it out for him, a death duel pending. Well, Mary, once she chose her guy, didn’t shrink from trouble and got into conflict with the pirate, calling for a duel two hours BEFORE the Englishman’s. With her soldier training, she cut the pirate down with her sword in the duel without receiving a scratch and thus won her man. They determined to keep Mary’s secret until they quit the ship.
But they didn’t count on Anne Bonny. Captain Jack had met Anne Bonny, who had a severe temper (beating one suitor unconscious, killing a servant with a knife), and who hung around the waterfront often dressed as a man. Jack fell for Anne and later wrote a document that she would be with him for a sum of money, which they considered a marriage contract (Anne had the guy come with a dowry). However, the witness they asked to sign the document didn’t see that as marriage and instead reported it to the Governor. Adultery charges threatened Anne with whipping, so she and Jack rowed out to a sloop, Anne kept the crew at bay with a pistol and cutlass while Jack and some companions got underway. Anne would dress as a man, but did not hide being a woman, even disembarking to give birth.
The problem occurred when Anne, with her hot temper, let her eye wander to the handsome Englishman who was in the crew (not the one Mary fell in love with, the OTHER Englishman….Mary). Anne saw what she liked and what Anne liked, Anne got. Except this Englishman, was Sailor Reed, persisted in turning aside Anne’s advances. And the more Anne was refused, the angrier she became until Mary Reed finally was forced to tell her she wasn’t the only woman aboard. Anne kept ‘Sailor Reed’s’ secret but the two women hung out more and more (some say they had a lesbian relationship) which increased the jealousy in Captain Jack. Anne finally had to tell Jack while swearing him to secrecy (and considering she beat up the guys who annoyed her, he agreed).
After several more raids, where they tried to increase their crew, a ship of the Governor’s Navy fired on them. Jack and the men disappeared down below to drink leaving Anne, Mary and a single other sailor to fight off the boarding.
The ship was captured and all brought to jail, where Anne and Mary’s gender was found out. Calico Jack and his men were sentenced to be hung, but Anne was allowed a last visit. Instead of a teary goodbye, she cursed him for not being a real man, as while being boarded. According to the trial, Mary Read had fired into the deck, wounding one of the pirates in order to try to get them to come up and fight. No luck.
After the men were hung, the women had trial after trial (which is how we know the story). No one realy knew what to do with a female pirate, but eventually they were sentenced to hang. At that point, they both fell to their knees and begged mercy ‘We plead our Bellies’: a claim of pregnancy (as to condemn a criminal is one thing but to hang an pregnant woman and thus kill an infant was another). Everything was postponed again. Sadly, Mary Reed died in prison of a fever, but Anne disappeared.
These were not the only female pirates, as only those caught, or famous enough to be in history of the time period were noted. Likely significant numbers of females dressed as males, like Mary Read, were sailors and pirates.
Female pirates were not the faint hearted, but ranged from Pirate Queens (3 of them, one of the Chinese Ocean, one the Indian Ocean and on the coast of Ireland). The greatest pirate of all was a woman, Cheng I Sao (1801), Queen of the China Sea who had a fleet of over 2,000 with more than 80,000 troops. She also lived until 69, dying in peace after a deal with the government.
Even among the 9th century Viking raiders, Alfhild, daughter of King Siward, ran off in men’s clothes and became a raider, then a ship captain, with Groa, another adventuring female as her right hand. Later, Grace O’Malley in Ireland raided the English lords, and took castles in siege in Ireland from a teenager to her seventies, and met with Queen Elizabeth (by invitation). She inherited the fleet of the clan due to her fierce nature. One example of that was after she had just given birth to her fourth child, Theobald, on ship when Algerian Pirates attacked the ship. The crew was close to losing when the Captain came down to get her to rally the men. Directly from giving birth, she ran out on deck and shouted to her men, “May you be seven times worse off this day (in) twelve months, for those who cannot do without me for one day!” (meaning, ‘all you all such wimps that you can’t fight without me ONE day?’) Her crew rallied and defeated the Algerians. Scary woman.
So, no, not running around in pink waiting to be noticed by men, but winning male lovers in duels, beating up men, stealing ships or commanding armies. Those who served in secret often had a tube with them or attached which allowed them to pee standing.
Whether more manly or openly female, the variety of female pirates reflected their personality. I mean, Bluebeard covered his hair and beard with ribbons. That’s what being a pirate was about – being yourself.
So back to Halloween costumes: pirates for girls
I prefer the ‘black leather pirate’ with her femme back-up (not a lot of pink here). Boy or Girl, the one in black, with appropriate Virginia Woolfe’s (male) Orlando style stockings is HOT, and getting me HOT and bothered. Which will likely which may end up getting her/him more candy (as a child OR an adult). Yeah, I must have meant at Halloween, and 'Candy' as treats. hee hee, please come to MY party!
I am not sure what tailor one goes to three centuries ago in order to get the ‘skinny fit’ breeches, but it is certainly a look that gets attention. And after a while, people might even look at your face (not recommended if you are trying to pass as male...even if you are male).
And here is for those with a love of velvet and scarlet (a color exclusive to men for hundreds of years, until the late middle ages due to the expense of the dye, which Rome imported from the Celts), the pirate queen who rules with her decolletage and her fan.
I love the french tricorn hat and the green gloves. A nice look for our revolutionary pirate/privateer either male or female. Again, a host of pirates including one who seems to be holding a rose blade in the front while wearing her lingerie, including stockings with the ‘all so important’ BOOBIE ARMOR (this indicates a ‘fantasy female pirate’). Because of course, being gutted or stabbed through the ribs is nothing compared to the risk of having a scar on these precious treasures of the sea! But one thing I don’t see….pink.
Here we seem to have gone past androgyny to a bit of both, the boy’s pantaloon and the girl’s high stocking and skirt, sort of steam punk pirate. I will say, for any guys who want to imitate this style, that worry not, a nice straight corset with a non-scoop top with deliver the ‘goods’ (at least a size A cup boobies). One unisex nature of corsets: they enhance your breasts, even if you don’t think you have any to start with
During, I think, the second ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films, Jack Sparrow meets the heroine dressed as a sailor lad, and says something like, “A lady should be in a dress or nothing at all, as it happens…I have a dress in my cabin.” after a long argument with some viewers, and several re-watching of the scene it turns out that Jack is propositioning her to be naked, not offering her his crossdressing outfits. BUT, when watching it, it make complete sense that Jack would have not just one but probably several dresses in his cabin, much as Blackbeard and other historical pirates wore ribbons and other traditional female ornaments. Plus dressing as women in order to get merchant ships to slow down for ‘rescue’ was a common ruse of pirates. As a Pirate, you aren’t in the NAVY now right? That’s the point: pirate, outside the rules. As Johnny Depp said about Captain Jack’s sexuality, that it could go either way, as 'it was lonely out at sea.' So a few dresses is not really out of character.
Pirates of the Caribbean, was created and promoted by Disney, a company which have pushed the ‘Princess’ (or in this case, ‘Pretty Pirate’) line so strongly that is it now a common part of dress up play for children. Plus if you go to Disneyworld, you can choose among FOUR different ‘Princess’ Packages for children, including getting dressed in a princess dress, nails done, and rides in a carriage. The whole tiara and pampering, while the guys are offered the ‘cool guys’ package (BLAH!). So more and more young boys want the Princess Package, so many that Disney land is quietly promoting it for boys too.
That is the topic for the next post, is more about Pink, that four letter word, and why can or can’t a boy wear the pirate outfit with pink on it. As well as the common experience of parents to have a child from 2-7 who wants to play ‘Princess’ and have a dress provide interesting comments and tension on parenting boards. It looks at North American views, how boys and girls are raised as well as some contradictions built into social norms, particularly about the behavior allowed for boys and value placed on girls.
I figured if I didn’t put “Female Fantasies” in there the guys would run for the hills. So while I am not going to do the big 10 (I think I did another blog post on that, and there were some interesting fantasies in the top 10 surveyed!), I am going to cover um the fantasies and arousals of…er… a single unnamed female.
I hope you had a great halloween, here is my ode to Halloween and the fall, a new order of Bisen that came in for me. Also while I couldn’t go outside I consoled myself with this Will O’ Wisp Memo pad which is both gothy and has beautiful boys (which leads us to Yaoi; Yaoi=Japanese romances between two boys/guys. The stronger aggressive is called Seme, the more femme and less aggressive is an Uke).
Okay, now before we go on, Yaoi is generally liked by GIRLS. Why, because first off gay guys don’t tend to like guys who like a lot like girls (drag queens excepted), the ones I knew were all “Brad Pitt’s condo any day!” While actually gay guys like Rupert Everet, who would almost make me straight (as long as he always wore tuxes and kept his clothes on!), they were like, “Nah, to effete, I like them rough and ready!” Eh? But they do have a point because let’s face it, this is about as “manly” as Yaoi gets (LOOK! One of them has facial hair...well about 9 or so, I guess Yaoi doesn’t do “bears” (“bears” are hairy gay guys)):
Okay, straight guys don’t like Yaoi generally because a) they are two guys and straight guys run from saying, “Hey those two guys are cute!” And b) Yaoi uses tradition male/female roles which get into your head and then guys are like, “Are you sure one of them isn’t a girl?”
Girls on the other hand, get to see all their fantasies played out in gay love, which is also done over here but called “Slash Fiction” where Harry Potter and Wesley get it on, or Jack from Pirates and Orlando are ‘good friends’. And after all, as I can attest from joining what I thought was a ‘penpal’ online site (to prove I COULD have a straight male friend…more on that….), but turned out to be like a sex hook up site (not at all what was advertised). And while there I got lots and lots of messages that boiled down to, “Do you do anal?”(or threesomes and anal?) So obviously guys have an anal sex fantasy with women, therefore they must not mind it themselves (turns out this isn’t exactly true…even though GUYS have this gland there that makes it sort of fun and girls don’t, yet girls get asked/expected?). Okay, that just got us an R rating. Well, in the top 10 fantasies for women was a strap-on fantasy, just letting you know (that was for straight women).
Okay, back to Yaoi, because I got this book from an artist who makes postcards I like, I have one of them, the rest I sent out. His name is Yamamoto Kazue and he did a game called Angel’s Feathers that I will probably learn Japanese to play if I lived long enough. I like cute things with wings (I REALLY like girls with wings!). So to me, seeing guys with wings is CUTE, I don’t know how else to say it. I’m not aroused but it is cute.
Okay, then we go from the, two guys in uniforms, or two guys with wings in uniforms to more, um, well, sort of in the cracks of my mind sexual fantasies. Because here we have the “winter cabin” fantasy: which yes has at least ONE clear guy, only see, I’ve always wanted to be the sort of casual sexy snow bunny who while just putting on an oversize sweater looks all sexy, vulnerable and comfy. Of course, when you ARE oversized (just on THIS planet!), then getting that look requires someone with me who is like, um 6’8”? But this um, guy, in the sweater has that look down pat (guy?). This is where the questioning of gender starts. So not aroused but like, Sigh, I wish that was me…..with a butch! (or Linda, or course!)
Okay so then comes the crossdressing, which wasn’t BLATANT in the last one but in this one it is, and I can appreciate, as that dress goes great with the hair, but doesn’t do anything for me as anyone who smokes, particuarly a scraggle faced guy is a turn-off. And also, don’t like being put on a knee like a possession. So not identifying with this cross dressed male who is cute, but flat. But also, is having clothes her…I mean his dress ruined by the smoke of inconsiderate dude.
Now we get into a bit more, well obvious sexual fantasies. I mean this one, while one is definitely a guy (has sword!), the other is pretty much Fantasy #14 out of the handbook of classic fantasies: Butch (or Dude) comes to the rescue, and presses your thankful body to hers/his while for some reason you are still only in your negligee/sleep-shirt. So, not really seeing the grateful femme as a guy at this point, seeing this as hetero fantasy that we need MORE OF in lesbian land. More girls with swords saving the day, pulling out femmes and carrying them off.
And this is the part where I start to get aroused, because quite honestly, the pictures are starting to get to a point where I am sort of seeing a picture of my fantasy (in my head played out in pictures here!), and not seeing any guys, like this one. Okay, strong butch wearing the classic butch muscle top with CLASSIC butch haircut (GIRL!) is comforting the scared femme in the woods. I mean, is this not the start of a beautiful fantasy; the need to be lead out of the woods, the ‘I just got away”, the “I’m so cold”, the getting pulled close. Beth is starting to get the tingle EXCEPT…..I looking at pictures of YAOI – you know gay guys.
Never mind, move on, right, that was just a coincidence, except then comes this titillate picture. First off, that’s a butch, that’s a butch, that’s a butch! I know a butch outfit and hair cut, in fact I have seen several of those haircuts. Second, look at the hips of our naked femme? Guy hips? Really? And second, why are the two of them covering the breasts? I mean that is a guy, but the breasts are being covered? And those hips, I am not thinking of um, “packages” (thank you Sasha for putting that in my mind!), when I see that.
And followed up by this. Okay, both wearing girl’s silk kimono’s falling delicately off the shoulders, covering the breasts and behind our femme is a butch caressing her flushed (sexually?) face; the butch wears her kimono but look at the white girl’s face and TELL me that is a guy. Well according to the author it is. And this is not two lesbians about to have a romantic encounter, these are two guys, one with great collarbones, both in silk about to have a romantic encounter. Which means that if I am aroused by this point (and I am!) then does that make me a straight female, am I hetero, because I like the fantasy of cute guys. Except they aren’t GUYS! I mean look at them! Ahhhhhhhhh! (this is our…um….unnamed female trying to decide to bring out the vibrator or hide the book forever!)
And to finish me off….er….I mean the unnamed female is responding strongly to THIS picture. Now first, not only is that sort of a cosplay, or sexy dress up but I SEE BREASTS! Sorry, I tend to shout that out at inappropriate moments. But come on, our femme is a femme. And this IS one of the great straight or lesbian fantasies (particularly lesbian I think) – of a butch in a tux, sweeping you away (or if you are butch, making them go ga-ga for you in your tux as you help your ‘friend’ who needs to go home ‘right now’ and needs your help to get out of her outfit! I think for straight girls you put an early Pierce Brosnan in the tux and get swept away as you are Laura Holt, PI undercover (“This is strictly professional, you understand” – leads to deep kiss!). Oh, fine, I’ll dance with you, I’ll do what you want (hee hee!).
Okay, that’s the end, the guys can uncover their eyes. So, beautiful boys dressed up still are cute, but still are boys! And I am not that into boys, however cute they get (though I do like ‘dress up’, for everyone!). So the fact that I am breathing heavy by the end of this book, from these pictures. Does that mean I am out of the L-word? Am I a lesbian with straight girl fantasies? Or is my mind so Queer centric that I have the power to turn all I see into butch/femme romantic fantasies? I just don’t know?
What do you see? What do the pictures make you think? Just for my….I mean the sake of an unnamed confused, thought she was lesbian female.
For example, I don’t know what her costume represents except “YES!” and “Go Pink” (and a desire to take her for a drink).
Mushishi are the spiritual aspects of nature, like the river, or mountain god, or man of the living spirits, as seen in the Ghibli Film Spirited Away (the white figures). Ginko, who has only one eye, and a hairstyle to hide this, cures maladies where humans and mushishi intermix with a poor outcome. This girl had not just his clothes, backpack and haircut but his cigarette too. While here is a furry game character, part animal, which I think is from Final Fantasy (oh, here comes the wrath on getting it wrong).
I admire her dedication to the nails.
But there were also crowds of Sweet lolitas. This year had a higher number of lolita’s because h.nauto, the designer of my wheelchair backpack had a stall where they sold western sized clothing (huzzah, we can be taller than 5’2”) and promoted the all girl visual kei band Exist stance. But more on that next blog.
The worker there explained that the clothes were for girls but the designer and creator of each was male and tried on each style first so they ending up naming it ‘Man in a dress’. At this point the creator came by and verified that yes, he was the ‘Man in a Dress’. 
As it happened, there was a group of six sweet lolita’s walking by and I asked a couple to pose, this pair, with matching heights (thanks to 5 inch heels) and bows, one bio male and one female.
I wanted to get the artbook as she is off for so many cons this year including Comic-con that I knew they would go quickly. I had several long conversations with her about how she broke into drawing for D.C., Marvel and the mainstream US comics (she drew Buffy 8, Runaways and more) which I will write about in a future blog. It was hard to catch her as she was also promoting her drawn doujinshi of boy love and between signings and panels, she was away a few times every day.
