Subject: Re: Sexism?
From: alternat@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Ann Hodgins)
Date: 1991-01-23, 09:53
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

In article <9358.279c5b46@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu> prender@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu (S Prendergast) writes:
> >In article <1991Jan22.171237.7815@watserv1.waterloo.edu>, alternat@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Ann Hodgins) writes:
> >[...]
>>> >>>Dennis/Denise?
>> >>  
>> >> Especially Dennis because he needs to dress up in order to feel able
>> >> to be a bit different. I admire his guts in that it is clearly very
>> >> hard for him to break his sex role training, but that the fact that he
>> >> can't 'relax' in pants and a shirt shows that he is not role-free.
>> >>
> >Maybe the fact that YOU can't accept the fact that he CHOOSES not to 'relax' in
> >[male-clothes] shows that YOU are not role-free... Maybe the fact is that he
> >can step OUTSIDE the roles and CHOOSE which role he DESIRES to 'wear' in full
> >knowledge that such IS a 'role' and consequently is not to be taken TOO 
> >seriously (cf his net-discussed 'campiness', etc...)... After all, one need not
> >BELIEVE that _HAMLET_ is REALITY (with a capital R) to play the lead, or even
> >to buy a ticket for the show.  Ascribing to a role is not necessarily LOCKING
> >one's self INTO that role, nor is it a tacit acknowledgement that one thinks
> >that role is the be-all and end-all of life...
> >
> >[I'm NOT flaming you (really! :-) but hopefully giving us all some food for
> >thought...]

Sorry, when I present a theory for fun (usually the first thing
I find floating at the top of my mind) I have the bad habit of sounding
like I'm committed and positive about what I say. In fact, I have no
really strong views about Dennis other than a strong liking for him.
 
Still, I wonder why he doesn't find himself relaxing in male 
clothes because men's clothes themselves, just physically in the way they
are constructed, seem so much more relaxing to me than female clothes.
For instance, women's clothes discourage comfortable postures
(you can't spread your legs in them or flop around casually) and are
prone tear (especially nylons) at the slightest little thing. They are
often constricting, too (girdles).

I'm not positive that it could not be a choice but it seems so unlikely.
I can't imagine realisticly why someone would *chose* not to relax
in comfortable practical clothes and instead chose to relax in elaborate,
expensive, constricting and fragile clothes. Any ideas?

So I wonder (but don't claim to know) why he relaxes in physically limiting
garments and the only explanation I can think of is that it is not the
clothes themselves but the role that relaxes him.  I've read a couple of
books about transexuals - giving me the confidence of a little bit of 
knowledge, a dangerous thing - who describe how adopting a female identity freed
them of the pressures of the male role, ie. competitiveness and over-
achieving. And I thought it sad that they had to go through so very much
just to feel free to lighten up a bit.
I feel that if a man can't relax in jeans and a shirt but must dress 
differently to get relief from stress, then I see an element of
constraint and helplessness in that.

There is little information about cross-dressing available.
My theory is just a stab in the dark, based on a book or two and
I could be dead wrong about all this, but in the absence of
any better explanation, that is the theory I'm going on about Dennis and
cross-dressers in general.
 
I don't want my opinions - based on so little actual knowledge, - to
carry the tone of authority. I know how intimidating and repressing
authority can be and I want no part of that, especially where sex roles
are concerned.
 
a.h.