The night Chaz was on Letterman, the girlfriend was in the house and made sure we watched it. So I've been reading some articles about it and one thing he said in one article I ran across stood out for me.
Since he's transitioned, he is treated better by everybody, especially men. This made me remember something.
When I was in college in Iowa City, Iowa, I wasn't wearing men's clothes or wearing my hair especially short. But I was wearing the butchest women's clothes I could find. I did not look feminine.
Sometimes, when passing a young man on the street, he'd look me in the eye and spit on the sidewalk. I wondered what it was with men that they seemed to need to spit so much. I wondered if it was a sign of contempt for me, someone they didn't even know but probably assumed was gay. This never happened anywhere else, only in this college town. I never mentioned it to any one else, to see if men in Iowa City were spitting in front of everybody.
Maybe you mellow with age because I don't seem to struggle so much with depression anymore and I don't notice so much hostility or else don't take it so personally if I do notice. I wear men's shirts and pants and even wear a man's tie at work now. I wear my hair very short and get many compliments from people on it, both men and women.
So either I've gotten used to it or the world has or both.
How many people will look at Chaz and think, hm, I'd like to be treated better too? I wonder how many butches will go for it because of Chaz? Where are the butch celebrities for us to look up to?
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Marvelous. 'nuff said.
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