Sep 15, 2009

The Fairer Sex and Cross Dressing

I was reminded of long buried memory this past weekend. The weekend first:

My wife and I were sharing a cottage with some friends celebrating a birthday and I was the only rooster in the hen house. 5 women and I were shaking off cobwebs with coffee and generally loafing around at the start of a long day, not mustering the energy for much. Two women, curled on a couch were flipping through a Vogue and gushed at the picture of the nice strappy gladiators with killer heels.

“nice”, says I, walking by.
“they'd look great on you” says women #1
“I do have the ankles for them …”
“hell yes. These and a nice short skirt, oh yeah, we could have some fun dressing you up…”

Well, you know where this goes. Absolutely nowhere. In this case in any event.

The memory however goes back to high school, and I suspect that Halloween enabled the whole caper. Myself and a best friend managed to find ourselves in a home untroubled by adult supervision with a couple of girl friends, couches and a bottle of lemon gin or some other social lubricant.


The girls had mustered the nerve to make or rent Playboy Bunny outfits, were foolish enough to share the news, and contrary to the sound advice of mothers everywhere were convinced to slither into them for an early private audience. This, in and of itself was a “bucket list” moment. Black sheers, tall sandals, and form fitting bodices yielding an epic upward effect on youngish breasts not needing much help for starters.

A grand time was had.

At some point, a conversation along the same lines as my recent experience happened. Hushed conspiratorial, enticements and giggling endearments …

“you would look so cute, both of you… wouldn’t they?
“oh yeah, and we dressed up for you … fair is fairright?”

Knowing my desires well, I put up a little fight, but my buddy who was less hung up on things in general grabbed a bunny and vanished behind a slammed door in a heartbeat. It wasn’t long before I was cotton-tailed, short of breath and entirely short-circuited in my overloaded brain. Any attempt to summon up accurate detail about what happened next would be pure speculation, and not worthy of my respect for you, dear reader.

I have had more than a handful of experiences where a woman or a budding young thing wielded this tease, parts innocent and parts provocative, and wondered whether this is a more common desire, more commonly acted out than we know. I wonder whether this class of conversational probe is intended to find out something good or great about the guy trapped in her gaze. I hope that the sessions of exploratory dressing that I was fortunate enough to stumble into were … well, “good for you too” you know, and whether it is a theme that these curious girls returned to later in life.

I hope so. I had a terrific time in the bunny hutch, and if I had more nerve, would likely have gone on an all carrot diet to stay there for a while. Daylight frightened me back into my warren though, but thoughtful always of pretty captivity.


In closing today then, for those select and respected women reading this post, here is a question:

Did you ever dare or engineer a guy into a dress? Go ahead, don’t be shy, and leave a comment. Or better yet, just go and have some fun with your guy. It may be a little awkward, but a part of him will thank you.

Happy dressing, and happy everything else.

9 comments:

Jessica De Leon said...

Too bad nothing came from the gladiator heel conversation :(

Great post, very vivid retelling of a cool experience. I never had anything like that, but some of my friends did.

Petra Bellejambes said...

Yeah, some happy day in the future though I am sure. I must give off some vibe to curious girls... :)

Thanks as always for the nice words Senora De Leon...

Couture Carrie said...

I am pretty sure I made my little borthers wear dresses when we put on plays as children!

And I have always wanted to be a Playboy Bunny for Halloween ... is that wrong?

xoxox,
CC

Petra Bellejambes said...

Dear dear Carrie - if Bunny was good enough for Gloria Steinem, then Bunny is surely something to aspire to. :)

The role of the Bunny was pure objectification of course, but I can tell you that once you get past the oggling, it is a strangely empowering ensemble!

6 weeks to Halloween - time to start planning my dear..

Lynn Jones said...

Sometimes I think it's only natural to wonder if others can pick up on who we are. That, or they're just trying to get a rise out of you :)

The description you gave is now running in my head about the bunny outfit. Doesn't everyone wear one when typing up a blog post? (NOT!) :)

Petra Bellejambes said...

Too too true Lynn, and perceptive as always. As for blogging gear, I mix up the Bunny outfit time to time with my Liesl Von Trappe Austrian Singing Frock. You just never want to go sour on the Bunny.

xoxo

Leslie Ann said...

My heart is pounding in my chest, thinking of being a Bunny, but I'll try to be coherent.

In our third year of living together, my future wife once gave me a sly look in the car and said she'd like to dress me up as a nurse. I was, naturally, speechless. I waited for days and nothing ever came of it. Now that she knows I would love it, there is zero chance of it. I guess it's not fun for them if we're enjoying it.

I shall dream of rabbits tonight.

Alana said...

i was an exchange student in Italy in 1984 and was in Venice for Carnivale staying with four American girls. they convinced me, with virtually no resistance from me, to go out with them to party at night in a full-length brocade gown (at that time I was 5' 10" and weighed 135 lbs and wore size 6-8), hat, wig and masque. i seriously did have the best legs of the bunch, but had to wear ballet flats as size 13 women's shoes are impossible to find in Italy.

needless to say, I danced and partied en femme for six days. wore makeup, did my nails, hung out in lingerie ( I bought a nightgown and robe my 2nd day there) for a glorious week. the only downside is I have no pictures from that time.

this is when I chose the name "Alana" and "Raso" is satin in Italian.

fast-forward to today, I have been married over 20 years and where satin lingerie every evening. some things never change.

Lynn Jones said...

> Austrian Singing Frock

LOL. Really? I keep my handy for emergency electrical work. :-)

Bah! Now I have 'Edelweiss' going around my head! :D

 
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