The Invisible Plane

I wonder about Wonder Woman. Yeah, I know … take a number.

Natives of the U.S. of A are of course familiar with her. I am not certain how far beyond these fruited plains the jurisdiction of the Hall of Justice Superheroes extended, but I suspect that her image is familiar to most visitors here.

For my fashionable friends of the natal, full-time female variety, perhaps you regarded her rich black mane and impossibly voluptuous figure with a degree of teenage insecurity and wished for yourselves all that she had going for her. Look back and smile now. You have more variety in your wardrobe, great gal pals and rewarding romantic lives. In these key quality of life indicators, you have Wonder Woman beat by miles.

For my gender plural, Cross Dressing friends, perhaps you, like me spent more time thinking on her boots, bracelets and bustier. Fair enough. This fashion motif is evergreen, classic and wholesome.

And for the kinky minority of you with periodic imaginings of exactly what she might be able to do with her magic lasso, well I am not the judging kind. Just be sure though to have agreed on a safe word before engaging in a life of crime would you my dear?

Now, where was I? Ah yes, the Invisible Plane.

A great idea at first blush, but fraught with issues. Parking for example. Skateboarders and minivans would be dinging the heck out of it. Presumably, snow would accumulate on wings and fuselage. I suppose that having a hangar would solve those problems, but then neighbors would know that you had a plane and start pestering you for rides here and there.

Filling up the tank too would be a little unsettling. There you are, holding the pump handle aloft, gas disappearing into the ether. Passers-by would consider you mad, quite mad altogether. Let us therefore assume that you could perform routine maintenance in a private setting, yes? One hopes.

Now, for some unassailable logic:

If: Wonder Woman’s plane can make fuel invisible,
Therefore: Wonder Woman’s plane can make Wonder Woman invisible too.

And yet it did not. Why not?

Here my thoughts went this morning after catching up on a recent post from my beguiling friend Janie titled “Past Passing”. Do go read it would you (and then rush right back). I got a little stumped leaving a comment on the post because as per usual, Janie brushed up against the far frontiers of figuring a lot of stuff out. She seems to be in pursuit of a Grand Unifying Theory of gender, beauty and etc. A fine use of time, say I, and I too aspire to achievement in this daunting and complex field.

In any event, what I could not fit into a cogent comment on that post I felt I might make a complete hash of on my own damn blog. Hence the whole invisible plane theme here.

To one degree or another, we Cross Dressers and everyone somehow affiliated with the TG Super Friends Hall of Justice are met with the same choice when we present to the world. We, at moments at least, long for complete invisibility. And perhaps through skill, practice and fortunes of physicality we can be invisible, fully cloaked and able to infiltrate, unseen, unnoticed by those around us as anything other than that which we (at least temporarily) aspire to be: a beautiful woman. To “disappear” thusly is exhilarating. I say this because I know from happy experience that I have.

And yet, something is missing, something is undone when the invisible plane confers invisibility on its pilot.

I believe that Wonder Woman chose to remain visible in her plane. And it must be said, if I had her figure I wouldn’t leave the house without a brass band and a lighting crew heralding my arrivals. But yes, Wonder Woman made a choice, and filled a need, a need we all have: a need to be noticed for who we are.

When the bad guys saw Wonder Woman hurtling towards them at super-sonic speeds, you know their behavior changed, and pronto too. Bolt cutters and switchblades were dropped in place and the cads ran for the shadows. If Wonder Woman had been cloaked perfectly within her plane, things would have changed, but perhaps too late. Crimes would be committed and the innocent would remain cowering behind locked doors.

I for one have managed to lose (most of) my hang ups about passing. I do my best with what I have and take care to do things thoroughly. Out of respect for the fairer sex, I will always emulate them as completely and perfectly as I can.

But if my plurality, my fuller dimensions are ever to have freer dominion in this happy world of ours, my plurality must at some level, on some occasions, in new settings be as visible as good old Wonder Woman was in her sleek jet.

Otherwise, the bad guys will keep up with the capers, and the innocent remain cooped up inside, hoping for trouble to pass.

I am not a firebrand, a revolutionary, or a martyr (I think the whole martyr look thing was just done to death in the Spring/Summer collections of ’06), but I do feel a little responsible for pushing out some boundaries, inches maybe, millimeters likely.

I do imagine a day, 10, 50, 200 years down the road, tomorrow even, where beauty definitions will be much broader (no pun) and less tied to what we think of as masculinity and femininity today. I do imagine a day where how we express our fuller dimensions will be viewed as less aberrant, less threatening, less … well less everything that confronted you and I on our way to where we are this day.

But that happy day will not come with Wonder Woman invisible in the plane.

A new Autumn approaches rapidly. I am looking forward to it immensely. I will be ever vigilant in looking out for fellow Hall of Gender Justice stalwarts on patrol, making the world a more beautiful place, and safer for us all. You will be pushing boundaries out and bad guys further into the shadows with each step you take. You do have Super Friends, whether you have met them or not.

I imagine that I will be meeting with many of you at SCC in just a little over a week. Please watch out for my plane when parking yours.

Photo Credits to Comic Vine here and here, and much love to the nice people at Marvel.