lundi 15 octobre 2007

Hair and gender

Lynne is back to Facebook note productivity. So since I shaved my head-hair (English is sooo annoying for not having the equivalent of cheveux) on June 12th as a fundraiser for children with leukemia (500$!), I've experienced lots of reactions in terms of gender association. What annoys me particularly is that when service-related people welcome me, they can't stick to "bonjour" or "bonsoir", they have to add "madame/monsieur". And French-speaker know how hard it is to neutralize gender-talk.

During the summer, with my uniform (medium t-shirt and cap), at night, seen from the back, it was comprehensively impossible for people to interject me properly. At the beginning, I was quite pissed and used to turn around and say "Madame!". After a while, I got used to it and started to just smile. People were subsequently embarassed (which I enjoyed).

When my head-hair grew a bit longer, there were no mistakes anymore. Then, people started recognizing me as a cousin or a friend of someone again (to which I invariably reply, bored, that my face is a perfect Quebec blend of amerindian and black diluted with lots of white, which explains the fact that they recognize someone else in me, and with this long talk I bore the listener as a revenge).

But recently, they got to a length where when I don't wear strech-and-sexy shirt and I don't smile, people call me "Monsieur". I don't really react anymore, not even smile. I don't think I care.

So I'm torn between several style options:
1- overly display my feminity
2- dress as usual, but wear my very old make-up, probably animal tested, even for class
3- dress "like a guy", large t-shirt and pants
4- blend everything (big pants sexy t-shirt and vice versa, or guy-dress with make-up)
5- alternate all the options above

And as I go over my note to ensure English is understandable, I find it very futile and superficial (but I will publish it anyways because I'm curious about your opinion and I like me-being-my-subject of a social experiment)

So I won't tag anyone (though I've very tempted to), but please pick an option, and vote (secretly or openly)! And if I get no answers within a week, I'll start tagging people :P.

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