Backup Challenge 5: Spend A Night In One Of Renae's Dresses In Public

The challenge

Spend a night in one of Renae's dresses in public.

The problem

This bit of the blog is normally where I explain any additional rules of the challenge, dodgy interpretations of the challenge itself or reasons why I'm doing it. This entry is going to be a bit different. I'm going to be talking about morals.

Feel free to stop reading now.

Still here?  OK.  Buckle up for some self-indulgent navel gazing, we're going in!

Ever since accepting this challenge on to the list, I've had a distinctly hinky feeling about it.  I wasn't sure it was entirely cool.  As the year has gone on, I've had time to think about it properly and I've managed to narrow down my issues with it.  Basically, it just seems a bit transphobic.  Why?  Well, it seems there's two ways to go with the challenge.  One is the playing-it-for-laughs-don't-I-look-silly approach.  While the lazy writer in me sees the appeal of that, the thrust of that joke is basically "trans-people are funny/ugly/weird, aren't you glad you aren't them".  That's definitely not cool.  The other approach is the playing-it-straight-this-is-what-life-is-like-for-trans-people version.  WHile it's better than the former, it's still pretty patronising.  Cis-hetro-white-dude-tries-being-trans-for-a-day-and-now-knows-what-it's-like-living-with-prejudice can fuck right off as a concept.

So what's a middle-aged man who aspires to, if not woke-ness, then at least semi-lucid liminal half-sleep to do? The answer is to pull a Tony Blair and take a Third Way.

The third way

Like all good challenges that might result in a requirement to register with police on a regular basis, this challenge was undertaken at a child's birthday party (see also One-Off Challenge 22: Skinny Dip). In my defence, at least it was our own children's party this time.

Now, I have to admit that, in order to fulfil the challenge without falling foul of the two issues discussed above, I'm having to play faster and looser with this challenge than most. The public part is a kid's party (which I'll defend as public quite happily, involving as it did several people who's names I didn't know), but that's an afternoon thing, not an evening. Clearly the spirit of the challenge is for a more public appearance than this, but hey-ho.  This is the joy of being the self-appointed final arbiter of the rules.

The other bit I'm playing fast and loose with is the actual end look:
Behold, the Third Way!
Yes, that IS one of Renae's dresses.  Yes, it does barely qualify as a shirt on me. Yes, I am wearing trousers with it. And yes, none of these things contradict the letter of the challenge.

Also yes, I am mixing strict adherence to the letter of the challenge with flagrant disregard to the letter of the challenge. Bite me.  I'm walking a fine line of moral acceptability here.  I'm not dragging it up for the yuks.

The end result? A few funny looks - from the adults, not the kids - and one "is there something you want to tell us" comment.  Not so much that I felt skeezy.  I am beginning to understand why Renae is always complaining about being cold, though. It was surprisingly chilly.

Then it was off to friends for an evening of role-play* still in the dress and it's...
Challenge complete! 
 
*: Not that sort! 

Will I be doing it again?

Nope.

Long-term updates

I've been both unwell with a rotten cold, plus busy at work and busy in the house, so some of the long-term challenges have been on a seriously back burner this week.
 
French words "learned" (according to the memrise app):758 - Due to being a bit lax, the app is giving me lots of revision at the moment! NO new learning this week as a result.
Daily photos taken? Yes.
Swordfighting learnt: Still nope.
I am currently reading: This week I have continued to be not reading Daggerspell.
"Cheat" days on food since last week: One, when we ate all the props Renae was using for photographing her Christmas pottery.
"Cheat" days on exercise: Fewer than normal, thanks to a work party exchange with my dad and my uncle.
Most pull ups in a row:9, even with a cold.
My favourite drawing: Drawn from someone else's cartoon dino, I'm still fairly pleased with this.  I couldn't have managed it at the start of the year. (The thing I'm most pleased with is actually that I can see how the drawing is constructed and why it works.)
Rarrrrgh!
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One-Off Challenge 22: Skinny Dip

Image
One of my rules of my challenges is that they're suspended when I'm on holiday.  Unfortunately, while it's the school holidays and we've got Renae's mum, step-dad and brother staying with us, I'm not on holiday, so the challenges continue unabated! This challenge is courtesy of... Matt Boyce. The challenge Skinny dip.  No specifics, so I'm taking this to be swimming naked somewhere public.  No other restrictions. Challenge accepted. This is probably not how you expect a skinny dipping challenge to start, but yesterday I was at a kid's birthday party... Listen, don't dial that third '9', just put the phone down and hear me out. OK, our nephew Charlie turned 6 yesterday.  As his party, he chose "cake in the woods".  It was pretty much what you might expect.  Cake.  In the woods.  The woods being Roslin Glen Country Park.  There was cake.  There were party games.  There was lots of splashing about in the river. The d
Read more

Challenge 2: Learn To Draw

Image
My pre-course drawings.  The bottom one is a bagel, in case you can't tell. So, what's this challenge all about? When I was at school (many, many years ago now), there were three things that never came naturally to me and to which I did not apply myself.  They were art, music and foreign languages.  (PE never really came naturally either, beyond a certain degree of competence at catching balls, but I enjoyed it enough to at least try.)  Of those three subjects, I've always quietly regretted not putting the effort into French.  I took it to Standard Grade, but no further.  I dropped it because it was hard and I wasn't great at it.  But this entry isn't about French, it's about art.  Did I regret dropping that even before Standard Grade level? Well, no.  Because I knew I was bad at art.  I knew I couldn't draw.  How did I know?  Seven years of primary school art classes on a Wednesday afternoon is how.  Seven years of boredom and disappointment as my
Read more

Challenge 1: Learn French

So, what's this challenge all about? I mentioned last entry that there were three things I wasn't good at in school: art, music and foreign languages. We've covered art in the learn to draw challenge, now it's time for SPEAKING LOUDLY AND SLOWLY TO JOHNNY FOREIGNER. Unlike art, I did do French up to Standard Grade, but, if I'm being honest, that was only because I had to take it that far. French never grabbed me. Whether it was something about the method of teaching, the late start (I was in S1 before I ever darkened the door of a second language) or just teen-aged laziness, French never spoke to me. In return, I only ever grunted monosyllabicly back in an accent best described as "not French". Come the end of S4, I dropped it and never looked back.  Until a year and a half later.  Instead of doing sixth year at my school, I did a year in high school in the states via a cultural exchange programme where I went there and no one came here. (I
Read more