Goddesses

 Gina Lollobrigida passed away today. She was one of the all-time screen idols, once described as the most beautiful woman in the world. That's if you ignore the other most beautiful women in the world on screen: Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Grace Kelly, Snow White, the fairest of them all ... OK, maybe not Snow, but you know what I mean. We have our idols. 

Of course, you may prefer male matinée idols, but that fact is that the acting profession has set up standards of beauty for every generation and TGirls can be greatly influenced by them. It's an aspirational thing for trans people, I'd say, whereas for a cis person, the screen goddess (or male idol) is usually a rival and therefore much more suspect. 

The other thing I'd say is that we TGirls can sometimes be a little bit old-fashioned in our valuations of feminine beauty and can look back to past idols mainly because they are highly feminine - or feminised - from the days, especially the golden years of cinema, when femininity was emphasised with big hair, bold lipstick, glamorous dresses, skyscraper heels... This nostalgia for the glory days of femininity does sometimes lead us to be old-fashioned in the way we dress. That's the joke in the Emily Howard the Rubbish Transvestite sketches, which infuriate so many although there's a lot of truth in them. I just feel that women don't - and never actually did - dress like screen goddesses and, as I prefer to blend in and be treated as a woman, I tend to wear what women in the street are actually wearing now. That's my preferred style.

I'm not saying we should hold ourselves back. Of course you can dress like a star, especially at a glam party. Being trans is also about reaching your full potential in your real gender, so absolutely be Marilyn if you really want. It's probably a bit over the top for a trip to the supermarket, is what I'm saying, but hey, maybe the frozen veg section needs a touch of glamour... Boo boo bee doo!

Rest in peace, Gina.

 

Sue x