happousai (imported) wrote: Fri Nov 08, 2002 6:59 pm
Women cannot go topless in public, because they have breasts.
Men can go topless in public, because they don't have breasts.
Women cannot go bottomless in public, because they have vulvas.
Men cannot go bottomless in public, because they have penises and testicles.
What about eunuchs?
(Then again, eunuchs still have anuses, which is one thing that isn't allowed to be shown in public...)
Sometimes I feel like it's, 'Men have to go topless in public. I had no breast development until I started taking estrogen at age 34, but I was very shy about going shirtless long before that. Even though I had no development during my teen years, I seemed to have this inner instinct that I should stay covered, either because of my then suppressed gender issues or from the shame of having a chest that was not developing according to female norms.
In the summer of 1990, a guy at work wanted to take me to his favorite swimming place. I kept my shirt on every time we went there. Before long, I sensed that there were rumors about me floating around the taco restaurant which I worked at in those days. Then coworkers started asking me things such as if I were hiding scars, or if I had been abused as a child, neither of which were true. Once I overheard one person telling other coworkers that I had been sexually molested, which was also untrue, but a scary thought for me at the time because someone close to me had experienced recovered memory.
Eight years later my gender issues surfaced, and then I finally knew why I was so shy about going shirtless.
Wednesday was the one year anniversary of my starting estrogen HRT, and I have development which is still small and early, but enough to not be able to go topless. But I was mentally unable to go shirtless in the first place, so this is no loss for me at all. Even with a shirt on, people at work are beginning to notice things, and one woman correctly suspects that I am about to make a 'major change in life'.
Now what about eunuchs? I am likely to just have the penectomty surgery, but I would not want to walk around naked in public.
As a transgendered woman, I have no desire to overturn laws requiring women to cover up their chest. I imagine that many women would be uncomfortable having guys stare at their naked breasts.