Rain Dove Dubilewski Instagram – Walking home as societally femme vs societally masc may seem to be obviously safer for the masc individual. And it is. I tried over 200 night walks in 2018-2019 in both “masc” and “femme” looks (by societal standards) in 14 large cities and 17 small towns. Needless to say, I was absolutely heckled more when perceived as “femme”. Followed home at times, touched without consent, and even stopped for questioning by people curious as to where I was going or if I was trans. However, there were some things during my night walks I also monitored that I’ve never shared before- and they were regarding socio-economic accessibility. (1) I tried boarding busses at night without fare in men’s and women’s attire. I was granted more free fares as perceived male than female by about 2.5x. (2) I was less likely to get a ticket when caught jumping the turnstiles illegally for the train. As a “femme” I racked up 6 tickets vs 11 as “masc”. (3) I was equally as likely to be lent a phone by a stranger I’d asked to call “for a ride”. Flat even- and that one really surprised me.
Why did this study matter? As a person who’s experienced poverty for a good portion of my life, getting home was more than just “walking there without getting touched/heckled”. It was also navigating the little things like not affording transportation or a phone service. I wanted to understand what the world would be likely to offer me in either “gender/sex” perception- so I knew what needed to be dismantled and how to survive should I need to.
Did any of these surprise You? How do You think we would do getting home from Your city/town center to Your home? Would it be any different?
NOTE: My experiment pertains to My own being only and may not be accurate for other people of other aesthetics, intersectionalities or locations. The purpose of this was not to support the division of treatment but to clearly illustrate if I as ONE being can be granted various privileges or punishments based on the simple assumption of sex/gender.
Photo by @mattlicari
#lgbtq #genderfluid #genderqueer #gendercapitalism #storytime #comparison #nonbinary #binaryexpert | Posted on 24/Nov/2021 22:46:42
