[Emma_Thorne]

Hi Simone,
Most of the above venues are dead-as-doornails or closed. We tend to go to the Lotus Lounge on Morphett Street, or La Boheme on Grote Street both of which are trans-friendly.
Venue63 on Light Square is a gay nightclub (check for opening times) and Mary’s Poppin down in the East End is VERY popular particularly with the younger set but they play our sort of music.
If you’re in town and don’t want to go out solo a number of us go out regularly and you’d be more than welcome to join us

[Emma_Thorne]

Good on you Phillippa…I love a brazen gal who stares the world down lol

But, yes, you are spot on…folks don’t want to know and don’t hammer the point on such matters. These days no one cares. Straight/Bi/Tri/Asexual/Poly/TG/TV/CD/Catholic no one is fussed. Well except maybe the Rev. Fred Nile. Personally I cannot wait for the day when it is revealed that he is in actual fact a mincing weekend nancy boy who goes by the name of Blaize Buttocks.

[Emma_Thorne]

Get busted or bust through is my motto Veronica…I agree that you could become a target in the right (or wrong) situation but all this has given me food for thought and I think it is high time I got my friend Donna to knock me up a kick arse Batgirl outfit with all the accessories.

Next up: fighting crime

[Emma_Thorne]

My friend Roxxy pointed out the last time I banged on about this analogy that I do have E(mma)-mail…as opposed to a Bat Signal. She went on to say that it serves the same purpose. I was too busy laughing to be offended lol.
I can’t say I’ve ever felt unsafe walking the streets. I am certainly wary late at night and don’t tend to drift too far off the beaten track. Your experience would have been quite unnerving Claire

[Emma_Thorne]

I only have one suggestion Caty from an otherwise excellent post: gather up all your “‘orrible male singlets” and burn the lot.

[Emma_Thorne]

Stuff the neighbours Claire….there is probably all sorts of weird stuff going on over there anyway.

No one I know has ever been yelled at across the street with something like “Hey! That’s Fred Farquarson our neighbour and local wearer of women’s clothes! Everybody start laughing”. It doesn’t happen.

[Emma_Thorne]

Good on you and the wife hun….I love the nudey places xx

[Emma_Thorne]

Hi Roberta, what a great story! Keep at it girl you are doing wonderfully and have no fear there will be other girls out there somewhere I assure you xx

[Emma_Thorne]

I gave your observations a LOT of thought over the weekend Amanda and I think I’m a big part of the problem also because I embraced this new (to me) virtual world unthinkingly…and it prompted me to fossick about in some old posts I made on the old Adelaide Xdress Goddess yahoo group years and years ago just about the time that horse drawn crossdressing was coming to an abrupt end with the explosion of the internet and we were all feeling around in the dark to a degree. I have mellowed a little in the intervening years but my principal gripe was the same as it is now – why don’t more girls get out in the real world?

Back then I thought the old Field Of Dreams adage was what was needed: “Build it and they will come”. We put on safe shows and they definitely turned up, no doubt about that, but as soon as the show was over most scurried back into the closet slamming the door shut again as fast as their glittery heels could carry them not to be seen again until the next hermetically sealed/iron clad/lifetime guaranteed safe show was put on a year later. Negotiating with a lot of our sisters just to get them to that point was like doing a drug deal and there were endless emails back and forth reassuring them that they weren’t going to bump into their boss/neighbour/Mrs Jones from down the street if they did decide to come along. I slept soundly in the belief that I had at least got a lot of them out once a year so that was pretty good! I’m not one to often quote fascist dictators, but I think it was Mussolini who said that it is better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a lamb, a quote I often used in that process.

So, taking on board your wise words dear friend, what has really changed and what has been improved in an age when it has never been easier to find and communicate with others of our ilk? Nothing really and in fact when I thought about it with more perspective they have actually gone significantly backwards as you suggest.

I agree with you entirely regarding our social opportunities now. When Susan, Burnside Betty, Roxxy, and the rest of us travelled out back then it was always to t-friendly venues – now we very rarely go to them and to be honest I find them a bit dull if we do. We have a group of friends who we catch up with most nights at various mainstream pubs and clubs and they are predominantly genetic women who like us for us – it’s no big deal and we have sensational conversations. We catch up with these people at other social things too like bbq’s and we are just part of the group. We are treated very well by everyone we come across from bar owners to bouncers to waiters to barristas and we have an odd sort of celebrity where groups or individuals will bail us up with photo requests and invitations to come to this cafe or that pub. As a notable show-off I haven’t batted a false eyelash at any of this but none of that ever happened at the gay bars where prejudice and jealousy often run unabated amongst those in our so-called “community”. A trip to these places back then was often like Europe in the Middle Ages with warring tribes at every turn.
I thought, naively, that because I am in contact with a lot more girls now than I could ever have hoped for back then that I could easily encourage more to go out but instead all I have are Messenger chats instead of email exchanges where I get “oh no I couldn’t possibly” or “my wife doesn’t understand” or “what if…” or any one of the dozen or so standard responses – followed of course by a request for intimate pictures.
None of this behaviour, I should also hastily point out, is unique to my feminine persona. In male mode I am also quite noisy and a bit of an organiser of people. One of my activities in summer is that I am a dedicated nudist and I’ve been going to our local nudey beach, Maslins, for about 35 years. A lot of people who know me know I go there. When I’ve invited them along I get more often than not “oh no I couldn’t possibly” or “my wife/husband doesn’t understand” or “what if…”. Suddenly that is sounding familiar however it didn’t occur to me until just now. In all that time I’ve been skinny dipping I’ve been caught out by someone I know once – a girl I went to school with who recognised me and came over immediately with her towel and beach brolly, made herself comfortable, and we’ve been going there together ever since as friends. At school she was president of the chess club, quiet, studious. Once I realised there was another side to her our friendship has blossomed even more and, yes, she knows all about Emma and is getting some inappropriate clothes together so she can head out on the town with us. I have been spectacularly successful in getting GG’s out-on-the-town regularly and spectacularly unsuccessful in getting TG girls out and I think I always will be. That is my sum achievement when you break it down. I’ve wasted a lot of time chatting aimlessly to people who will never step out of the shadows with anything. What is that saying about if you do what you’ve always done you’ll get what you’ve always got? Silly me.

I will continue however to live in hope. If someone asks me a legitimate question about anything I am more than happy to answer it if I can help and I will still pop up posts on the lifestyle from time-to-time as they come to me. I have made an excellent new friend in Veronica from these posts and I look forward very much to sharing more with her in the future as we chit chat on email. I also have a nice little friendship in its embryonic stage with Claire on the same lines. Both are very interesting women who have an opinion and something to say which is great and both are a reflection of the high quality of person to be found here on TR – a standard which has not dropped over the years I am glad to say.

Distance is always a problem. I live in Adelaide and Amanda, and Veronica, and Claire don’t but I have met Amanda face to face on a number of occasions and we have history and credibility together. I will go to Transformal next year (I would have gone this year but I have to be home in Hobart that weekend for a family bunfight) and meet a lot of you that I don’t know personally yet and we will have lots of laughs together and friendships will be made…that I promise you.

Oh, and when I’m in Sydney next I will have to ask Amanda and/or Adrian to the local nudey beach. What could possibly go wrong?

…..and it is great to be back honey xx

[Emma_Thorne]

What a great story Claire! Thank you for sharing it xx

[Emma_Thorne]

Hi Claire,
I would love to. I remember Oil of Ulan well, as would many here (what is a Ulan anyway?). That works just as well. The idea being that a primer fills in fine lines and, as is often the case with girls such as us, smooths out skin pores particularly for those who may naturally have a heavy beard line. It also assists in keeping your makeup looking fresher for longer. Just as an artist will prepare a canvas with a “key” wash of something or another prior to painting. I find it also makes taking off your makeup later much easier. Either works hun.
Another tip that I forgot to put in the original post is the wonder cream that is, unbelievably, Anusol. Get some from the chemist, or even a lot of supermarkets sell it, and apply some to the skin around your eyes or anywhere else you have a few signs of age and it tightens the skin almost immediately. You don’t need much and it does a great job. I learnt that one years ago…it helps having 6 sisters I tell you.

[Emma_Thorne]

Hi Catherine,
I’m so sorry you had those experiences….I was purely talking in broad terms, Given the amount of us out there, and how often we are out, it rarely happens. If I were to be sprung, as it were, it would be the second I opened my mouth.
Were there any repercussions from those unfortunate incidents hun?

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It is amazing, Amanda, that we were able to carry our handbags at all given the amount of feminine paraphernalia we all used to carry around in the black & white days of our youth ha ha. We’ve ALL done that. My experience in the Ladies Restrooms these days is that the young girls are more likely to offer you a line of coke than ask you for any spare hygiene products. Things certainly have changed and I admit to being a little naïve to youth culture of today.
The things you need in your bag these days are purely touch up items and some backup supplies. On Saturday night I got caught out when my new “stay ups” decided they were not going to stay up and were slipping down my legs as I sashayed along Gouger Street in the city early straight past about 300 diners. Now IF I’d been properly prepared I would have had a spare pair in my bag but I didn’t. Thankfully I still shave down regardless and just ripped them off and went bare-legged for the night.

[Emma_Thorne]

Perfume!!!!!!!
I just knew there was something I’d forgotten!! Excellent point Glenda and I like the pad idea too I might try that. And ladies don’t forget you do not have to buy Chanel #5 (I’ve smelt it and it isn’t that great anyway) at a zillion dollars per ounce. Head down to your local cheapy chemist warehouse and buy a “celebrity” brand for about $10. Even though she looks like a horse, I buy Sarah Jessica Parker’s Lovely fragrance and get complimented on it all the time.

[Emma_Thorne]

Hi Alison,
No, they are not pathetic excuses they are reasons which apply particularly to you so don’t beat yourself up about it. Plus, we are all individuals – there is no statutory requirement to be an extrovert and you can’t help how you are so celebrate your individuality.
Not everyone is a loud mouth like me which is probably a good thing sis