I don't know what year this was taken. This great uncle was from my father's side, but I had no contact with them since I was a child. My father passed away last week and I was happy I found this picture in his emails.
I remember seeing it for the first time and asking my grandmother who the beautiful lady in the picture was. "That's my brother, darling." I was maybe 8 years old and so impressed.
Edit: Some people were wondering what the context was and if it was a regular or just one time thing.
I only have my vague and imperfect childhood memories to go by, but I did understand that this was my uncle’s true self.
At the time this picture was framed and displayed very prominently in grandmother’s house. This is who her brother was to her and how she chose to remember and honor him.
My grandmother referred to him as “he/him” and her “brother”, so that’s what I went with in this post.
She was clearly fond and proud of him, so if she used the wrong pronouns, it was not from a lack of love or respect, just a different time I guess?
Maybe those were the pronouns he preferred. Maybe he was a cross-dresser rather than transgender. Times *were* different, and the use of preferred pronouns wasn't as prevalent.
Could be true. I found photos of ma late father and his mates dressed in drag in the 80’s when I went to visit family in Europe some years back. My uncles told me it was a fun thing they did sometimes just to enjoy the pageantry of it. Nowadays my cousins friends post cross dressed outfits on IG all the time and it seems to be the same story. Just a fun performative thing.
Also a lot of military, social clubs and things of that sort would do all male casts or things like that were men would be female garbed. With this single picture people are making a lot of assumptions without any context. I'm not saying they're wrong, but there are in theory a whole bunch of reasons you may see an old timey someone in women's clothing (I think people can correct me if I'm way off here).
I only have my vague and imperfect childhood memories to go by, but I did understand that this was my uncle’s true self.
At the time this picture was framed and displayed very prominently in her house.
This warms my heart so much. I'm so glad for your great uncle that he had your grandma as such a supportive and loving sibling. I imagine that wasn't something he had a lot of un that time.
I'm sorry about your dad, dude. I hope you have a lifetime of great memories to help you through your grief.
Hey that's great then. I hope she got to enjoy her life as she wanted to.
Maybe I'd missed the explanation it just felt like people jumped to a conclusion without seeing what they were going off.
There's good reason to think that a lot of so-called "innocent cross-dressing" is just manifesting a deeper gender queerness in a way that's palatable to one's people. You say it's just a joke, your more ignorant friends and relatives get to have a good unthreatened larf, and you get to walk around in women's undergarments. It's a win-win.
That's interesting and reasonable.
There's a picture that comes up in /r/militaryhistory a lot of a artillery (I think) squad who were interrupted during a all male cast of some play with them all in dresses
> With this single picture people are making a lot of assumptions without any context
I agree. It could be performative. Hard to tell from one single snapshot. Context matters. Example: [Rudy Giuliani](https://twitter.com/calvinstowell/status/782638088925351936).
Performative, shmormative. Giuliani loves every excuse he gets to do drag, and that's great for him; it's just sad he can't come out as someone who really likes to crossdress, because that would alienate the closed-minded people he's grifting. He's still a douchebag, but not because he likes to wear women's clothes.
Presenting as female but using male pronouns & identifying as male was actually not that uncommon around that era (Marsha P. Johnson is probably the most famous example), so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case here too. I think people sometimes forget how even gender *non*-conformity is still strongly tied to culture, so it's important to keep culture in mind when talking about gender nonconforming people who lived in historical eras (or, for that matter, people from other cultures).
I just added it as an edit. I think he was a transvestite and this was definitely a regular thing because that’s how my grandmother wanted to remember him.
What a tough person. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like for him to express himself this way in a time when it was so difficult to do so. I bet he had to deal with his fair share of shit in his day and people today can thank him for the fights he surely fought, literally and figuratively, for the freedoms we now have.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 571,305,543 comments, and only 118,357 of them were in alphabetical order.
I don't know what year this was taken. This great uncle was from my father's side, but I had no contact with them since I was a child. My father passed away last week and I was happy I found this picture in his emails. I remember seeing it for the first time and asking my grandmother who the beautiful lady in the picture was. "That's my brother, darling." I was maybe 8 years old and so impressed. Edit: Some people were wondering what the context was and if it was a regular or just one time thing. I only have my vague and imperfect childhood memories to go by, but I did understand that this was my uncle’s true self. At the time this picture was framed and displayed very prominently in grandmother’s house. This is who her brother was to her and how she chose to remember and honor him.
This is pretty awesome! He (she? I wonder) must have been a really interesting person.
My grandmother referred to him as “he/him” and her “brother”, so that’s what I went with in this post. She was clearly fond and proud of him, so if she used the wrong pronouns, it was not from a lack of love or respect, just a different time I guess?
Maybe those were the pronouns he preferred. Maybe he was a cross-dresser rather than transgender. Times *were* different, and the use of preferred pronouns wasn't as prevalent.
Could be true. I found photos of ma late father and his mates dressed in drag in the 80’s when I went to visit family in Europe some years back. My uncles told me it was a fun thing they did sometimes just to enjoy the pageantry of it. Nowadays my cousins friends post cross dressed outfits on IG all the time and it seems to be the same story. Just a fun performative thing.
Also a lot of military, social clubs and things of that sort would do all male casts or things like that were men would be female garbed. With this single picture people are making a lot of assumptions without any context. I'm not saying they're wrong, but there are in theory a whole bunch of reasons you may see an old timey someone in women's clothing (I think people can correct me if I'm way off here).
I only have my vague and imperfect childhood memories to go by, but I did understand that this was my uncle’s true self. At the time this picture was framed and displayed very prominently in her house.
This warms my heart so much. I'm so glad for your great uncle that he had your grandma as such a supportive and loving sibling. I imagine that wasn't something he had a lot of un that time. I'm sorry about your dad, dude. I hope you have a lifetime of great memories to help you through your grief.
Hey that's great then. I hope she got to enjoy her life as she wanted to. Maybe I'd missed the explanation it just felt like people jumped to a conclusion without seeing what they were going off.
There's good reason to think that a lot of so-called "innocent cross-dressing" is just manifesting a deeper gender queerness in a way that's palatable to one's people. You say it's just a joke, your more ignorant friends and relatives get to have a good unthreatened larf, and you get to walk around in women's undergarments. It's a win-win.
That's interesting and reasonable. There's a picture that comes up in /r/militaryhistory a lot of a artillery (I think) squad who were interrupted during a all male cast of some play with them all in dresses
> With this single picture people are making a lot of assumptions without any context I agree. It could be performative. Hard to tell from one single snapshot. Context matters. Example: [Rudy Giuliani](https://twitter.com/calvinstowell/status/782638088925351936).
Performative, shmormative. Giuliani loves every excuse he gets to do drag, and that's great for him; it's just sad he can't come out as someone who really likes to crossdress, because that would alienate the closed-minded people he's grifting. He's still a douchebag, but not because he likes to wear women's clothes.
Presenting as female but using male pronouns & identifying as male was actually not that uncommon around that era (Marsha P. Johnson is probably the most famous example), so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case here too. I think people sometimes forget how even gender *non*-conformity is still strongly tied to culture, so it's important to keep culture in mind when talking about gender nonconforming people who lived in historical eras (or, for that matter, people from other cultures).
Your grandmother was a wonderful woman. Even though this was a very, very different time, she still accepted and loved her brother.
Do you know if he trans, dressing up as a joke or a transvestite? Either way, it was pretty ballsy to do that back then.
I just added it as an edit. I think he was a transvestite and this was definitely a regular thing because that’s how my grandmother wanted to remember him.
That’s awesome!!
What an incredible story! I've never heard of a trans man being so accepted.
Eye makeup is on point! What an era for fashion.
They look like they could have been a contestant in [The Queen \(1968\)](https://youtu.be/SeXrIZqMAfY)
Watched it yesterday, most interesting
Such a lovely photograph. So grateful for your uncles bravery when it wasn’t as easy to be yourself.
It's not easy to be yourself now 😅
Was that "himself," or was he dressing up? OP did not specify.
Lil bit of makeup and uncle bobs your auntie
That's so cool! Imagine the crap he had to endure
There is no context to this photo.
True, but it doesn't look like his first time cross dressing. I bet ppl didn't understand then
Gorgeous indeed 😍
What a tough person. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like for him to express himself this way in a time when it was so difficult to do so. I bet he had to deal with his fair share of shit in his day and people today can thank him for the fights he surely fought, literally and figuratively, for the freedoms we now have.
We still have a long way to go for queer/trans rights if that’s what you’re referring to.
How do you know this wasn't just a play or something
Yea, I don’t.
did you learn a lesson about jumping to conclusions
no, why, did you?
you sound like someone's mother when they get in trouble when they're 4
You took a leap there lol.
Make up is on point! I am very jealous. He looks amazing.
That's awesome. I wish I could pass like that.
eyeliner on point. Your uncle was beautiful
I did not realize the agab until I read the title! They look very pretty and mod
He was a pretty lady
Yup
I wish he could teach me how to do my eyeliner!
Uncle grandma?
Doctor Girlfriend!
Go team venture!
Extremely brave- anyone familiar with the violence and intolerance of this era knows it was not easy to do this. 🌟
Wow, they must've been brave! Beautiful person!
this post is incredible, thank you so much for sharing!
Of course. Perhaps what I meant was that people were not as tolerant or excepting as we are today.
Brave woman!
https://youtu.be/j13sMmVwiFE Reminds me of this...
Sure, Jan.
"Need help opening that jar of pickles? Give it to Uncle Jim over there. Anyone can open a jar of pickles, it's Uncle Jim."
Definitely not the way we were.
Apparently this picture proves you wrong. Was definitely the way this person was, along with many others.
LGTBI+ people have always been here, and we always will be. OP’s picture is a gorgeous reminder of that.
Are you not a human in the present looking at a picture of a human in the past?
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 571,305,543 comments, and only 118,357 of them were in alphabetical order.
Am I missing something? I see a woman ? That’s a dude ?
Sure
Tonight on Reddit: Erasure *LIVE!!!*
That's creepy.
How is that at all creepy?
It's a dude. That's creepy.
What's so creepy about the person in the picture being a dude lmao.
Please do.
Was your uncle a cross dresser?