I have found that consistently dressing effeminately has been my best way to be accepted in public. If that's the only way people see me then it will be what other's expect to see. Over all the years I tried to fit in as a male, I never felt in my mind that I was accepted as one, and others questioned my personal appearance. Dressing consistently effeminately has helped me accept my femininity and be more open expressing it. My feelings of femininity are deeper than I even imagined, and every day I become more and more aware of it and feel happier and happier because of it. No matter what you do, there is always a critic, who you will never satisfy. Many critics are so unhappy with their own lives, they have nothing better to do than critisize others.
Besides when you become a senior citizen, unless you are well off financially, you become more and more marginalized and invisible. I find that most people care even less than I do. If I have not found acceptance, I have found tons of people who are publicly apathetic about how I dress. Many be they have private feelings, which they keep to themselves, or maybe they really don't see me.
Just be safe as you can be. No matter who you are, no one can just walk unprotected into every corner of the universe. And there are just somethings that we just can't be protected against.
