Yesterday was a beautiful late winter day here in Boston. I capped my day by riding my bicycle a few miles to my new healthcare provider. A facility that specializes in lgbt care, all of the staff has experience in assisting folks in transition. I was far from femmed up. My bike is a men's single speed that I had painted in dark earth tones. My shoes were men's low top hiking boots. My pants were women's cargo pants in brown. I also had on my black and grey men's jackets zipped up to my chin and black gloves. Oh, and a bright pink baseball cap. The only skin showing was my face and my ankles. As I rode slowly along an icy bike path I heard honking coming from the road to my left where there was stopped trafic going the other way. I idly wondered who the impatient putz was. It turns out that the honking was not for the other cars. Two men in some kind of service van were looking right at me. The passenger craned his neck to see past the driver who had his mug almost on the glass. He was smiling and waving.
It was just so odd, it struck me then and has kind of haunted me since. Was I being mocked in some way? Was the incident some form of trans or homophobia? It left me feeling strangely... Was this what I have to look forward to if I went further ahead with my plans? But it didn't deter me. I am now looking ahead to my appointment with my new pcp who can get me onto an hrt regime just in time for spring!
Or maybe he was just hitting on You ;).
You know, bright pink baseball cup is kinda not very common among male cyclists. Your bike could not be a decisive "gender-marker" - I have seen plenty of women using male-frame bikes - though I have no idea why do they, because (IMO) there are very few concepts which would equal male-frame in terms of impracticality.
Maybe hes gay and just being giddy.
I dont.think.theres much to it.
You're both probably right, that in some way he was just being friendly, the negative nancy in me never considers folks, just being nice. I too know plenty of women who ride men's style frames because they have a more solid geometry. The women's style is only designed that way to allow for long skirts. Not that I don't want one, I do, I have my eye out. As for the pink hat, I figured I could swing it, even in boy mode, because joggers and their ilk tend to wear all kinds of bright colors regardless of gender. A very manly hetero friend of mine recently mentioned that his new running shoes have some pink on them. Either way, I don't care, I like my new hat!