I was thinking about the topic and reading the responses, and I came to a weird conclusion.
This is ONE topic where being trans has a definite advantage. We don't want to blame a woman for inciting unwanted attention or worse, but at the same time, we instinctively feel when someone has crossed what would be our own standard for what's appropriate.
I say we have an advantage becuase, IMHO, being raised as boys, we get the message "Take responsibility for your choices." earlier and probably more forcefully than our GG sisters. Some parents don't ask their daughters to be responsible for anything outside of their undies, and even _that_ only after Aunt Flo's first visit.
I think, on some level, T's can balance daring and safety pretty well, especially in a relatively safe setting like a T-friendly club. I hate to sound butch, but in many instances, T-girls can defend themselves better than a lot of g-girls, and so maybe we can afford to get a little more audacious once in a while.
As for "Why" we dress sexy at clubs etcetera? Because we like to look good, we like the image in the mirror to make us happy, and beauty makes people happy. We all have different standards of beauty and different aesthetics. We envision ourselves as a beautiful ideal and constanly strive to reach it. We have to! And we judge our success by our own reflection, and by the reactions of others, and that's cool. And as for attention? Attention is food for our femininity, ALL women love attention, don't they?
The question of "who's to blame if something happens" will have a different answer from each person who considers it. Tink put it well, when she included a girl's behaviour in her asessment of when a girl is being slutty. Acting slutty is WAY more obvious than LOOKING slutty, and more irresponsible. More useful is to always remember to be careful, be responsible for yourself, especially around strangers. Just like Mama said!
I could go on, but I have to change...
Steph