Not quite over the counter culture
My brother said something insightful to me once. Actually, he'd probably argue that he's said several insightful things to me, but for the purposes of this blog entry I'm going to choose just one.
It was several years ago, I'd been out clubbing a couple of times as Becky and was really enjoying myself. We were sitting in a pub and I was enthusing about this whole new lifestyle of tranny clubs that I'd discovered.
He smiled, and said "you've found your counter culture."
He went on to talk about how he'd got mixed up in the drugs scene of the town where he'd lived in his early twenties. It was self-destructive, expensive, and ultimately lead him down some very nasty paths (from which he has since returned and is now flourishing, I'm pleased to add).
The thing was, he explained, that a big part of what had drawn him to, and kept him in, that scene was the sense of belonging to a group of people that weren't part of accepted society. Running underneath and at opposite directions to the social "norms", with people who were interesting, scary, weird and talented. It wasn't just a group of people who bought,sold and took lots of drugs, it was a whole rich social network of people who just so happened to also buy, sell and take lots of drugs.
My Bro had gained strength from that feeling of belonging, but not belonging to the mainstream. The feeling of "not being like everyone else", and that rang true for me too. I'd found my counter-culture, for the first time in my life, and I was loving it.
Maybe everyone has their own counter-culture. Their own way of feeling that they're not "fitting in", even if to everyone else's eyes they appear to be doing just that.
One of my favourite songwriters is Ben Folds, and one of my favourite songs by the Ben Folds Five is "Underground", which sort of sums up the feelings I got when I first discovered the tranny scene.
I was never cool in school
I'm sure you don't remember me
and now it's been ten years
I'm still wondering who to be
and I love to mix in circles,
cliques and social coteries,
that's me...
hand me my nosering
(can we be happy?)
show me the mosh pit
(can we be happy?)
we can be happy
underground
Okay, so trannies don't traditionally habituate the mosh pit or sport noserings (although it's not unknown), but in my mind that song is about the joy of being part of a counter-culture, something hidden "underground".
In some ways I've moved on from my tranny-club days, but I'm still part of the culture. The feeling of belonging is now spread thinly, like a weak glue connecting me invisibly to a huge social network of interesting, scary, weird and talented people.
And I like it like that.
It was several years ago, I'd been out clubbing a couple of times as Becky and was really enjoying myself. We were sitting in a pub and I was enthusing about this whole new lifestyle of tranny clubs that I'd discovered.
He smiled, and said "you've found your counter culture."
He went on to talk about how he'd got mixed up in the drugs scene of the town where he'd lived in his early twenties. It was self-destructive, expensive, and ultimately lead him down some very nasty paths (from which he has since returned and is now flourishing, I'm pleased to add).
The thing was, he explained, that a big part of what had drawn him to, and kept him in, that scene was the sense of belonging to a group of people that weren't part of accepted society. Running underneath and at opposite directions to the social "norms", with people who were interesting, scary, weird and talented. It wasn't just a group of people who bought,sold and took lots of drugs, it was a whole rich social network of people who just so happened to also buy, sell and take lots of drugs.
My Bro had gained strength from that feeling of belonging, but not belonging to the mainstream. The feeling of "not being like everyone else", and that rang true for me too. I'd found my counter-culture, for the first time in my life, and I was loving it.
Maybe everyone has their own counter-culture. Their own way of feeling that they're not "fitting in", even if to everyone else's eyes they appear to be doing just that.
One of my favourite songwriters is Ben Folds, and one of my favourite songs by the Ben Folds Five is "Underground", which sort of sums up the feelings I got when I first discovered the tranny scene.
I was never cool in school
I'm sure you don't remember me
and now it's been ten years
I'm still wondering who to be
and I love to mix in circles,
cliques and social coteries,
that's me...
hand me my nosering
(can we be happy?)
show me the mosh pit
(can we be happy?)
we can be happy
underground
Okay, so trannies don't traditionally habituate the mosh pit or sport noserings (although it's not unknown), but in my mind that song is about the joy of being part of a counter-culture, something hidden "underground".
In some ways I've moved on from my tranny-club days, but I'm still part of the culture. The feeling of belonging is now spread thinly, like a weak glue connecting me invisibly to a huge social network of interesting, scary, weird and talented people.
And I like it like that.
Labels: transvestism
And you know, it's fun! It's fun to get away from the similar look of people, the similar predicatable way people behave.
I wonder it might be as much "alternative interest" as wanting to be somewhere between a pioneer and - as Siobhan said - a sloppy second. Not so much anti-establishment as anti-identikit? And for the record, I have a nosestud too.
Does anyone remember Tony Hancock's The Rebel?
Does anyone remember Tony Hancock's The Rebel?"
No, just you Isobel.
Oh my God it's working! :-O
;-)
Just me though.
Well, when I say enjoy, I mean tollerate. Barely tollerate.
Actually there's not much culture to speak of either.
OMG, Im a intollerable loaner on the outide of mainstream culture.
Wow thanks for makeing me think about this stuff Becky.
Im gonna go and have a little cry now.
But have you noticed that all counter-cultures have actually stricter rules of behaviour and are often less tolerant than mainstream, inside their own sphere. They usually define very strictly what it is exactly how you must rebel against the mainstream.
And I hate that. Were you thinking of that too, Isobel?
Even early on, the urge to rebel is there in some people. My sixth grade teacher sign my year book
"To a determined non-conformist"
Peace,
Dawn
I'm a roleplaying, goth tranny. Three counterculture stereotypes in one package!
Top that.
;-)
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