Nancy 200502.6

460 Grayson Perry's Dcoumentary on Cross-dressing

(Curtsey)
Dear Madam Rebecca, Mistresses and sissies,

A programme is being broadcast in the UK purporting to be a sensitive look at transvestitism. It's on Channel 4 on Wednesday 16th February, 2005 a

t 9pm GMT.
The accompanying photo in The Radio Times (despite its name, it's primarily a television guide!) shows what can only be described as a sissy dressed as a little girl with a matching dolly who looks like she'd be a real asset to the group, given the picture seems to be have been taken in public. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find the photograph on either Channel 4's or The Radio Times' websites.

Set your video recorders!

Love,
Cissy Pansy
(Curtsey)

Here ya go. :)

"Why Men Wear Frocks"
Feb. 16, @ 9pm, Ch. 4, UK
From The Radio Times site

"Turner prize winner and cross-dresser Grayson Perry explores transvestitism and makes distinctions between being a transvestite, being a drag queen, being gay and dressing up on a stag night. Perry asserts that if cross-dressing is a flight from masculinity, then masculinity must be attended to, and he investigates the difficulty of being a man."

from: http://www.twofour.co.uk/broadcast/news_item.asp?newsID=169

TURNER PRIZE WINNING GRAYSON PERRY ASKS WHY STRAIGHT MEN WEAR FROCKS IN DOC FOR CHANNEL 4

Grayson Perry, happily married 44-year old cross-dressing potter and Turner Prize winner, is to make a film for Channel 4 about what it feels like to be a transvestite.

In the fine art world, Grayson Perry has two unique selling points. One is his expressive pottery and the other is Claire. His transvestite alter ego is a regular feature throughout his work.
Why Men Wear Frocks with Grayson Perry is commissioned by Jan Younghusband, the head of arts at Channel 4. “Grayson is planning to take an intelligent and witty look at contemporary attitudes to masculinity,” she says.

In the film Grayson asks other people from the transgender community to explore why they want to dress in women’s clothes. “Cross-dressing is a complicated kind of flight from masculinity and the way it’s policed, so it’s the masculinity we should attend to, not just the cross-dressing. Ultimately, Why Men Wear Frocks is about the difficulty of being a man at this time,” says Grayson Perry.

Wish I could see it, but Canada doesn't have Channel Four. :(
Maybe it'll be rebroadcast here some day,
Beth :)

(Curtsey)
Dear Beth,

Trust me, that's not the photograph that was in The Radio Times!

I'll have to see if I can scan and post it, but the original's only a thumbnail.

Love,
Cissy Pansy
(Curtsey)

(Curtsey)
Dear Beth,

On the other hand, this is!

Love,
Cissy Pansy
(Curtsey)

(Curtsey)

Dear Madam Rebecca, Mistresses and sissies,

Why Do men Wear Frocks?

The programme was broadcast on Wednesday 16th February. It was presented and narrated by Grayson Perry, whose photograph, in different outfits, Beth and I have already posted. Naturally, my video recorder chewed the tape within two seconds, so this is written from memory.

It started at a cross-dressers' convention in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. He spoke to a number of TVs and was honest enough to discuss the sexual aspects of cross-dressing. He also interviewed a Wife and asked Her opinions.

Next, he visited a bikers' rally (he's also a motorcyclist) and made some comparisons with the dressing-up required to participate in the sport and cross-dressing.

An interview with a pre-operative trans-sexual followed, when he was keen to draw distinctions between TVs and TSs. In this he was helped by the TS who was keen to distance him/Herself from males.

He met a group of older teenage boys and they discussed what was acceptable behaviour in a male. Their opinions were surprisingly liberal and mature.

A potted history of cross-dressing followed. Until the mid-nineteenth century, cross-dressing was a female-to-male pastime, mainly due to social conventions which repressed Women. However, from the late eighteenth century, male dress became more and more drab, just as Female dress become more and more Feminine and, as a result, cross-dressing became more of a male pastime until now it is almost exclusively so. This section was illuminated with an interview with a historian whose area of expertise this was and who owned hundreds of period dresses! He also visited the Museum of London and explored their collection of Victorian costumes. These were contrasted with the fashions worn on the street by modern Women.

At a Saville Row tailor he explored the narrow limits of male fashion but spoke with a dandy who did not feel so constrained. It was posited that dandyism presented a more conventional safety valve, so to speak. (I'm not convinced: I'm a dandy, but I simply adore being a sissy!)

The modern Female's freedom of choice was explored at a Bridal store, with a Bride-To-Be and Her Mother agreeing They had no need to dress in a Feminine manner, but it was fun so to do for weddings.

The penultimate interview was at a goth nightclub, where some males were dressing very effeminately. One such described himself not as a cross-dresser but as a pretty boy. It reminded me very much of the New Romantics of the early 1980s and photographs I've seen of regulars at the Blitz Club. Think frilly shirts and make-up; not so much glam-rock as glamorous-rock! (Guess what? I was never a New Romantic but, to this day, that's my music).

Finally, he visited a Lady who ran a TV-dressing service and accompanied Her and some of Her clients to lunch, all en Femme. Unlike the cross-dressers at the convention, whose talent varied enormously, these were all superbly made-up and dressed. Only a close inspection (or a single syllable) would reveal they weren't Female. She mentioned that Her clients were from all walks of life and were often otherwise very 'macho.' Her clients spoke of how it allowed them an escape from their exclusively-male world and made them nicer people. Her reaction to this, I should be so lucky to be able to escape my life, brought vigorous nods of sympathy from my Wife.

Being presented by a transvestite, the programme was sympathetic to cross-dressers, but this was not about Femme Domme, forced Feminization or sissies. Nor did we get to see him in the gorgeous outfit which graced The Radio Times!

Love,
Cissy Pansy
(Curtsey)

Was this on in the US? Seems like an interesting show. I checked Tivo and could not find it.

Cynthia

(Curtsey)
Dear Cynthia,

No, I'm afraid this was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4. However, I've just realized Channel 4 has a cable/satellite channel called E4 (I think: we're strictly terrestrial) so if you have that in your package you might get to see it. Otherwise, it's just a case of hoping a US broadcaster buys it.

Love,
Cissy Pansy
(Curtsey)

I don’t know if one of these is the photo that you were looking for?

I found them by entering Grayson Perry into the search engine on the BBC homepage (http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

ATB
abbie

(Curtsey)
Dear Abbie,

Thank you!

These weren't the photos I mentioned, which I attached to a previous letter, but they are very good and in a similar vein.

Love,
Cissy Pansy
(Curtsey)