Since Annie decided to show herself here I've been trying to nail down exactly whom she reminds me of. I thought at first that she took after my maternal grandmother, but on searching through my collection of family photographs I found that despite close involvement with her throughout my childhood I lacked any even halfway decent photographs. I have been canvassing my family for more, but so far have failed to find any reasonably good photograph more recent than 1908,at which time she was considered a 'real Irish beauty'. She was also strikingly tall for a woman in those days - at least 5' 10". I have now been provided with one that shows her in her early seventies which is of interest because although she looks rather drawn (she was probably then already suffering from heart failure) my mother also appears in the same photograph, and in some of my moher's photographs, including this one and another taken on her own seventieth birthday, I can sometimes see quite a strong resemblance there also.
So for the rest of you here, when you appear in your feminine personas, do you also notice any strong likenesses to female members of your own families?
(25-04-2014, 01:28 AM)AnnabelP Wrote: [ -> ]So for the rest of you here, when you appear in your feminine personas, do you also notice any strong likenesses to female members of your own families?
Oh yes, Annie. It's funny you should ask. For the longest time, whenever I looked at myself in the mirror I always saw my father's likeness. But, now, when I transform to my Clara persona, I can see how much I resemble my mother.
I have my mothers legs, but looking in the mirror (or at my avatar) I look so much like my youngest sister that I've actually done a double take, more than once!
I look as if I am my sisters twin especially when I'm in girl,mode with a wig
I look like my mother without doubt.
Which is OK...my mother was beautiful when she was young.
I don't think I look like any of my family currently. Maybe a little like my mom when she was much younger.
Thank you all for your replies. At the other end of the spectrum I have a fascinating studio photograph of my grandfather taken in India (where he and his siblings were born) about 1896, in a knee length dress with a frilly top, ankle socks and Mary Janes, and long hair curling down over his shoulders. He was probably about 3 or 4 at the time. Furthermore, when he went to England a little later he was initially sent to a girl's school. I cannot however see any great likeness to other members of the family, although he is recognizably the same child as in later male mode photos, in one of which he has quite a strong likeness to his sisters.
(30-04-2014, 06:22 PM)AnnabelP Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you all for your replies. At the other end of the spectrum I have a fascinating studio photograph of my grandfather taken in India (where he and his siblings were born) about 1896, in a knee length dress with a frilly top, ankle socks and Mary Janes, and long hair curling down over his shoulders. He was probably about 3 or 4 at the time. Furthermore, when he went to England a little later he was initially sent to a girl's school. I cannot however see any great likeness to other members of the family, although he is recognizably the same child as in later male mode photos, in one of which he has quite a strong likeness to his sisters.
That's interesting, Annie. I seem to recall that back then, boy babies were dressed in rather frilly, feminine looking gowns, hats, etc., so maybe the parents just carried the tradition over into early childhood. I have similar early photos of relatives of English descent that were dressed in what we today would see as girly clothes.
Or, maybe your grandfather had a female gender identity, and expressed a desire to wear the same clothes as his sisters! There's no reason to believe that the instances of cross gender identity were any less frequent a hundred years ago than they are today.
Clara
