I’ve been a crossdresser for a while now and I’ve been wearing panties for many years. I’ve been out in public wearing a skirt a few times but I live in a small town and am always afraid of being seen, but I do prefer to shop in person. What do you think are the best stores for someone like me? I’ve had good experiences with Layne Bryant and Maurice’s and the Hanes store.
If you live in a small town, it’s inevitable you’ll eventually bump into someone you don’t want to at a time that is less than convenient.
So, you may have to make a choice and as far as I can see, these are your options:
- Stop caring
- Start visiting towns where you don’t know anyone
- Stop going out
- Be prepared for “the talk” at all times
I don’t mean to be blunt but that’s really all you can do. You can’t make someone not care about your gender identity or gender presentation.
As for shopping, I’ve written about this before and I suppose if I could summarize my thoughts about this it’s that every single business is staffed and run by people. Company core beliefs and policy aside, not everyone you interact with is going to be happy to see you. I don’t know of a single organization that specifically tells their employees to be mean to the transcommunity, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. You can go to the queer-friendliest place on the planet, but if the cashier is having a bad day, or they hate everyone, or, let’s face it, they specifically hate transpeople, you’ll not have a pleasant experience.
Essentially what I mean is that you can visit Lane Bryant one day and have the most amazing time, but you can also go back to the same store the next day and if a different clerk is working, and they happen to hate girls like us, you’ll likely have a different experience… even though it’s the same store as yesterday.
It’s impossible to predict the experience you’ll have when you strut into a store. If I shop somewhere and I have a lovely time, I’ll return. If the experience is, well, not so fabulous there are other stores that I can spend my money at.
Love, Hannah
Have a question for me? Oh yes you do. Ask me here!
Hannah McKnight 
Good advice. I too live in a small, and might I add very conservative town. Like most small towns, there is a bigger town with lots of stores 30 minutes away up the interstate. and a much bigger town 30 minutes beyond that. I don’t go out locally but frequently go shopping/dining/etc in the nearby larger town where nobody knows me.
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