Cross dressing in Nevada?!

[Victoria L. Bergvall]

I don't know Nevada, but I used to know Montana pretty well, and though I
haven't lived there in a long while, I visit frequently. I suspect any
cross-dressing farmer would keep it all under wraps, or get run out of town
on a lodgepole. Brandon Teena's fate seems much more in keeping with the
westerners I knew. Of course, parts of Montana have changed with a strong
influx of Californians. I imagine Nevada has other cross-cultural currents
that make it unique.

Vicky

>A comentator on National Public Radio's morning program this morning
>did a piece on cross dressing among men in Nevada.  (NPR is the USA's
>rough equivalent to the CBC in Canada or the BBC in the UK.) The
>woman who contributed the piece (a recent arrival in Nevada from New
>York) indicated that it's pretty common for men (possibly rural men?
>... she specifically mentioned "farmer's tans") to wear dresses by
>preference, and the piece seemed to indicate that this is not seen as
>any big deal.  Also mentioned that "To Fong Woo" was filmed not far
>from Lincoln, Nebraska, and that locals are pretty proud of it.  I'm
>curious; any Nevada-ites out there who can put this into perspective
>or comment on it?  (Maybe the Austin Lounge Lizards were really off
>the mark when they sing "...it's hard to be gay in Lodgepole
>Nebraska...")
>
>All best,
>Megan
>~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'~~'
>Megan J. Crowhurst, PhD
>Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics

___________________________________________________________________
Victoria L. Bergvall             Associate Professor of Linguistics
Director of Graduate Programs in Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Department of Humanities          Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive       Houghton      Michigan 49931-1295     USA
vbergval at mtu.edu       Phone: (906)487-3248      Fax: (906)487-3559
___________________________________________________________________