English
Nederlands
2004-09-30
Soccer
It is absolutely amazing. I have always hated soccer. And since I have been living as a woman, I have taken even more distance fro this game. Many of my colleagues feel the way. We must be one of the very few companies where soccer is not one of the topics of discussion during the breaks.
But our former employer still owed us a farewell party. Unfortunately they didn't really think of the preferences of the people who were to receive their present, but they gave something they like themselves instead. Tickets for a soccer match!
It is absolutely unbelievable they came with this idea. But then again these are the same people who previously had the 'brilliant' idea of ditching us, so we could have expected anything from them, really...
I always used to keep a safe distance from the stadium when a match was played. Such a large crowd of soccer fans is not the ideal company where a transsexual woman will feel herself at ease. But now I would even have to enter the stadium!
All this felt like another attack on my personal values and preferences. But I didn't want to miss it. After the match there would even be an official farewell reception in one of the sky boxes. So I just had to go.
Of course there is only one way for me to visit any event, including this one: As a woman. I am in my Real Life Test period and living 24/7 as a woman. And I certainly wouldn't want to stop that for an event like this! So I was to go as a woman and clearly radiate my feeling of being a woman and wanting to be treated like one. The most clear way to make that statement is by wearing a skirt. I knew in advance I would probably be the only woman wearing a skirt in the stadium, but I didn't let that bring me off this plan.
Can you imagine me going up twelve flights of stairs surrounded by male soccer fans? It had to happen and so it did. Of course I could hear the occasional remark behind my back. It would be stupid to expect that not to happen. But nobody harmed me or insulted me in any way. It has given my self-confidence a boost!
I was a little lucky with my seat on the gallery. The galleries are very steep and there is nothing in front of you to give you any coverage. So from below you can look straight under the skirts of any ladies who have been stupid enough to wear one. But my seat was exactly above one of the entrances, so there was a nice parapet right in front of me, giving me all the coverage I needed.
Well, now that I have experienced such a soccer game once, I think it is an experience everyone should have had at least once in a lifetime. It is such a huge event! I estimated the crowd at 22,000, but it turned out to be 26,500 people. There is very special atmosphere when so many people come together to look at an event.
It was a boring game of soccer. Not e single goal was scored until a few minutes before the end. Fortunately it was scored by the Dutch team, PSV, so that helped improve our mood. Only the Panathinaikos fans were not amused. The Greeks did try a counter offensive during those last minutes, but is was obviously too late. 1-0 for PSV!
And then the farewell party. The atmosphere in the sky boxes is a completely different one. Heated seats, ashtrays and goodies right at hand, a servant within winking distance. I would have liked a seat over there during the match! But of course then I would have missed the special atmosphere out on the galleries.
As an official farewell party from our former employer I experienced this as way below standard. Normally a farewell party form the company is an event where all colleagues are invited. The leaving employee and his or her spouse are at the center of the party. A personal speech from the boss, presents from the colleagues and a photo book are also standard ingredients in such events.
But nothing like that happened here. Our spouses weren't even invited!
Personally I did have a good feeling about this evening, because I felt it as a great victory that I had had the courage to present myself unambiguously as a woman at an event like this! If I ever go to a soccer match again I will be wearing a pair for trousers, but I am not sorry about the way I presented myself this time. This experience has made me stronger!
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But our former employer still owed us a farewell party. Unfortunately they didn't really think of the preferences of the people who were to receive their present, but they gave something they like themselves instead. Tickets for a soccer match!
It is absolutely unbelievable they came with this idea. But then again these are the same people who previously had the 'brilliant' idea of ditching us, so we could have expected anything from them, really...
I always used to keep a safe distance from the stadium when a match was played. Such a large crowd of soccer fans is not the ideal company where a transsexual woman will feel herself at ease. But now I would even have to enter the stadium!
All this felt like another attack on my personal values and preferences. But I didn't want to miss it. After the match there would even be an official farewell reception in one of the sky boxes. So I just had to go.
Of course there is only one way for me to visit any event, including this one: As a woman. I am in my Real Life Test period and living 24/7 as a woman. And I certainly wouldn't want to stop that for an event like this! So I was to go as a woman and clearly radiate my feeling of being a woman and wanting to be treated like one. The most clear way to make that statement is by wearing a skirt. I knew in advance I would probably be the only woman wearing a skirt in the stadium, but I didn't let that bring me off this plan.
Can you imagine me going up twelve flights of stairs surrounded by male soccer fans? It had to happen and so it did. Of course I could hear the occasional remark behind my back. It would be stupid to expect that not to happen. But nobody harmed me or insulted me in any way. It has given my self-confidence a boost!
I was a little lucky with my seat on the gallery. The galleries are very steep and there is nothing in front of you to give you any coverage. So from below you can look straight under the skirts of any ladies who have been stupid enough to wear one. But my seat was exactly above one of the entrances, so there was a nice parapet right in front of me, giving me all the coverage I needed.
Well, now that I have experienced such a soccer game once, I think it is an experience everyone should have had at least once in a lifetime. It is such a huge event! I estimated the crowd at 22,000, but it turned out to be 26,500 people. There is very special atmosphere when so many people come together to look at an event.
It was a boring game of soccer. Not e single goal was scored until a few minutes before the end. Fortunately it was scored by the Dutch team, PSV, so that helped improve our mood. Only the Panathinaikos fans were not amused. The Greeks did try a counter offensive during those last minutes, but is was obviously too late. 1-0 for PSV!
And then the farewell party. The atmosphere in the sky boxes is a completely different one. Heated seats, ashtrays and goodies right at hand, a servant within winking distance. I would have liked a seat over there during the match! But of course then I would have missed the special atmosphere out on the galleries.
As an official farewell party from our former employer I experienced this as way below standard. Normally a farewell party form the company is an event where all colleagues are invited. The leaving employee and his or her spouse are at the center of the party. A personal speech from the boss, presents from the colleagues and a photo book are also standard ingredients in such events.
But nothing like that happened here. Our spouses weren't even invited!
Personally I did have a good feeling about this evening, because I felt it as a great victory that I had had the courage to present myself unambiguously as a woman at an event like this! If I ever go to a soccer match again I will be wearing a pair for trousers, but I am not sorry about the way I presented myself this time. This experience has made me stronger!
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