Freshly returned from România, now off to Croatia for a week, most of which will be work. Some play. And some (finishing my late BCC2025 write-up for a start) a combination of the two.
I don’t yet have a great feel for the level of open acceptance of the non-binary in Croatia. The larger cities are probably OK. I’m flying into Split. But then heading to more rural parts which is less of a given.
Despite this coming in the middle of a long Sophie-only stretch, I did not feel comfortable simply rocking up in heels & a dress as an “I’m in your face, deal with it” kind of presence.
So reluctantly – and it really has been reluctantly – I prepared boy-clothes. I was intending to pack enough for the week but I don’t seem to have enough for a week. It appears that I have been subconsciously not purchasing any boy-clothes even as existing ones wear out and fall apart. My only jeans that fit have holes beyond the bounds of decency/practicality. A flit to M&S was in order.
When I finally located a suitable pair, a lovely moment at the checkout. Young man at the checkout, seeing someone in a dress holding a pair of men’s jeans assumed it was for exchanging, not for purchasing. Made me smile.
When it came to packing, I couldn’t do it. Aside from struggling for a whole week’s worth of boy-clothes, I hated the idea. So a few basics, some make-up, some dresses, a couple of versatile pairs of lowish heels, and Sophie has come along too. I felt much better about packing after this.
I expect I’ll soon find out the range of attitudes. And really, in a modern EU member state[1], I am quite hopeful.
Footnotes
[1] We’ll just quietly exclude present-day Hungary from that for now, I think.
Sophie Baskerville 