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Sophie Baskerville

About Sophie

Trials & tribulations of my increasingly full-time girl-mode.

sophie @ baskerville.net

Sophie Baskerville

  • Standard European English

    The “taking back control” aspect of Brexit is, and always was, a load of codswallop. However, I’d be churlish to deny that it does indeed open up new opportunities…. for the EU, that is. English has an unusual position as languages go. And, despite the UK’s departure from the EU, it remains an official EU…

    Dec 27, 2023
  • Selective Recollection

    Memory is a truly amazing and complicated thing. The range and nature of things that we do, and do not, remember, is a confusing mess. This came to mind recently because of a specific recollection of mine. Some people I know can tell you what they ate in detail on any day stretching months or…

    Dec 20, 2023
  • Algorithms Scraping at the Bottom Of The Barrel

    Sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram etc are driven by algorithms. These algorithms are generally opaque, often intrusive (in terms of the automated decisions they are making based on what is often extremely personal data), and rarely revealed publicly in any real detail. What all of these obscure algorithms appear to have in common, however,…

    Nov 17, 2023
  • “Transphobes don’t know how fucking weird they sound to everyone else”

    A surprisingly interesting read (ignore the group name – it sounds somewhat racist but I see only the opposite of this in the comments). On social media, there are so many pile-ons of pure hate that it is refreshing to be reminded that this is just a vocal minority (many of whom seem to be…

    Jul 7, 2023
  • Nailing Technology

    Exciting and new (to me, and looking relatively new for everyone – but I don’t actually know how long these have been around) nail adhesive technology. There are a few things about nail glue that I have found rather frustrating. Firstly, it is fundamentally superglue – it’s the same chemical cocktail. But whereas superglue comes…

    May 22, 2023
  • Size Specifics: Shocking Stockings

    More clothes size woes, but with a sneaky solution

    May 18, 2023
  • Latent Creativity

    Saturday 2023-05-13 brings…. The Eurovision Final! Having singularly failed to obtain tickets for the event itself in Liverpool, I am instead travelling with some friends to the great City of Manchester to watch on a big screen in the VIP Lounge of a bar in the city centre. Manchester, especially the city centre, is extremely…

    May 11, 2023
  • Why are some people so scared? ❄️❄️❄️

    Warning: narrow minded individuals will be grossly offended, so stop reading here eh? So often it seems like prejudice against people being who they want to be is driven by fear and insecurity. Fear amongst those who feel threatened by difference. Insecurity amongst those who are scared that they might actually be different themselves and…

    Apr 25, 2023
  • Identity, & Face Matching

    Google photos is pretty good at picking out faces which turn up in multiple photos. I’ve been impressed at times when it has correctly picked up a face in the background which I hadn’t noticed. You can remove an erroneously identified face from a grouping, and merge groups where the same person has been identified…

    Apr 24, 2023
  • Colour Matching

    There is some truth to the idea that many men only recognise a handful of colours. If we ignore colourblindness[2], then it’s mostly down to psychology[1]. However, it’s not necessarily as subtle as that academic article: in general, men simply don’t care that much. Even if we appreciate the beautiful colour co-ordination that ladies exhibit,…

    Apr 22, 2023
  • The Big Question

    Everyone wants to know, but not many know how to ask, or dare to ask This might end up quite long, so here’s the TL;DR “Much to the confusion of many, I’m a straight man who like to crossdress as a woman some of the time, but not all of the time. This appears to…

    Mar 27, 2023
  • Stranger In A Strange Land

    Circumstances find me alone in an Eastern European capital for several days with very limited grasp of the language and even that only really extending to the written form. Not a specifically LGBTQ+ friendly country, although not a specifically LGBTQ+ unfriendly one either, at least in the capital – the provinces are likely to be…

    Mar 26, 2023
  • Accidental Shoes™

    I seem to have ordered 9 pairs of shoes yesterday. Oops. What can I say. There was a sudden online Sale. It’s an interesting concept, the Sale. In Boy-mode it’s generally something to be avoided in actual shops. And in Girl-mode too! Not through fear of funny looks or ridicule, but mortal fear of being…

    Mar 24, 2023
  • Sunday, Bloody Sunday

    To go out for a night in girl-mode I have to travel some considerable distance from home. The stark reality is that there are not a huge number of areas where I feel both safe and welcome. Some of that might be an abundance of caution, but I’m not intending to become reckless. Even so,…

    Mar 13, 2023
  • ̶B̶l̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶H̶o̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶ Xmas Parties and Revelations

    An Xmas meet-up of around 10-15 former colleagues presents both opportunities and worries. All the ladies in the group except two already know about Sophie. Only one of the men though – and that was accidental (see this article) although he was on the list I was planning to tell. That left a substantial number…

    Jan 5, 2023
  • 1̶2̶ ̶Y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶S̶l̶a̶v̶e̶ 12 Days in Girl-Mode (2/2)

    When the opportunity arose to spend 12 days in girl-mode away from home staying with a good close friend and attending a series of Pride events, it felt kind of scary yet kind of exciting.

    Oct 7, 2022
  • 1̶2̶ ̶Y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶S̶l̶a̶v̶e̶ 12 Days in Girl-Mode (1/2)

    When the opportunity arose to spend 12 days in girl-mode away from home staying with a good close friend and attending a series of Pride events, it felt kind of scary yet kind of exciting.

    Oct 6, 2022
  • Half Life of Glitter

    Glitter can look fantastic, but it has a few drawbacks. The most obvious one is that it gets everywhere and is almost impossible to get rid of. I’ve turned up to an office in boy-mode before only to discover (because someone told me!) that I’ve got tiny sparkly highlights on my face from glitter –…

    Sep 28, 2022
  • Design Annoyances: Petrol Station Card Reader

    “Please remove your card” the screen says. And this is where it all goes horribly wrong.

    Sep 21, 2022
  • Gender Wage Gap Thoughts

    The gap between earnings for men & women is a complex & tricky area. It’s difficult to compare like-for-like when the types of work are so skewed between the genders in the first place.

    Sep 16, 2022
  • ♂ Guest Editor

    Today I was invited, rather surprised and bemused, to guest edit an item on Sophie’s blog.

    Sep 15, 2022
  • Bathroom Bingo / Restroom Roulette / Lavatory Lottery / Toilet Trepidation

    The question everyone either asks me, or wants to ask, is this: Which toilet do you use when out in girl-mode? It’s a valid simple-sounding question. And the short answer is: “It depends”

    Sep 10, 2022
  • Giving Up Some Privilege

    In girl-mode, I basically give up my male privilege – a surprisingly real thing despite those (men) who deny it exists. Maybe they should try living as a woman for a while to experience it from the other direction. This doesn’t mean that I don’t retain significant privileges though; white privilege is also real (and…

    Sep 6, 2022
  • Sizes. The Bane Of My (Girl-Mode) Life

    Sizes drive me round the bend. You wouldn’t think it would be that difficult, right? But it really, really, is. Shoe Sizes Are UK Men’s shoe sizes the same as UK Women’s shoe sizes? Opinions seem to differ. Whilst the length might be the same (but isn’t), the width, or more accurately the width profile…

    Aug 31, 2022
  • Pride. And Prejudice.

    Pride All the Pride Events which I have attended have been welcoming, friendly and diverse. Of course, they take place in real world cities & towns where not everyone is as welcoming or friendly. But it’s still much better overall here in the UK than in many parts of the world, even with the attempts…

    Aug 18, 2022
  • Men! Moisturising Might Just Save Your Life!

    Having been nagged into moisturising by my makeup artist, I want to reach out to men generally – even, maybe especially, to those who don’t let their girl-mode out to play. When I put this stuff on my face it feels like it will just sit there. But rub it in and…. it vanishes. I…

    Aug 18, 2022
  • A Few Days Away…

    ….in girl-mode. Taking the opportunity to visit a Pride Event in another country felt a little daring but… well, if you’re not living life on the edge, you’re taking up too much space, right? Liquids and gels With the best will in the world, I cannot contemplate trying to take make-up through in hand-luggage. Which…

    Aug 3, 2022
  • A Question for Men

    Have you ever complained about the time any woman has taken to get ready to go out? Have you ever felt frustrated by this time, or wondered how it could possibly take so long? If you’ve never tried it, then you simply have no idea. The expectations (by society, by partners, by everyone) to look…

    Jul 26, 2022
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Sophie Baskerville

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