About Sophie

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

sophie @ baskerville.net

Tag: girlmode

  • Don’t Stop Me Now

    Seven weeks of full-time girl-mode and it’s going great. How I feel is simple… I’m burnin’ through the sky, yeahTwo hundred degrees, that’s why they call me [Sister] FahrenheitI’m travellin’ at the speed of lightI wanna make a supersonic woman of you After Queen, “Don’t Stop Me Now” It has been a very busy few…

  • Here comes the Sun, and I say “It’s all right”

    It’s three weeks since I wrote about “Stepping into the light”. Since then, I have been having a great time, and introducing Sophie to just about everyone; I’m not hiding her any more, that’s the whole point, and indeed I am actively introducing her to people who know me as Robert but have been as-yet…

  • Review: Will & Harper

    TL;DR: Absolutely fascinating. Joy & pain. Humour & reflection. I found this moving, joyful, and very uncomfortable in places. Much the same range of feelings that I frequently experience in girl-mode, especially when venturing outside of places that I know for sure will be welcoming. Will Ferrell takes a road trip with an old friend…

  • Sophie Office Days: 1-30

    “[…] you are the only person I know who could wear a tutu to work and carry it off” (Day 14!) Now Sophie is confident enough to go into an office environment, she has to find suitable non-repeating outfits which won’t match anyone else’s. Sounds simple. It isn’t. So here we are: 30 days, 30…

  • 60 Sec Read: Washing My Hair

    Sometimes it might be an excuse. But, you know, sometimes she really is washing her hair – and it might take a lot longer than you expect, because there might be more of it by far than you expect. Remember, it’s not only tgirls; there are some undergoing chemotherapy, some with alopecia, and others with…

  • We need to talk about… Clothes Shopping!

    If you’re a man with a female partner, then when you’ve read this article ask them to read it too and see what their reaction to it is. If you’re a woman with a male partner, then when you’ve read this article ask them to read it too and see what their reaction is. Boy-mode…

  • Stepping Out of the Shadows

    As Sophie gradually & progressively steps out of the shadows and into the daylight, she thought it time to give a bit of a shout-out to a few small businesses which have greatly assisted her, one way or another.

  • Unintended Consequences

    Biting one’s nails is a nasty habit, and even when the habit is broken, it can often be revived by stress. I’ve tried all sorts of things to stop myself doing this, with little success. Even when I have managed to briefly stop chewing them down to the knuckles, they have tended to split &…

  • 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,…

  • 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…

  • 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,…

  • ̶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…

  • 1̶2̶ ̶Y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶S̶l̶a̶v̶e̶ 12 Days in Girl-Mode (2/2)

    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.

  • 1̶2̶ ̶Y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶S̶l̶a̶v̶e̶ 12 Days in Girl-Mode (1/2)

    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.

  • 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 –…

  • Design Annoyances: Petrol Station Card Reader

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

  • 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.

  • ♂ Guest Editor

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

  • 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”

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…