Man in a dress? Must be a shooter!

[Jaymes]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070417/NEWS03/70417015/1005

Classes at Cranbrook went on as normal this morning after a brief lockdown, triggered by an allegation of a man wearing women’s clothing on the Bloomfield Hills campus.
A mother who was dropping off a student in the parking lot told authorities that she saw a 6-foot-tall man wearing a blonde wig, high heels, a skirt and a black coat.


“She thought it was kind of strange, so she called police,” said Bloomfield Hills Detective Lt. Paul J. Myszenski.

Classrooms were locked for about an hour and a half while police searched the campus. They found nothing suspicious.

“In the wake of what happened yesterday in Virginia, it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s better to call us than have an oh, whoops,” Myszenski said.

. . .

When asked whether the alleged incident is illegal, Myszenski said no, but, “If you’re a man, you don’t hang around a school dressd as a woman."

I've talked to a student that goes there... this isn't a closed campus. Several buildings are open to the public, and it's not unusual to see all types of people walking around there.

Was this justified? Was it transphobic? Was it justified even if it was transphobic?

Would you call the police if you saw someone you thought was a woman dressed as a man on a college campus? A man dressed as a woman? Someone whose gender you couldn't determine?

Why on earth wouldn't a man have any business being at a school dressed as a woman? Does the right to dress as you please somehow disappear when there's a high level of paranoia?

Any other thoughts on this?

 

[Ciscokid]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070417/NEWS03/70417015/1005


I've talked to a student that goes there... this isn't a closed campus. Several buildings are open to the public, and it's not unusual to see all types of people walking around there.

Was this justified? Was it transphobic? Was it justified even if it was transphobic?

Would you call the police if you saw someone you thought was a woman dressed as a man on a college campus? A man dressed as a woman? Someone whose gender you couldn't determine?

Why on earth wouldn't a man have any business being at a school dressed as a woman? Does the right to dress as you please somehow disappear when there's a high level of paranoia?

Any other thoughts on this?

I think it was justified and no it wasn't transphobic. If I drop my kid off at school and I saw a man dressed in drag you better bet I'd be calling someone.

I would think it's probably not against the law for the man to dress as a woman...but what moron would do so and expect people to not be alarmed......WHEN HE'S TROTTING ON A SCHOOL YARD!!!!!

 

[darkpenguin]

I think it was justified and no it wasn't transphobic. If I drop my kid off at school and I saw a man dressed in drag you better bet I'd be calling someone.

I would think it's probably not against the law for the man to dress as a woman...but what moron would do so and expect people to not be alarmed......WHEN HE'S TROTTING ON A SCHOOL YARD!!!!!

You're not kidding are you?

 

[CaptainXeroid]

People have bee second guessing the response in Blacksburg...'Why didn't the police act sooner?' In this case, they got a call so, they acted out of an abundance of caution, and they are being second guessed again.

The only conclusion that can fairly be drawn is that hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Ciscokid]

You're not kidding are you?

No I'm not. What's so hard to understand about what I said? I think the woman did what she felt was the right thing to do considering the circumstances.

 

[Mister_T]

I think it depends. If this guy was hanging around on a school campus as oppose to using the sidewalk next to the campus, then I would say there is a cause for alarm. But that is regardless of what he's dressed like.

 

[jamaesi]

Today I saw a woman wearing pants and a shirt that that she could have only gotten off of a men's rack at the clothing store. PANTS! On a college campus! I repressed the urge to immediately call the police but I guess that I should have reported this abomination in the name of civic duty. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Halcyon]

I think it was justified and no it wasn't transphobic. If I drop my kid off at school and I saw a man dressed in drag you better bet I'd be calling someone.

I would think it's probably not against the law for the man to dress as a woman...but what moron would do so and expect people to not be alarmed......WHEN HE'S TROTTING ON A SCHOOL YARD!!!!!

Seriously, someone wearing clothes would freak you out so much as to call the police?

Jebus, he had about his person a piece of fabric, not an AK-47!

 

[kiwimac]

I understand the heightened sense of caution people must be feeling but it is not illegal, AFAIK, to wear women's clothing on a school campus EVEN if you're a man.

 

[Ciscokid]

Seriously, someone wearing clothes would freak you out so much as to call the police?

Jebus, he had about his person a piece of fabric, not an AK-47!

It isn't that someone was wearing clothes, it was that it was a dude in drag. To be fair, I took the story to be that of a woman dropping her child off at a regular local school. Cranbrook sounds like a kids school and it mentioned a mother dropping off a student. So YES I can see why she reacted like she did.

If this was indeed a college campus then I would have assume it was somebody pulling a prank or something.

 

[Ciscokid]

Today I saw a woman wearing pants and a shirt that that she could have only gotten off of a men's rack at the clothing store. PANTS! On a college campus! I repressed the urge to immediately call the police but I guess that I should have reported this abomination in the name of civic duty. Better safe than sorry.

It is much more normal for women to dress like men than vice versa. I read the story to be a grade school not a college. You guys act as if people are supposed to just shrug off some dude in a blond wig, dress and heels on a school campus like it's no big deal. The fact is, this MAY alarm some people and NO I'm not surprised if somene is called over it.

 

[Ciscokid]

Let me ask you guys something. What if this man was naked? Do you think concern or alarm would be warranted?

 

[jamaesi]

It is much more normal for women to dress like men than vice versa. I read the story to be a grade school not a college. You guys act as if people are supposed to just shrug off some dude in a blond wig, dress and heels on a school campus like it's no big deal. The fact is, this MAY alarm some people and NO I'm not surprised if somene is called over it.

Just because something is more socially acceptable than what one is doing doesn't mean that someone deserves to have the cops called on them because some people are overreacting.

Seeing people in hijab "alarms" some people. Should people be allowed to call the cops when they see me walking around on campus?

Let me ask you guys something. What if this man was naked? Do you think concern or alarm would be warranted?

Being naked in public isn't legal.

Wearing clothing is.

 

[Ciscokid]

Being naked in public isn't legal.

Wearing clothing is.

Right but WHY is being naked illegal? You see our society decides what is OK and what is NOT. To almost ALL citizens, being naked in public is alarming and unacceptable. To many in our society, a man dressed in drag in public is alarming and not socially acceptable. She was merely acting on that.

It's not like she got out of her car and beat the guy down with a bat. She simply felt that she needed to get the authorities involved to check it out.

By the way I believe the Cranbrook school is NOT a college campus but rather a regular middle/upper school for kids. So I fully support this womans decision to call the cops. When kids are involved, I don't care who's feelings are hurt.

 

[Ciscokid]

Just because something is more socially acceptable than what one is doing doesn't mean that someone deserves to have the cops called on them because some people are overreacting.

Seeing people in hijab "alarms" some people. Should people be allowed to call the cops when they see me walking around on campus?

I think you in hijab is a far cry from a man in drag at a kids school.

When I was 19 some old lady called the cops on me just because i was getting money from an ATM late at night. Guess what, he questioned me a little and let me go. I didn't whine and complain and act offended. The old lady was doing what she thought was best.

 

[jamaesi]

Ciscokid, I have to ask this before I can discuss this further.

What exactly do you find so alarming about a man wearing a dress?


They aren't even sure that this was a man in a dress- it could have been a masculine looking woman. It could have been a man with long hair in really baggy pants. It could have just even been the imagination of the woman who reported this.

 

[Ciscokid]

Ciscokid, I have to ask this before I can discuss this further.

What exactly do you find so alarming about a man wearing a dress?


They aren't even sure that this was a man in a dress- it could have been a masculine looking woman. It could have been a man with long hair in really baggy pants. It could have just even been the imagination of the woman who reported this.

Oh I agree, they never even confirmed what happened because they never found anyone. I was going on with this discussion assuming there really was a man in drag.

This woman may have been completely mistaken, who knows?

I don't find a man dressed like a woman to be alarming for the most part, odd but not necessarily alarming. I don't it's asking too much for this man [if he even existed] to forego his cross dressing style for just a bit while visiting a kids school.

I think people need to remember that Holywood doesn't help folks in drag. Silence of the Lambs featured a man in drag and he was a sick serial killer, I'm sure this doesn't help matters.

I'm not at all asking that people in drag be mistreated, but also let's not throw stones at a parent who was dropping her kid off at school and was alarmed by this.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Actually, you can tell a lot about a man by the type and color dress that he wears. BEWARE if he is in a dark formal ensemble. His intentions CAN'T be good. But hey, if he is wearing a bright yellow sun dress or coulots he is just out for a lark.

In the next thread we will discuss accessorizing properly to camouflage that AK47 or M4. Then you will truly be dressed to kill! Toodles y'all!

 

[Ðanisty]

Let me ask you guys something. What if this man was naked? Do you think concern or alarm would be warranted?

I'm sorry, but I don't find this comparison valid at all. If someone were naked, that would be offensive, illegal, and beyond a little disturbing at a school. While some may consider it odd for a man to wear a dress, it is not as if he was flashing people or committing a crime.

I'm a little confused also why people think he was visiting the school? It just said he was seen on campus. For all we know, he was walking down to the corner store to get coke and bag of chips and took a shortcut through campus (like apparently lots of people do). We have no reason to think he was going to the school intentionally, nor can we assume that he knew he'd be walking across the school campus when he got dressed that morning.

EVEN SO, I don't see anything wrong with a man wearing a dress on a school campus. I wouldn't even have a problem with a man in a dress as a teacher. There's just no evidence that wearing women's clothes makes you a violent pervert...no more so than wearing jeans and a t-shirt or a nice suit.

 

[darkpenguin]

It is much more normal for women to dress like men than vice versa. I read the story to be a grade school not a college. You guys act as if people are supposed to just shrug off some dude in a blond wig, dress and heels on a school campus like it's no big deal. The fact is, this MAY alarm some people and NO I'm not surprised if somene is called over it.

And who are you to define what is 'normal'?

And if the guy was naked that wouldn't be a problem either provided that he wasn't doing anything untoward.

But then again I was brought up to be an open minded person who isn't a prude!