JESSICA'S STORY - Short Story
This is the story of how Jessica gave her first college lecture. I am 41 yeas old and have been cross-dressing on and off since high school. After several career changes I decide it was time to re-enter college and to get a degree in broadcast journalism. In May of 2003 I was taking a Sex and Gender class and accidentally let it slip on first day of class that I had some cross-dressing experience, while answering a question about how long it takes for a woman to apply make-up the. (My answer was a resounding 30 minutes.) After class I informed the instructor that not only did I have past experience but that I still do cross-dress. She asked me if I would be willing to attend class as Jessica and give a lecture on why I cross-dress. I agreed. On May 23,2003 Jessica gave a PowerPoint presentation on cross-dressing. Her story was very well received. Before giving the lecture I e-mailed one of my friends who had tried to get Jessica to attend classes. I informed her that Jessica wan not only going to attend a class but was also to give a lecture. The following is her e-mail back. 'Wow, congratulations! That should be a fun class. I'm proud of you for agreeing to do it. Is this a topic that is normally discussed each semester, or is it something that the professor added once you revealed that you cross dress?' The instructor does talk about cross-dressing every time she teaches the Sex and Gender class and I have agreed to give the lecture again next fall. She also wanted to know if I had a lecture prepared. I informed the class that I had been cross-dressing since high school and told them about several events that have happened to me. Here is part of what I shared with them. After earning my first college degree in 1986, I got my first job for a small computer keyboard manufacture in Kimball, Nebraska. One day, another engineer and I mentioned that we have not seen the production floor manager for some time. Our secretary, Gail, informed us that he had been fired. When we asked hew how she knew, she informed us that if we would attend the Wednesday morning breakfast club we would be able to what was happening in the company.
The only problem, we would have to come dressed as girls. For two weeks she kept reminding me that I needed to attend the breakfast club in a dress. I have to admit that I did chicken out the first week after pulling into a parking spot in front of the restaurant. The next week I waited until Gail had entered the restaurant. As I walked in I overheard her saying that I had chickened out again. The others told her turn around and she surprised to see me standing their, in a nice light blue dress. Since this incident I have appeared in a dress on Halloween, both at work and at square dances. I have also attended an office Christmas party wearing a nice black holiday dress with my nails done. I also informed the class that I have been kicked out of the Men's Restroom while dressed as Jessica on Halloween and that real women have asked me if I needed to go and that it was ok to use the ladies room. In fact they usually need to use the facilities as well and usually go in together. Although not asked during the lecture I have been asked about restroom usage, my usual answer is that it is just as unnatural for Jessica to use the man's room as it would be for my male self to use the ladies. The day after the lecture, I received this e-mail from one on my Sex and Gender Classmates. 'I just wanted to thank you so much for doing your presentation yesterday to the class.
It was very interesting and it was great to meet Jessica! When you told us that that was your first presentation on that particular subject I was shocked! You did so good I thought you had done that a thousand times! You were calm collected and looked wonderful too! I thank you again for sharing your experience with me, I have always believed that the more people who learn about stuff they don't know the more accepting everyone will be to each other. I hope to see Jessica in the future on campus.' During June, I was enrolled in another class. As part of that class we were assigned parts of a play to read. Not knowing that I cross-dress, the instructor assigned a female role to me. He also assigned male roles to several of the women in that class. We were informed that we could 'play' the part. So on the day that we were to read the play, Jessica attended a class, the second time in three weeks. In both cases, I was scheduled to work in the Media Production office after class, and I did not have time to change. I was pleased to discover that Jessica was received well and made to feel welcomed at work. Jessica Cox.
