Deborah Tannen Quotes

I want to be a guy, but I want to wear a lot of makeup.

I'm very different to my mum. I'm not as beautiful as she is, nor - she probably despairs about this - as groomed. I certainly rebelled against her idea of looking well turned-out. I spent several years with a shaved head in jeans and baggy shirts.

We have a snap of my dad wearing blue eye shadow, which I would always make fun of. When I was about 12 and first started wearing lipstick, my dad would ask, 'Are you wearing makeup?' I would say back, 'You're wearing more makeup there than I am!'

I thought to be feminine was to give in to straight culture, or the beauty standard, but in my heart I had a flair for fashion and style. They were passions I kept secret because I didn't understand I could love clothes and hair and makeup and still like girls.

I dress like a boy most of the time because I like what's comfortable, so sometimes when I have to wear dresses and makeup, it's kind of comedic.

When I was really young, my mum used to make my clothes - I hated that. I liked the way boys dressed - I still do. I wanted to wear what they wore.

My personal style really started in my teens when I gained purchasing power to actually buy my own damn clothes. For so long, my parents dictated what I wore, which largely was their way of containing me within the gender binary.

My mom would always say, 'Hair is a woman's beauty.' I cut my hair all off. I was completely bald, and that was, like, 'What in the world?' My mom was like, 'What happened?' She had so many questions.

The only really firm rule of taste about cross dressing is that neither sex should ever wear anything they haven't yet figured out how to go to the bathroom in.

I, like most women, I dress for other women, I think. If I was going to dress for men, I think in general I would be just wearing, like, a fitted black T-shirt and tight jeans every day.

When you're growing up, you play dress-up - it's a game, it's a pastime. And then as you get older, getting ready and looking nice becomes this constant stress. I want to make it fun again.

My father was this famous heart surgeon, a wonderful man... but there was something about me that drove him crazy.

I really don't think about making fashion statements. Just like any other woman or girl, I like to dress up. I think I'm fortunate enough to be dressed by some of India's best designers and to have the opportunity to wear their wonderful creations. But I have never made a conscious effort to try and be a fashion icon or something.

I never wore full-on eyeliner in high school, but I wanted to.

I've dated some women who have turned me on to some funny things that are strange for men to actually do, but these things have become part of my process. I think the things I do for my appearance help make me look better. I even colour my hair because I like how it makes me look.

I instinctively dress a bit tougher because I've spent a lot of time in the U.S. and I realised there was a certain image projected of me here. I've always been an absolute rebel. When I was in my teen years I had piercings and wore all black.

When people show me clothing that seems very, very feminine, it's hard for me to embrace that, because it just doesn't feel like me.

When I was fourteen and first started going out, I always wanted to be the opposite of everyone else. So I would go to the club in a polo T-shirt and pants and sneakers and a hat on backward, just so I would not be dressed like other girls.

People give me such a hard time because I don't wear dresses. What's that got to do with anything?

Men are just jealous because they can't wear makeup.

My mum used to always dress me and my sister in matching Laura Ashley dresses. And I'd be like, 'Mum, I just wanna wear my Doc Martens!'

At Murry Bergtraum High I wanted to be as different from my father as possible. So I acted out in school, I was very anti-authority.

I dyed my hair blonde when I was 14. My mom was not happy. But I love being blonde.

I'm not really one to go out in public in dresses too often. I definitely mix it up between masculine and feminine all the time, but wearing a dress goes a little bit too far.

Honestly, I just wear what makes me feel good. So many people come up to me, and they're like, 'Did you know you're a tomboy? You should try wearing dresses.'