Dexter Francová is a young Czech woman who wears dresses, does her makeup, and seems perfectly at ease in her own skin. She nevertheless insists she feels like a man—though that didn’t stop her from entering a contest of female models—and winning it. I joked on Twitter that I wouldn’t mind bumping into her in the men’s showers (which, of course, will never happen—Dexter uses the women’s).
But why does an unmistakably feminine woman declare herself male? We’ve long known women who borrow a touch of masculine clothing or adopt a few masculine hobbies, often with undeniably sexy results. Yet that’s not Dexter’s story.
The answer may lie in the curious mind of a model. Models aren’t celebrated for sharp analytical brilliance; they are adored for being charming, for shedding tears over abandoned kittens, cuddly polar bears, and for wishing for world peace on their birthdays. Today, though, the script has changed. To sound serious and engaged, a model declares: “I’m a man.”
Charming, perhaps—but not quite the same. Personally, I can’t wait for the kittens to make a comeback.