Professor in drag
Philosopher Michael Gilbert discusses the delights and enlightenment that come with wearing a dress.

BY JACQUELINE SWARTZ | Late in the term of his second-year philosophy course on gender andsexuality, York University professor Michael Gilbert asks his class ifthey'd like to have a Q&A session with someone who is transgendered. Sure,says almost everyone in the Toronto class of 90 students. All semester theyhave been talking about what it means to be men and women, how genderrelates to sex; they've discussed marriage, various kinds of love, what itmeans to be gay. Now they'll have the chance to see a "living deconstructionof gender dichotomy," as Gilbert puts it. Those who feel uncomfortable about seeing such a person, he warns, should not attend the next class.

A few days later, Brooklyn-born, street-smart Michael Gilbert, tenuredprofessor and alpha male, shows up for class as Miqqi Alicia. "Her" walk ismore tentative than the lumbering gait of Gilbert. She is dressed in ademure skirt and sweater and wears low heels. There is a glint of earringsunderneath her shoulder-length salt and pepper hair, now released from itsusual ponytail. Her legs are shapely, her nails are well-manicured ovals,but the whole effect is more Mrs. Doubtfire than RuPaul. Miqqi will neverquite make it as a knockout woman. Also, the well-credentialed professor issensitive enough to dress appropriately. "In class I follow the unwrittenfemale professor rules: Display few bright colors and no skin."

As she enters, the students giggle and whisper. There's a buzz. One studentwalks in late and practically trips on her double take. Miqqi talks for10 or l5 minutes to let the class get used to the sight of him, now her.Transgender, she explains, is an umbrella term that covers anyone who isuncomfortable with, objects to or plays with his or her birth-designated gender.(By contrast, transsexuals believe they truly belong to the opposite sex.)

"The male cross-dresser doesn't believe he's a woman. I'm a man, with aman's body ... and I don't want anyone to touch it with a scalpel," he/shetells the students with a little grin of self-diminishing femininity.

The rapt expressions of the students show they're on his side. So do theircomments. A clean-cut-looking male student points out that all professorsimpose their styles and lives on their class, from their worn tweed jacketswith leather patches to the endless heterosexual references to wivesand children. "The creepiness factor was avoided," noted a female student."It's not sexual, he's not being caught going through his wife's underwearor wearing garters and heels." Indeed, Miqqi Alicia is more toned downMichael Gilbert than drag queen. The voice is softer but not really higher,the gestures are less assertive -- Miqqi flutters her hands where Michaelwould saw the air with his arm to make a point.