I'mOneToo, thank you so much for helping to revive the thread. I have definitely dropped the ball here. I will gather some thoughts together to share some of my experiences. Maybe the server move will give me some extra time to finish my assignment.
I don't really have any specific topics in mind to discuss here. Perhaps I am being too vague and that's not helping the thread along. It just struck me the other day that when we talk about our experiences as being female bodied we tend to keep them "in house" so to speak. Butches talk in butch threads, femmes talk in femmes threads, trans people talk in trans threads. I just thought it would be great for people of all different gender identities to come together to have a cross gender discussion about our experiences all in one thread and one discussion.
As to clothes shopping, that's a royal pain for me. First of all, I don't like to shop and hate trying clothes on. I do shop in the mens department but it's hard for me to find clothes to fit. Shoes are even worse. I have small feet so I have to shop in the kids department. Personally I wouldn't mind buying womens shoes but to me they all seem too girly for me. I usually buy boys shoes.
When trying clothes on I will sometimes use the mens department or sometimes carry clothes over to the womens department depending how I feel at the time. I do try to shop in off hours because I hate crowds. I haven't ever been told I couldn't use a mens dressing room. Awhile back, after I finished paying for some clothing I did hear a sales clerk (young woman) talking to another sales clerk saying why do I always get stuck having to help all the freaks.
I shall return with more thoughts soon. I hope more people of all gender identities will share their thoughts. Thank you for everyone who has posted so far. I am reading everything with great interest.