Crossing the Threshold: A Field Experiment on Gender Expression and the Politics of Being Seen

This paper explores the boundaries of gender, identity, and truth through a field experiment in which the author, a male foreign student living in India, chose to wear a skirt in public settings throughout the day. Through personal diary reflections, structured qualitative interviews, and different philosophical, sociological, and psychological studies, such as the Mirror stage theory, the Johari Window, Butler's gender performativity, and other scholarly works, this paper analyzes how individuals view themselves and the way society sees and thinks about them. It raises paradoxical questions, such as what is truth? Who creates it? Who guards it? What is moral regulation, how is it constructed, and what happens when a person decides to cross the established social boundaries? The responses I encountered range from silence to criticism, and all become a mirror of how society perceives us through different lenses, just like Buber's' I-Thou' and ‘I-It’ philosophy. Some participants were scared of even seeing me, demonstrating the societal discomfort with gender nonconformity and the collective conditioning to fear what is unfamiliar. The experiment revealed both internal conflict and external tensions, exposing the underlying social discomforts. Through embodied vulnerability, raw testimony, and theoretical reflection, this study reveals that the mirror we fear is not on the wall, but embedded in the gaze of others. I call for a redefinition of truth and freedom, grounded in empathy, humanity, and radical unlearning.