Last year, at 40 years old (I am just a white lady so it's not actually relevant to the broader topic, only your comment but still), I was approached by an elderly man and he told me how nice it was to see ladies that still dressed like ladies. When I walk down town there's a group of old guys that always yell out that I'm a "beautiful lady". At a certain age, they don't notice your age anymore and they think they can just say whatever they want because they're old and no one will say anything. I'm not even conventionally attractive n any way.

I was on my way to a hair appointment anyways (I had hair almost touching my butt which paired with the dress made me ladylike apparently) as I was chopping off my hair to donate, but coming out of there with a short, androgynous haircut felt liberating after that. And it's sad because enjoy looking feminine and feeling pretty but people tend to ruin it every time.