Aug 21, 2009

Cross Dressing in America. A whimsical quantitative analysis

Long time readers of Voyages en Rose may remember a post from January of this year in which I noodled out a statistical model of questionable integrity intended to help evaluate global cross dressing trends based on site visitor geographic information furnished by Google Analytics. I wrote this piece in part because I am a bit of a data geekette, but mostly because I was lacking a really compelling idea for a post that particular day.

The key spurious finding of my analysis was that The Seychelles seemed to present as some kind of minor earthly heaven for cross dressing. Who knew?

Similarly lacking a really compelling editorial platform (or even a nice wedge for that matter) today, I gathered a little more up-to-date data regarding American visitor distribution trends within my little world, and ran the numbers again to see what insights may be gleaned.

First great insight, we are evidently cross dressing from sea to shining sea. Yes, from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire to the curvaceous shores of California, all 50 states are fully and beautifully represented.

And where, pray tell, are the full length mirrors most frequently reflecting our images? A few surprises, again never to be taken too seriously, but perhaps briefly pondered upon. Not to be taken too seriously because our numbers are large ( we are somewhere between 5,000,000 and 15,000,000 going from conservative to aggressive estimates), and my numbers, like my shoe size, are small. Small data sample = lame conclusion.

But lets look in any event, and salute the stunning Wild Prairie Roses of Iowa. Yes the Hawkeye State tops, by long measures, the ranks with a Petra’s Generalized State Propensity for Cross Dressing (PGSPCD) index value of 40.51. Left in Iowa’s fertile dust are the Grapes of Oregon and the Peach Blossoms of Delaware, still glowing on the podium, and no doubt ready to assume the Iowa’s responsibilities should she somehow stain her sash. The North East region dominates the top 10, however all traditional marketing regions are represented here with at least single entries from the Mid-West, Mid-Atlantic, West, and yes, even the South.

How, just how, are these numbers gleaned. Lots of open source material put through an odd formula like so:

# of visitors from state / state population * Random Petra Value * 3.14 ... = PGSPCD

Why 3.14 ....? Because everyone likes pie. And if any of you can tell me how to represent the mathematical symbol for Pi in a blogger.com post, please drop me a quick line would you dear?

Now a quick word or 2 and some hopeful encouragement tendered to less well developed states. Oh, dear Camellias’ of Alabama (0.29), you Apple Blossoms of Arkansas (0.25), and rare, too rare Magnolias of Mississippi, be strong. Courage my dears. And a suggestion too. Perhaps you ought to dress and get out of the house on Saturday afternoons this autumn while everyone else in the state is distracted by your laudable and popular college football heroes. Absolutely nobody will see you.

For those of you with an interest in your own States’ relative beauty, leave a comment and I will be sure to post the specifics. Any other observations on statistics or cross dressing welcomed here at anytime, from any place.

And wherever you may be, happy dressing and everything else - Petra


P.S. A very sincere thank you to those of you who voted for me in the Victorias Secrets "Body by Victoria New York Weekend Extravaganza contest". If you are so inclined, you can vote every day, one time only. Forgive my brazen appeal please, but it is an interesting opportunity. In a couple of days I will have enough data to make some accurate guesses as to my chances with your fond help. Link here:

http://www.bodybyvictoria.com/#/Gallery/1940 ,

and full original post here: http://voyagesenrose.blogspot.com/2009/08/shameless-self-promotion-cross-dressers.html

Cheers

5 comments:

Lynn Jones said...

Ahh, fair Iowa; where men are men, and so are the women :-D

Good luck with the compy BTW.

Leslie Ann said...

What a charming concept! I know a bit about statistics and geography, so I'm wondering where you got your population figures. I'm quite sure there are at least a million souls in Iowa. Might this be skewing your results?

Please do report on the proud sorority here in Kentucky. I just might be encouraged enough to go out in public a second time.

Petra Bellejambes said...

Leslie Ann - the numbers are US Census. After your question though I noticed that in the formatting of the data all sorts of shit hit the fan. Something happened to random zeroes as I transposed the data. Ergo, the formula is broken. New numberr 1 is Goergia. ('splained in part my my local following) Iowa is actually 45th. And Kentucky Goldenrods blossom in 24th. Will have the fix up later today...

Thanks, thanks thanks for the catch m'dear

Stana said...

Hi Petra... Iowa is #36 over at my blog. Go figure!

Petra Bellejambes said...

And for me Staci, from a raw visitor count over the measured period, Iowa is # 32. I like your data though my dear because you are way more popular. Love to see something on the topic on Femulate sometime soon!

Tks - Petra

btw, the fix is up on the blog now....

 
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