I mentioned in an earlier post about getting ready as Novice Wye Dangle for Pride Edinburgh. One thing I didn’t mention was that I was worried that I wouldn’t fit in the dress I was supposed to be wearing. Normally, I have my Sisters look all sorted, and I know what I’m going to be wearing, and if it fits me. Today, however, I was borrowing someone else’s dress- and, rather shamefully, despite being in the Sisters for about 2 years, I didn’t know my dress size-, but it was kinda important that I did fit in it.

Why? Because it was green.

To explain, Sister Liza Viscious of the Edinburgh Sisters had a simple but brilliant idea: to have the Sisters colour coordinate their Habits so that each Sister was a different colour- so that individually we’d look striking as always, but together, we’d be a rainbow. It might sound like a small thing, but visually, it stands out enough for people to take notice.

And it worked.

The above photo is by Andrew Milligan of PA Wire, and I’ve counted it pop up in at least 26 publications, from the Daily Mail’s website to the Shropshire Star. It also popped up in print in the Metro Scotland letters page. (The letters were regarding some supposed debate over “Straight Pride”, which I’ve already made my views clear about…) This was particularly good, as in this case, someone made the choice to use this image out of all the others.

The act of getting into the mass media is known in the Sisters as Media Whoring. In general, this means keeping an eye out for cameras anywhere, especially in this age of social media.

I’ve also found that it’s almost impossible to predict which acts will be picked up by the media, (Andrew was one of many professional photographers out at Pride.) or indeed when it gets picked up. I’ve often seen pictures of the Sisters from years ago being as stock go-to images for Pride and LGBT+ stories in the mainstream. One such image of the Glasgow Sisters from Glasgow Pride in 2017 turned up over a year later in a story about equal marriage in an Italian newspaper.

But, however it happens, when it happens, you have unlocked your Media Whoring acheivement, which is an essential for any aspiring Novice!

Anyway, the dress did fit me. And hence, I now know my dress size.