Welcome to 1976! This young woman was just eighteen, longing to be a Dancing Queen. Abba were half way through a six week run at Number 1 with that one when these photos were taken, and Joy had spent her teenage years under the influence of Glam Rock. The very first photo used a Kodak Instamatic 25, and is by reflection in a mirror on which the silvering was coming off! The rest are hard to date exactly, but are late 70's / early 80s.
But poor Joy had never yet left her bedroom unless disguised as a boy, except just once. One night on a school Geography field trip one of two friends had confessed to being gay. So Joy confessed that she was straight, but had secret longings to wear proper girls' clothes. A first public full transformation in a hotel bedroom soon followed on another school trip, and the second in Joy's bedroom at her house.
Despite appearances, perhaps I should point out there was absolutely no question of hanky-panky. They were just schoolfriends. Charles, the (censored) boy featured in one picture was an unlikely poseur; being straight, strictly religious and certain to remain a virgin till his marriage, as was Joy for that matter. Joy was soon to leave school so she never saw either boy again. The gay boy (not pictured) would not, of course, be interested in anyone that looked like a girl. Yeurrgh!
Just look at that wallpaper, wasn't it the bee's knees? Joy used to keep all her clothes in the tiny closet, and when she secretly washed them they had to be dried in there, too, to stop her somewhat Victorian parents finding out her glamorous secret. Why not have a look at the other ancient herstory pix linked in the right-hand frame, before clicking below?
Exclusive! Joy's first public venture