Dressing Rooms.....I'm Hooked

Amy is, by her own admission......a young happily married father who on occasion embraces her feminine side. I'm vegan, enjoy yoga, & love bicycles. I've been transgender as long as I can remember, but have only recently come to accept and embrace it as part of who I am.   

Her blog is, My Amy J.  In her latest post, she got up the nerve to jump on that bike and do a bit of shopping, in the Women's department, and using the dressing rooms.

Did anyone notice?  Did anyone care?  Read about it in her post, Dressing Rooms....I'm Hooked.

Oh, and Amy......you're looking good, girl!

The Chance To Be A Boy

Frankly, I don't have a clue what motivates transmen to, um, well, be a man.  It's certainly not on my bucket list!

But, it's important that we, who are trans, understand what motivates our brothers who are trans.

Our featured blogger has this to say about himself:

I am a Sephardic Jewish guy in my mid-twenties. I blog under the pseudonym Rimonim Pardes (pronounced ree-moh-NEEM par-DES, in case you’re wondering). I am transgender; I transitioned in my late teens/early twenties. I live in the American Southwest. I am in grad school for mental health counseling. I am engaged to my soulmate, who occasionally blogs here under the name Alma. I live in a funky old house with Alma, a good friend, and two dogs (pictured). I’m a vegetarian. I have 6 tattoos and counting. My interests include mysticism, music, and good beer.

His current post, The Chance To Be a Boy, is so well written and so helps me to better understand transmen.  He says a lot in the post.  Please do check it out.

This is a blog that I'm going to read from the "bottom-up", starting with the first post.  I did glance at several of Rimonim's posts and found many enlightening comments, such as this one:

I find it easy to talk to women.

A lot of straight guys really struggle to communicate with their girlfriends and crushes. I have enjoyed fairly open, direct communication in all my intimate relationships. I have always found it easy to show someone I am flirting–and just as important, to show when I’m not flirting. My fiancée and I have our share of misunderstandings, but we resolve them easily. I feel comfortable talking with female friends, classmates, coworkers, and strangers. It’s simple and enjoyable.

I think being socialized in a female gender role–and the results of that, like having many female friends growing up–gives me some extra insight into women’s communication.

And then there's the subtle humor, in this post titled, Why I Have No Plans For Bottom Surgery:

Pretty much the only thing I can’t do is pee standing up in a convenient, splash-free fashion. From my observations in public restrooms, it appears that a large proportion of men have this problem.

If you want to know more about your brothers in the trans community, I strongly recommend this blog.

Trans Thoughts and Reflections

Lovely Aeify has been a long-time blogger and has many friends in the T-Blogging world.  She was the soul-mate of a blogger who has since passed away and has had a lovely relationship with yet another well know blogger.  She's a wonderful woman, full of energy, acceptance, and love.

Aeify wrote a Thoughts and Reflections guest post in 2010.  Take a look at her guest post and then visit her own blog.

At the time, I was overjoyed to see a guest post from the spouse of someone who is trans.  In our new series of Thoughts and Reflections posts, coming up in October, we will have at least one similar guest post from one of our T-Central bloggers, born female and living with someone who is trans.  I'd love to have another post or two from a spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend of someone who is trans.  Please write me (calietg at yahoo) if you're interested.

Yes, She is My Husband

Marni has what so many dream of having: 

In her words: "A truly loving family"

Her post "In Living Memory" is a frank self-examination, giving her very personal perspective on the struggle between the body, the mind and the heart. 

Take The Survey!

Jack Molay, from the Crossdreamers site, has a survey up involving gender issues.  He's hoping for a large response.  If you can help out, please do.  The questions are relevant to just about anyone who has come to T-Central.

Go HERE for the survey.

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

Oh, those dark thoughts....the extended "funk".  Been there, done that.

In Christen's words,

"......they are pervasive, like spectres hiding in shadow, lurking to take hold when an idle mind doth present itself.  Keep busy.... Find diversions, Keep moving and doing.  it's a short term strategy with the hopes that it will allow steps towards a longer term goal."





Her world of darkness brightened considerably, when Christen was able to save a life.  It's not what you're thinking, however, but the story, which came to life in a video, brought me to tears.  It will bring you to tears too.  Happy tears.

Read more, and view the link, in her post, Hello Darkness, My Old Friend.

Christen is a married transgender woman who has held much of who she truly is inside of her for much of her life.  You can go here to learn more about her.

Can we ever really escape?

Rhiannon says that she's,....."a boy who dresses like a girl."  I'm guessing that there are a few who are reading this who would agree with that statement!  She goes on to say:

I'm a 39 year old trans person trying to work out how to be a girl in a world that sees cross dressing as being too weird. Maybe it is. I'm chubby, too tall but look a bit like a girl with the right clothes and make up, a great camera angle and an even better photographer. It helps if you squint at me a little bit too.

In her latest post, Rhiannon says that she's been pouring everything into her work, using this as sort of a "transgender escape tunnel".  I like that term, and it certainly fits me very well.

The featured post is, Can we really ever escape?

Rhiannon has been blogging for over three years.  When I discover a new blog, I always like to take a look at earlier posts.  Inside, I'm Screaming, dating back to 2011, is a post that I'm sure many of you can relate to.  Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to link to it, but if you go to the index on the right of Rhiannon's page, you can see it in the 2011 posts.

This is what dysphoria feels like

From Rebloggy.com

CN Lester is a British classical and alternative singer-songwriter, as well as an LGBTI and transgender rights activist and a blogger.  From Wikipedia:

Lester is out as genderqueer, and has been hailed as a role model for combining their identity and their public career.  They have spoken about having difficulties finding work because of their gender identity and expression:

Classical music, now, is very conservative. I can't get chorus work because I wouldn't be willing to wear female clothes or be a member of a women's chorus. ... They didn't see that they were in the wrong – they thought I was wrong for daring to apply. So it was very much "We don't want people like that associated with us" and they were happy to put it down in writing.

In order to preserve their singing voice, Lester has not used testosterone treatments, although they have since spoken about their own research showing losing a singing voice is not always a result of such therapy.

The featured post, This is what dysphoria feels like, is written from the FtM perspective.

Thanks to our Halle, a T-Central Administrator, for suggestiong this post be featured.

For more information on CN Lester, go here.

A moral issue: should I kill off my most popular post?

Lucy Melford is a wonderful blogger....a real asset to the trans community.  Prior to the completion of her transition (ask Lucy and she will tell you that a transition is never completed), Lucy was a prolific blogger.   Most trans bloggers may do a post or two or three following their final surgery and then just disappear.  Not Lucy.  She's been post-op for several years now and just keeps writing and we just keep reading.  She writes about topics ranging from taking her caravan (that's a travel trailer, for you North American readers) around the UK (and posting wonderful pictures from her travels) to trans issues.

As a result, Lucy has a fairly popular blog, as T-Blogs go.  Recently, she took a look at her ten most popular posts.  

Number 10 had 900 page views.  

Number 2 had 3,300 page views.

Number 1 had 52,000 page views.

Huh?

That's right, 52,000 page views.  

So, what's so special about that particular post?  

Well, it didn't involve caravaning across the UK.

It involved transphobic comments made on an internet forum about the deep voice of a female British broadcasting reporter.....theorizing that she might just be a "trannie".

Lucy wrote that post three years ago and is now questioning if she should pull down the post because it just might proliferate the rumor that this woman reporter might not have been born female (and there is absolutely no evidence that this is the case).  On the other hand, the post goes to great lengths to credit the reporter and squelch the transphobia.

What do you think?  Go here to read Lucy's blog post.

Blame it on the Net?

An interesting and brutally honest post from a "crossdreamer"; a believer in the autogynephilia theory.  

The author went from crossdressing as a child, using Mom's clothes, to using porn later in life to visualize himself as a female and is crediting the "Net" with making the visual material widely available.

Go here for the post but, before you go, be advised that while not graphic or pornographic, this blog post does contains adult subject matter which may be of "clinical" interest to some T-Central readers but is definitely not meant for children.  

Likewise, with this post which is the author's personal, and well written, story

From Compulsion to Choice

I read a very interesting post this morning from the blog, Third Way Trans.  The post is written by someone who transitioned from male to female at age 19, and detransitioned at age 39.

The post is centered around the book, Search Inside Yourself.  While not necessarily about gender dysphoria, the author of the book suggests ideas and methods that a trans reader could relate to in dealing with gender dysphoria. 

Our blog author, blending ideas from the book's author, would appear to suggest that many with an unbearable desire to transition can, while embracing their gender of choice, continue to live a normal and happy life in the body they were born in.  I want to stress, that this is my interpretation of our blog author's conclusion.  

For more information on this blogger, go here.  The post is titled From Compulsion to Choice.

Thoughts and Reflections - Debbie

We've have a few lined up to do guest posts, with their story, on our next series of Thoughts and Reflections, but we need more!

In 2010, we featured a lovely girl, from England.   Go HERE for Debbie K's story.

Read Debbie's story and then please consider sharing your story with us in the form of a Guest Post.  Contact me, Halle, or Jenny if you would like to do a guest post.

Mirror, Mirror

It's difficult for me to get excited about Pride events, as it relates to the "T" in LGB.  That's my personal opinion and not necessarily the opinion of my T-Central co-admins, Halle and Jenny.  Nevertheless, I thought I'd feature a post from Paula, about the Pride celebration in Brighton, a town on the English Channel, in southern England.

Paula comments that despite all of the cameras present, it was a struggle to find pictures of her group.  If you look at the picture on this page, you can see why.  These girls just look like women you might find in a super-market and not at a Pride event, where the flamboyant attract the camera lenses.  And, Paula, please accept that as a compliment!

Read more over at Paula's Place.

Andrea's Ups and Downs

I want to introduce you to a new blog recently listed on T-Central.  

Andrea (I love her name!) is a UK girl, just beginning her transition.  Although she just began her blog in June, she writes well; as if she's been blogging for years.  Her thoughts are the kind personal thoughts that got me into blogging....the kind of thoughts I love to read and the kind of thoughts I like to share in my own blog (which I've ignored for far too long).

There are three posts you should take a look at:

Introduction to me is Andrea's first post and her story.  She's a late transitioner, as are many.

Admires....Are They Worth the Hassle?  This is a topic common to anyone who has an on-line transgender identity.

And last, but not lease, is Andrea's most recent post, Cloud 9 to Teary-Eyes in 20 Minutes.  The blog is titled, Andrea's Ups and Downs and she shares both with you.  One of the Up's was picking up a pair of ankle boots on sale!  For you readers in the States, that's a $44 boot for $10!

Check out Andrea's new blog, and leave her a comment to let her know you saw it.