The Illustrated Biography of a Crossdresser

The Illustrated Biography of a Crossdresser is such a unique and delightful blog.  Hannah always seems so happy and just looks so fab!  

In her latest post, Ask Hannah, she gets away from the illustrations and answers a question about makeovers from another crossdresser.

Do take some time to check out the wonderful talent this girl has as an illustrator.  Nearly every post has one of illustrations and a story to go with it.  You can go here to read about Hannah

A Year’s Worth of Heady Reflection on WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A (transgender) WOMAN

If you scroll down the right side of the T-Central home page, you will find a listing of religious blogs.  Included is My Buddah is Pink, TransEpiscopal, Muslimah in Progress, LDS Gender, Ad Fontes, Queering the Church, Reclaiming Theylogy, and The Catholic Transgender.  I'm sure there are others out there, but this is what we currently have listed.

Speaking for myself, I think it's important to have these blogs listed on T-Central.  There are so many out there, myself included, who have had this incredible inner-conflict between who and what we feel we are (trans) and our religious roots.  I'm sure that, for many Christians, the Christmas holiday fuels these inner conflicts.

The paragraph, below, is just one excerpt from AYear's Worth of Heady Reflection on WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A (transgender) a WOMAN. It is an interesting collection of thoughts from Anna Magdalena, written for the blog, A Catholic Transgender.  Good reading and not heavy-duty religious content.

Woman is not a child-bearing machine. This here is my biggest problem with the view of gender common to many fellow Catholics which has dominated much of Western history in one form or another. Woman is not a field in need of planting. She is not a certain kind of real estate, nor is she “that which can be impregnated and bear children.” She is not land to be colonized. The woman who is born without a womb is still woman. The woman who is infertile is still woman. Woman even irrelevant of man is still woman. She is a good in of herself, not only good relative to men and children.

Happy Holidays From T-Central

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM T-CENTRAL

CALIE

HALLE

JENNY

A Lovely Christmas Story From Clare

It starts out sad, but it ends in a very positive and happy note.  A lovely Christmas story and live experience from Clare Flourish.

Abigale's Christmas Markets

Let me start by saying that this post has absolutely nothing to do with the "T" in T-Central.

With that said, one of the pleasures of blogging is meeting others, who are like-minded, from not only your own country, but from around the world.  Halle, from Ontario, Canada, Jenny, from England, and I, are a good example.  The three of us met, via the blogging world, and are now the three admins for T-Central.

Years ago I did a post, on my own blog, relating to not transitioning.  A like-minded woman in Germany wrote me regarding that post and it was the beginning of an on-line friendship that continues to this day.  Every Christmas, she would tell me about the Christmas Markets in her city.  She painted such a pretty picture of this uniquely German tradition that I have vowed to someday visit Germany at Christmas time.

I recently met Abigale, a relatively new blogger who loves to write and communicate with others from around the world.  My kind of girl!!  She lives in Germany, so I asked her to describe the Christmas Markets in her city.  She has, and she's sharing her reply with everyone via her blog, Abigale's Airings.

Since it's the holiday season, I thought this would be a good chance to introduce everyone to Abigale's blog.  And, yes, Abigale is a T-Blogger, so she has plenty to write about of interest to us.  This time, however, just relax and imagine you're in a German city at Christmas time and read Abigale's description of this lovely German tradition.

How to Tell the Kids

Noelle has a short post with a big question.  The post is titled, How to tell the kids?, and I am going to re-post it here:

It’s time to tell my kids I’m trans and I could use some help.

I’ve been on hormones for almost a year and I’m looking at social transition in the Spring or Summer, and my wife and I are thinking of telling them over this Winter break so they have some time to digest it.

They’re 5 and 8, so I need to keep it fairly basic. My concise message is this:

I love you, and I will always love you. I’m going to be changing next year, and I want you to know that no matter how I change, I will love you.

I’m going to change from being a boy to being a girl. I’ll wear girl clothes and makeup and look more and more like a girl next year.

I’m changing to be happier. I’ve always thought that I would be happier as a girl, so that’s what I’m going to do.

I’ll still be your parent and I’m not going anywhere. I will be here to take care of you and love you.

Are there any other salient points you think I should mention? I don’t want to overload them and expect that there will be future conversations about things like my new name, how to talk to other people about it, etc. I also expect that they’ll have some questions during/after this.

Any suggestions, stories, or pointers to resources would be most appreciated!

Thanks!

You can go over to Becoming Me if you want to offer Noelle advice.

I was recently checking out Stacey's T-Volve blog and noticed a post, from 2011, titled Coming Out to My Daughter.  In that post, Stacey says, ....I've come out to just about every family member and friend with whom I'm in contact, the one glaring omission from that list was my daughter....

Telling her daughter was not easy.  Indeed, at first the divorce papers prevented Stacey from having the talk but, with professional advice and a lot of thought, Stacey did tell her daughter.  It's a beautiful story and one that many of you, including Noelle, might benefit from.

Do Clothes Make a Woman?

My name is Natalie. I am a 25 year old transgirl in the process of transition, and I am here to fight like a grrrl.

Suddenly Natalie is the name of her blog.  In this featured post, Natalie talks about the importance of her wardrobe in her transition.  Do Clothes Make a Woman? is an easy read, but an interesting post.

Natalie's blog is fairly new.  She has a bunch of posts well worth taking some time to read.   She's a good writer and story teller.  Her words just flow.  My kind of blogger!

I found every one of Natalie's posts to be good reading.  Be sure to check out, My Best Friend Was a Tomboy and Who am I, and What am I Doing Here?.

Being Different to My Family

We can help our families avoid misgendering us by appearing, behaving, and thinking differently than we were before our transition.

Kathleen's blog is just full of information....common sense information.  In this featured post, she suggests ways to stop or reduce the misgendering so common among the families and friends of someone who is in transition or has transitioned.  She also says that it's not easy.  Read more in her post, Being Different to My Family. 

Who is Kathleen?  In her words:

Most of my life I thought I was a heterosexual crossdresser or transvestite. I stifled myself; I hid my interests; in fact, I developed interests for camoflage: that's why I took blue-collar jobs after getting my B.A. in English literature, so no one would suspect that I loved to wear women's clothes. 

It wasn't until her 58th year that she finally realized who and what she is: Kathleen, a transsexual.  You'll find more in About Kathleen.

Trans in a Perfect World

The question that started the discussion:

Would people transition in a better world?

Imagine a gender-egalitarian world; an accepting world where men and women are both free to express themselves in any way they choose.

What would life in that better world be like for the gender-variant? 

What does the question imply about transsexualism and the motives for transition.

What does the question imply about what people believe about transsexuals and the motives for transition.

It turns out this is a huge question and the thoughts expressed in the post and the growing comment stream are all worth your time and consideration. 

You might find yourself moved to contribute.

The nagging void of why, or just simply the end of the line

“If you are reading this, I am obviously gone. The things you are finding are mine and yes I was a cross-dresser. Nothing more, nothing less. Don’t over think it, but now you know."

If you're a crossdresser, or an emerging transsexual, and you have a "stash", have you ever thought that, should you pass on, someone such as a close family member might discover it?  How would you handle it?  Would you leave a note, such as the quote, above from Valerie's blog, in a box with your "stuff"?  Interesting thoughts from Valerie, in The nagging void of why, or just simply the end of the line.

Valerie is a closeted crossdresser, So Very Deep (in the closet).  You can learn more about her in, In defense of lifelong closet-dwelling.

Pushing the Envelope at Home?

One common theme most of us face or have faced is how we approach our lives as cross dressers or transgender girls with wives who understandingly have a huge stake in our actions.

Sound familiar?  Crysti addresses a comment from a reader in, Pushing the Envelope at Home?.

Different Faces, Different Places

My goal in writing this blog is to express my feelings as I feel them, uncovering emotions and freeing long repressed memories, as I build my new life.

Indeed!   Dawn is a fabulous blogger, who shares her feelings, written from the heart.  In Different Faces, Different Places she relates a moment where two strangers, from different cities, meet in a subway station.  It's a feel-good story that is worth taking a few minutes to read. 

So You Want to be a T-Girl

Over on the right side of the T-Central home page is a section called Articles and Papers.  I was doing a little house cleaning today and about half of the links in that section were broken.  They're all fixed now.  Most of the papers are still available, but the addresses had been changed.

When going through the links, I noticed So You Want to be a T-Girl.  If you haven't read this article (it's really a book), you really should.  It is brutally honest and tells it like it is.  Here's the book's last sentence:

And the final thought: If you have or if you wish to attain stealth as a woman, then this entire book boils down to one thought and one thought alone… you are and never were anything more than just another one of the three billion women out there. If you have taken this road, or are intending to, all you can ever hope to achieve after all your work, money, pain, loss, suffering, and effort, is at the very best, a level playing field. That is all we are, and that is all you are… just another woman out there mucking your way through life. No pot of gold, no Holy Grail, so special prize… just the simple, honest, and very well earned goal of womanhood. Nothing more, and nothing less, awaits you.
 
I have never been able to determine who the author is.  I first read it about 7 years ago.  The links have changed over the years but, fortunately, it still exists.  I really recommend this to anyone who is considering transitioning.

The picture associated with this post is from the blog, Walking in Two Worlds: A Trans Therapist's Journey, which is listed on T-Central.

If you know of an interesting link, article, paper, etc., that others would benefit from reading, please let me know.

When I Was a Mermaid

“…for children without words to know themselves, stories of creatures not quite human, who can make a deal to change their form into what they’ve always dreamed of being – that stuff sticks.”

Memories of childhood manifestations of our transgender nature are often difficult to access and even more difficult to put into words.

In When I was a mermaid ~ BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW THAT PEOPLE LIKE ME EXISTED, 

cnlester at A GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR directs us to their piece published at the TOAST.

Or, you can go directly to the article, 

“A Mythical Creature”: My Genderqueer Childhood

Tips for maintaining a great wig

The title of this post pretty much says it all.  If you're a crossdresser, just beginning a transition, or have a hair loss problem, dealing with wigs will be a familiar issue.  How do you wash tham?  How do you brush them?  How do you style them?  How do you rid them of the frizzies?  

I have two very good wigs, one of which has the kind of problems our author discusses.  Now, I may be able to fix it!  B. Strong, the "Supportive Wife of a Trans* Woman", shares her experience in Tips for maintaining a great wig.

Opinions Are Like...

Nadine is best known for her great fashion sense, but in this post she gets reflective. 

"Blogging is weird.  I like it, but it is weird.  I often wonder: Who am I writing this blog for, the reader, or the writer?  I suppose the reality is a little bit of both."

There is more.. much more. Well worth a good discussion! 

Dusk and Dawn - Removing binary gender

Almost everything in nature we see and experience has varying degrees. There is night and day, but they can’t happen without dusk and dawn. Just so in people, There is male and female. But we ALL have elements in us. The traits of masculinity and femininity are to be found in both. We are all just people. It’s only for reproduction that it really matters.

In her words, Jodie is...... "Just a Tgirl who feels it's what we have between our ears and not just what we have between our legs that makes a person who they are."   In her latest post, she's getting all philosophical on us. It's short, but she reiterates the ideas that most of us share.

Jodie's Page is the name of the blog.  Dusk and Dawn - Removing binary gender is the title of the post.