Articles, Comments, and Trolls. Oh My!

.......since the article was published in yesterday's paper, two customers at the bookstore have commented on it.  Maybe a third.  The two for sure were VERY complimentary (one called me a celebrity... oh puh leeze!).  The third called me a "rude tranny."  In front of maybe twenty people, including her three out of control, screaming kids.



The Philadelphia Daily News published an article on Sophie!  She got comments, too.  Some nice.  Some not so nice.

To hear about it all, including a link to the article, read Sophie's latest post.

Nine Years!

What I do remember is thinking “Is that all there is?” my transition went so smoothly that I felt guilty when in the support groups I heard all the horror stories that made me fear for the worst, losing my family and friends, losing my job, being a social piranha, none of that happened. But for me things went smoothly, my family accepted me, and maybe because I had already been living as Diana except for work it was easy to slip into being "Diana" full time.

It's been nine years since Diana transitioned, and life is good.  Why did she wait 60 years to do it?  Read  Nine Years!, for the rest of the story.

Ups and downs: Transgender mental health

I came home from that trip late on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.   I relapsed into a full depression, and spent the next three days unable to get out of bed.  Ironically, home was the one place where I had the least liberty to be myself.  I just couldn't take it.



Rebecca is a new blogger and a fine writer.  She wrote her first post in May.  Her blog a journal outlining her journey towards the goal of transitioning.

Rebecca is Mormon.  Like many religions, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not very accepting of those who identify as "transgender", "transsexual", etc.  Transitioning from one gender to another can be considered a violation of Church law.  Rebecca has been dealt a heavy load, and depression was the result.  That includes a religion that doesn't accept her, a marriage that will most likely end up in divorce, and several kids who will have to learn how to accept the person who is their father as she transitions from male to female.

Rebecca (who found me via my own blog) and I have exchanged emails and her reasons for transitioning are, in my opinion, very real.  She desperately would like not to, but she can't.  Ups and downs: Transgender mental health, is her current post.  There are three short posts prior to this one.  If you read all of them, you will be up to date on Rebecca's journey.

Transgender Q&A

Are transgender people mentally ill?
If you define mental illness as incapacity to function in daily life, hold down important jobs or have fulfilling lives then the answer is clearly no.



Well, that's a relief!  In this featured post, Transgender Q&A, Joanna lists some common questions and gives her slant on them.

My lunch with my young trans cousin

He admitted he is depressed and can only dress when no one is in the house. He is afraid to go out because of what people might think. I told him that I had the same issue. Our biggest problem is in our head. One of the first things is to realize that today most people do not care and have their own issues.




This is a very interesting post from Susan.  Susan sensed that her cousin might be trans.  The cousin didn't know Susan is trans.  Susan suggested they get together and....well, read My lunch with my young trans cousin, to find out what happened.

The Feminine Differential - Foot Sizes

At the beginning of the 20 century the average woman wore a size 3.5 or size 4 shoe. This increased to a 5.5 in the forties and remained this way till the 60s. By the 1970s, the average female foot was a 7.5 and now, forty years later, the most common foot size for the American female is somewhere between an 8 ½ and a 9.” (Howard, Pollak) 

Well....I didn't know that!  You'll find this and other interesting facts in Rhonda's, The Feminine Differential - Foot Sizes.

Oh....and I'm a size 12....

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

For years, I would suddenly find my mood dip for no apparent reason. It would last a few days, then recover. Ever since taking oestrogen and a t-blocker, I’ve not experienced these, instead I’ve been really happy  (but that’s been just 6 months), but today, Tuesday I feel really low. This time is a bit different in that I can trace reasons why I feel this way, but that doesn’t lessen the despondency and impotence.


HRT seemed to have fixed Michele's up and down moods until just recently.  In, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?, Michelle floats from one topic to another and then brings it all together in what I found to be interesting reading.  It's also a special day for Michelle.  For the details, you're going to have to read the post!

28 risks of chest binding

The first time I bound my chest, I used duct tape, for a drag show.  This was about 10 years ago.  I quickly moved on to ace bandages.  Shortly after, a trans-friend gave me one of his old binders that had stretched too much for him to feel comfortable in.  It was too big for me, but it was pretty effective anyway.  Still, I didn’t like it at all, preferring to just layer my shirts.


You might think that this post is directed towards transmen.  This is likely so, but I have known a few transwomen, on HRT and still in transition, who need to bind when presenting male.  28 risks of chest binding, is the post, from the Janitorqueer blog.

On Love - Response to Comment

......you mention that your husband cross dresses for different reasons; that he's not transgender.  There is apparently more than one definition for transgender, but the one I ascribe to is that of being an umbrella term that covers everyone with any type of gender variance.  Thus personally, I do see your husband as being transgender.



So many good blog posts and so little time to feature them!  

Nadine wrote this post last Thursday.  It's her response to questions asked by the wife of a crossdresser.  Above, is a short taste of her response.  If you haven't seen the post, drop by Unordinary Style and see just how eloquently Nadine dealt with the comments in her response.  The post is, On Love - Response to Comment.

A short update on the beginning of the rest of my life

What a marvel we humans are! Perhaps it is part of our evolutionary advantage at work here, after all, we are the most adaptive species on the planet, for in a very short time after abandoning all pretence of maleness, so much has become very matter-of-fact that not so long ago would have brought a rise in blood pressure at the very least.





It always makes me happy to see someone transition successfully.  This time, it's my dear friend, Halle, who is doing the update. A short update on the beginning of the rest of my life, is Halle's post.   Stop by her blog and share your happiness for her!  

Meet the “Dad/Mom”

Dawn, one of my favorite bloggers for a number of reasons, has started a video blog.  Never fear, however, Dawn makes her living as a writer, and she has no plans to stop blogging via her written blog, Life After Dawn.

Her first video blog is revealing and full of emotion.  If you're looking at T-Central to find out more about those who are transgender, Dawn's first video blog should suffice as a good "Trans 101".

With that, Meet the “Dad/Mom”.

Reality is in the Eye of the Beholder

I do have a tremendous curiosity and puzzlement about how a person can stand face to face with a female-looking/acting person and innocently and honestly think “he.” What is it that governs their perception of my gender? Do I behave in a mannish way? Do I look like a guy?



I have heard this same question from so many!  Janie relates visits with two close friends, one male and one female.  Both have accidentally mis-gendered her, even though she presented as female.  Force of habit?  This is the subject Janie discusses in, Reality is in the Eye of the Beholder. 

being tall doesn't always mean being read

Now I am in stores and sometimes a sales girl will tell me how nice it must be to be tall. They see me as a tall woman and that has a lot to do with my change of attitude.


Being tall doesn't always mean being read, is short, sweet, and to the point.  Thanks to Joanna for posting something that many of us can relate to.

It could have been me

But let’s be honest: I’m a selfish bitch, and all I really care about is my kids and me. I know that as a marked woman, my choices can get me killed. As a widow, I am all my kids have. So, do I dare go where a predator who hates LGBTQ people might take out his hatred or a copycat might commit more terrorism? 



In this post, you'll see that Dawn is anything but selfish.  I think, for most of us, and as someone who has frequented nightclubs similar to Pulse, this one hits home.  There are so many well written thoughts today regarding the horrible tragedy in Orlando.  It could have been me, is from a woman who writes for a living.

He Just Needs To Find His People, Then He’ll Be Safe

I can’t keep him safe. His people can’t keep him safe. The only thing that could make his life a little safer is being cisgender and straight. Being the complete opposite of who he naturally is would keep him safe.

 As a mother, I’d rather my son be his happy, rainbow self and be unsafe, than miserably pretend to be somebody he’s not and have a better chance of survival. It’s hard to admit that.

Those are the words of Lori, the mother of a transgender child.  She feels the pain of those in Orlando, as we all do.

He Just Needs To Find His People, Then He’ll Be Safe, says Lori.


 

And a one, and a two…

At a restaurant with friends, I went to the gents to fix my lipstick after the meal. A guy walked in after me and immediately went into Embarrassed Brit Mode (imagine a young Hugh Grant doing his flustered-and-stuttering routine).

Gent: “Oh, christ! I’m terribly sorry! I thought this was the gents!”

Me: “Nah, you’re okay; this is the gents. I’m just doing my makeup.”

Gent: “Um… um… …” [leaves, unrelieved] 

And a one, and a two…, is a somewhat humorous look at the restroom situation from Miss Twist....  I love the graphic that goes along with the post, but I'll make you go there to look at it.

Beauty advice: hair removal

Advice is usually worth what you pay for it and unsolicited advice is seldom well received. With this in mind, I offer you my free and unsolicited advice regarding  hair removal.





 


That pretty much sums up this post.  Daniella's, Beauty advice: hair removal.

The beginning....

Growing up i always felt like i wasnt who i was supposed to be. I have two sisters close to me in age. I always enjoyed playing dress up in there clothes. My parents always wrote it off as a stage in life i would grow out of. Which i never did. At almost thirteen years of age my mother not knowing how to deal with it anymore and my step father not wanting to deal with it sent me to live with my father. He at this time was with another woman who had two daughters before him and a son and daughter together. Needless to say this didnt stop it only made it escalate. They took me to psychiatrists and therapists to as they put it "fix me". By this time i was now way into puberty and having dreams of the erotic kind as all young boys do, but mine were as me as a female not male. The doctors could not fix me. Living with them was not easy. I look back now and know i put a lot of strain on their relationship. At sixteen i was no longer living with either parent.


Maddie is a new blogger, recently listed on T-Central.  The excerpt, above is from her second post, dating back to a few weeks ago.  

She has no doubts about herself and the direction she's going in:

Hi my name is Maddison, Maddie for short. I am a 34 year old transgender. I was born male but am female. I have lived the first almost 35 years of my life as a man but will finish it out living as a woman.

Since then, she has blogged frequently.  Please check out her blog, starting at, The beginning....

The Weight of Gender Dysphoria and Employment

With most of my dysphoria gone, I realize how much energy those things around work are taking out of me. What I’ve also discovered is that while I know I can do my job, my appetite for it has waned, if it was ever there in the first place.




This is a topic of which I've seen few blog posts.  In the real world, I have seen jobs and career directions change as the dysphoria fades away.  It does happen to many.  Now post transition, Heather muses about, The Weight of Gender Dysphoria and Employment.

5 questions about hormones and gender dysphoria. (Answers welcome!)

Something we need to know about hormones is not just what effects they have on transgender male to female patients, but the effects they have on men with no history of gender variance. This is because many of the supposed benefits of oestrogen for transgender people may be just benefits of oestrogen in general. 

A few comments about oestrogen from a crossdreaming site.  The author notes that 5 questions about hormones and gender dysphoria,.is for, "older readers with a history of male to female crossdreaming."

A breath of fresh air

So not having any noticeable levels of testosterone in my body for the last few weeks has helped me achieve something that I never really had much experience with. Peace and quiet. My brain is not swimming with thoughts and confusion, I am free from pressures that consumed me for years. I breathe free air again and the smile strewn across my face is no coincidence and as I look to the skies my being has room to fly. The empowerment my new calmness has given me is as satisfying and as it is liberating.


It's always nice to feature a "feel-good" post.  A breath of fresh air, is from Faith.

Intimate spaces

Intimate spaces, with vulnerable women frightened of men, and frightened by us. We would just be locked out. The very thought makes me feel less safe, less willing to go out and engage.




Interesting thoughts, from Scotland's lovely Clare Flourish.  I found Intimate Spaces to be a well balanced and open minded dialogue on THAT subject.  As usual, this is written in Clare's unique style.

The Scent Of a Trans Man

I was reflecting the other day on what things speak to me of my masculinity and that got me thinking about scents that I identify with my own masculinity.  When I smell these things I feel like they are part of who I am.  They make me feel whole. They belong to my being.  And they make me feel distinctly masculine.



I always enjoy reading blogs authored by transmen.  It just puts things into perspective.  Our lives, those of transmen and transwomen, are so different, yet we have so much in common. 

Read, The Scent Of a Trans Man, to find out just what scents make this transman feel whole.  I'm sure there will be some interesting comments.

Looking at things from the opposite perspective, most of the scents mentioned do not appeal to me.  I'd love to see a blog post titled, The Scent of a Transwoman.  If you would like to do a T-Central guest post, let me know, or if you would rather do it on your own blog, I'll feature it.