Transgender Life

Fantasia

picture0423Hi everyone!  Today, I find myself in lovely Provincetown, Massachusetts, quaint – cute as a button – seaside village, on a sunny, gorgeous day.

PTown is the site of Fantasia Fair, the longest running of the many tgirl conferences in the U.S.  It was here that I came, back in my very early days as a tgirl, to find my feet as it were, and it was a judicious decision if there ever was one.

There is no place I have ever been where it is easier to be a crossdresser or tgirl of any stripe.  We pretty much have the run of the town – and we are EVERYWHERE!

It is said that the hardest place in the world to “pass” is PTown during Fantasia – as everyone in town is presumed to be T; that is the extent to which we are ubiquitous.  We are totally accepted, and any girl, from the rank beginner on up, can feel comfortable walking the streets.  You are so likely to be taken as trans that it is neither a reflection on your “passability” nor a concern at all.  (Many GGs are mistaken for tgirls too.)

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Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

lennoxAnnie Lennox, the gender-bending artist who came to fame as the voice (and soul) of the Eurythmics in the eighties, has recently become the sole focus of an art exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London called “The House of Annie Lennox” – a take-off on her website name – The House of Me.

She is even going to personally, physically be part of the exhibit.  In what she calls “a mix between art, video and showcase,” she will do some of her work at a desk within the display, on view to spectators but not able to see them.

If you don’t know Annie Lennox, treat yourself to a quick search online for her biography.  Or, just click this link: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Diva+display/5452384/story.html

In one of the unusual anecdotes I read, she had to furnish proof that she was actually female before MTV would allow her Sweet Dreams video to air.

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Newspaper Apology

My post yesterday dealt with an ad (from the so-called Institute for Canadian Values – don’t you just love the way certain people decide that their values are the ones for all of us?) beseeching government to stop confusing young children with questions about their gender and sexual orientation – especially regarding transgender issues.

Interestingly, just today, the newspaper in which the ad ran issued an apology for publishing it.

The paper is of a right-of-center political bent, so the apology may raise eyebrows further.

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Corrupting Children

I am bringing this up with precious little in the way of insight.  Hopefully, some of you will have something to offer on the subject.

The ad below (please click on it to enlarge it to readable size) comes from a local paper and expresses concern with efforts to teach young children about sexual and gender diversity. (The title of this post comes from the name of the website responsible for this ad.)

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Faux Transition

The “ Pretty Man ” experience set me thinking more and more about the idea.

If it proves possible to give voice to my feminine side without being a woman, then all the inner conflicts about whether I am two-gendered, or which gender I truly am melt away; the stigma of being trans, and the fear of discovery disappear.  I go back to being one person, with one name, one wardrobe and no secrets.

The first sign of trouble, though, came  the other night when I went out with friends, dressed in a tight-fitting mock turtleneck, narrow pants and somewhat feminine flats – all black. 

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Pretty Man

img_4455aFollowing on from the last post, I figure that as an exercise in personal evolution and introspection, I could try to give being a “pretty man” a try and see how it feels.

In some sense, it occupies a middle ground between regular guy and trans woman, so maybe I can find a way to get my mind around the concept.

As a start, I went out this past weekend to a party with friends, and then out for a late bite dressed as you see in the photo.  (I did not dare put on makeup.)

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Yowza Yaoi

I was introduced to the term “Yaoi” by a friend I met at Southern Comfort in Atlanta.  I may have spoken of her before.  She was one of the most beautiful t-girls I have ever met, feminine both in appearance as well as manner.

Not long after our encounter, she gave it all up – being a girl I mean – in favor of being a yaoi-type – a beautiful feminine man who liked sleeping with men – saying that there was no need to become female to do and be all the things he wanted to do/be; he could do them just fine as a man.

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Labels

17 of 19 © 2011 Connie Tsang; model: Janie Black
labels

“I see a spectrum with cross-dressers on one end and transsexuals on the other. I think I’m somewhere in the middle, so I call myself a T-girl. Someone else has said I’m bi-gender. You can put whatever name you want to it, but it’s somewhere in between those.” – Claire Black (Janie)

passport for gender traveler

Right-On Down-Under

As you all know, I am a gender-traveler – not only from one gender to the other, but from one place to another.

My “home and native land” of Canada has disappointed me with its restrictive laws, which are unnecessary to any constructive purpose.  I recounted my dismay with Canadian air travel laws in a recent post (click here).

By contrast, I read today that Australia has enacted new rules that allow their citizens to acquire a passport with gender designated as M, F or X (for indeterminate), with only a doctor’s letter of support.  No surgery, no imminent surgery, no proof of medical condition required.

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Trying It

18 of 19 © 2011 Connie Tsang; model: Janie Black
Trying It

“You start to realize that if you don’t do something that you are wondering about now, you will never have a chance. It’s a very common theme among all the girls I’ve met who start doing this in their middle age.

Today, I think the younger people are starting a lot more to play with their gender, but that’s the generation after me. Among the t-girls that I know, every single one except for me, had thoughts about this when they were a child – either tried on their sister’s clothes or mother’s clothes, did something for Halloween or whatever, really liked it, thought about it again when they were a teenager, but never really could do it or whatever, for the guilt or pressure, until the middle age. Me, I’m the only one who has never thought, for one second, about doing this my entire life before I actually started doing it at this age.

– Claire Black (Janie)