Our correspondent in Thailand had an opportunity to get together with old friends and talk about this, that and the other thing. The “other thing” that came up was how they were all living parallel lives, being successful males in one life and secretly (or mostly secretly) expressing their feminine sides. Meet Marc, Trevor and Roland and see if they sound like your long lost sisters.
RachelX is into whips and chains. Also being wrapped in duct tape, hung from the ceiling in a straight jacket and just about any other fetish found in the initials SMBD. Why does she like it? It’s all about power. Recently Rachel attending a fetish party, or gathering on the retinue of the mistress she serves ,and she illustrates this post why S&M is not what you see in Hollywood movies with some photos from that party.
The Artist D is never one to lack an opinion. Today she has an opinion about words. As The Bee Gees said before they went disco, “It’s only words….” Words can have power. Words can hurt. The Artist D feels that words only have the power to hurt you if you let them. Today her opinion is about the word “tranny” and whether those who use it are automatically doomed to the ranks of the transphobic.
Did you enlist in the armed forces to escape your transgender tendencies? Did you get married believing that settling down in a committer relationship would “cure” you? Is that really what goes on with TGs who enlist or get married? Some studies say yes, enlisting in the armed forces is a flight to hyper masculinity. Having to be the “man” in a relationship may be seen as another “cure” for TG issues. But are these behaviors what they appear to be? Could there be another reason why TGs join the military or get married? Dr. Dana Bevan has another hypothesis.
Today Sophie Lynne is making a confession. It was only when she admitted to herself that she was a “she” that she could put in to perspective all the grudges and the need for revenge that she was carrying around. Rather than seeking retribution and demanding justice Sophie is learning that forgiveness is the more feminine path — and the first person she needed to forgive was herself.
When Thailand’s katoi make the news they’re commonly called ladyboys and the story is either one of success in show business or the pageant world, or one of their involvement in some crime. There’s little in the Thai media that presents them as transgender women doing their best to be a part of society. Our Thailand correspondent has found a story that shows the katoi can do things that break the stereotypes. And it comes with pictures of ladyboys in bikinis.
Dee Levy has a new friend who experienced sexual abuse as a child. The system failed him when he was young and vulnerable and now he is the one who is trapped in guilt and self loathing. He is also a TG person. Dee’s post today tells his story and asks if any of our TGF readers who may have gone through the same things can offer advice, inspiration or other emotional support to this person.
There is a organization in central Pennsylvania called T.R.U.S.T. (Truth, Respect, Understanding and Support for Life’s Transitions) Their mission is to help spouses and significant others begin to understand that living with a crossdresser or transitioning spouse is complex and requires the components of the group’s name in order to navigate your life with that […]
TGs often find themselves sexually aroused when they first begin to experiment with dressing up. While some claim they were never aroused by their crossdressing others in the community seem to be turned on at the drop of a high heeled pump. What does the science behind sexual arousal say about the erotic pull of femme attire for MtFs? Doctor Dana Bevan tells us in today’s post.
Today Dee Levy of Crossdresserswives.com comments on and decries the fact that many times transgendered women are refused breast health care simply because they are transgendered. A recent story we featured in The Week In Transgenderism told of a TG woman who has been living a female life for many years but she was turned away when she sought a mammogram at Planned Parenthood.
The other girls were all wear jeans and leggings but Nikki arrived for their fun evening in five inch heels, a mid thigh mini with a blue blouse topped by a silver jacket. Was she “overdressed”? Read her tale of dinner at the brew house (a sure sign things are trending toward casual) and then on to the The Moose Lounge in Allentown. We ask, can a girl be a bit more dressed up and still have fun with the jeans and leggings crowd? Read Overdressed? and find out.
Dr. Sherman Leis talks about treating TG teens. Because transgender teens are in the middle of experiencing puberty, transitioning strategy for them is not the same as for adult TGs. Special protocols are necessary for teens to delay normal early pubertal changes, and then to add hormones appropriate to their true mental and emotional gender in order for them to experience a puberty congruent with their desired gender.
Today The Artist D makes a discovery. She realizes, suddenly and deeply, that she has neglected the male side of her personality. He should be just as fabulous and witty as she but for too long he has accepted the imposed gender norms of society and let her do the over the top, the extravagant and amazing. The Artist D knows in one moment that he/she is a complex and fluid creature who won’t be bound by the rules of gender, whether from inside or outside the TG community. Join The Artist and investigate the tyranny of The Binary.
It’s moving into autumn and what does a woman who has a predilection for hot latex outfits, paddles and whips start to think about? In the case of RachelX she starts to have thoughts about something smooth and creamy and oh so delicious. Ice cream! While most of us are thinking about hot cocoa RachelX was seduced by a pint of Hagen Daz, or maybe it was Breyer’s. In any case that got her thinking back to ice cream treats of the past.
Today Dr. Dana Bevan doesn’t blind you with science. She takes you on a scientific trip through the brain and points out the differences that can be found using sophisticated instruments between the brains of non-TG/TS people and those of TG/TS people. Research on deceased TG/TS brains pointed toward differences in brain structure and today’s modern magnetic resonance imaging is finding even more. Read Beyond the BNST to first of all find out what the BNST is and then learn why it’s looking more and more as if we’re born this way.
A news story in the New Jersey newspaper the Star Ledger has mis-gendered a murder victim. Another transgender murder victim. Babs Casbar Siperstein is upset by the coverage and the refusal by the paper to correct it’s mistake. Or is it a mistake? Babs looks closely and detects what could possibly be transphobia.
An incident earlier this year, one that many in the TG community would have gritted their teeth over and silently fumed, provoked Our Man in a Dress, Graham Holmes, to take action. After being pushed aside in at the payment window by a man who took the opportunity to insult Graham with an anti-gay slur when he made a mild protest, Graham decided to take it to the law. He filed and report, at first just so the police would have it as a hate crime statistic. Then the police convinced Graham to deal with it as a hate crime. Read on and find out what happened next.
It’s strange how certain words or phrases come into vogue, slip into “fashion,” reoccur in regular usage–perhaps initially being used by a small group of people, and then becoming adopted by the wider community at large. Language is always evolving and we’re forever seeing new “tech” words or words or phrases, which often begin as […]
Feminism is often a difficult word to swallow and has been cruelly abused over time for numerous campaigns. The fight of feminists has been a flag taken up by many transgender male to female comrades. Depending on the feminist we are either welcome or completely banned from the club for ever being tainted with any […]
An active member of the TG community in the Mid-Atlantic region, a person who seemed to be happy and adjusting well to her transition, committed suicide this month. Sophie Lynne, her friend, had attended Southern Comfort with Lisa Empanada at the beginning of the month and then had to face losing her on September 16th. Why did it happen? What could have been done to prevent her act? Sophie touches on all that but mainly she grieves for a departed sister.
Our contributor RachelX is a woman of many parts. She is a member of the fetish/S&M scene, she has firm opinions on many things and is not afraid to express them and she is a rock and roller who is just adjusting to being a “rock chick.” Rachel and her band Touch The Sky played last weekend at a beer festival in Newtown, Pennsylvania. How would the festival crowd, who had seen her before with the band as a rock dude, accept her in her new persona? Read about Rachel’s day “Out & About” and view some photos.
Sophie Lynne made it to the Southern Comfort Conference this month and for her it was “living the dream.” SCC was on her agenda for a few years but something always stood in the way. This year it was SCC or bust. Today Sophie covers her experience at the conference. She attended seminars and talks. Ate hotel food. There was karaoke and too many cocktails. Amid all that Sophie connected with people, people she’d heard about and admired to people who were fans of hers. Take a trip back to early this month and visit Southern Comfort with Sophie.
It’s a Catie Doodle! Catie Maye is a heterosexual crossdresser of over forty years, who has written a book that destroys the myths surrounding crossdressing. It’s titled Men Can Wear Dresses and the book and her company Transgender Doodle Limited, she hopes to raise awareness and dispel the negative mythology surrounding crossdressing.
Dr. Dana Bevan believes that being transgendered is not a choice. She also believes that most of the choices we make are not made by our conscious minds but by the bits of programming and wiring that integrates our nervous systems with our brains. As she puts it, most people believe there is a “little person” inside their head that makes decisions for us. They call it a soul or spirit. Evidence though points to our “decisions” including acting out TG behavior, are all made by parts of our brains that are not under our control. Food for thought indeed.
Victoria Williams has been working on her feminine presentation for several years. She has gone from dreaming about mingling with others in public en femme to actually doing it. Along the way she has picked up knowledge and today she shares some of the things she has learned on her journey. She wishes she had known them at the start and hopes she can pass them on to her sisters so they don’t have to learn the hard way.
