Amanda Ryan of eastern Ontario, Canada is a crossdresser. She is active in the Gender Mosaic support group in Ottawa and one of the partners in the Kingston Spring Fling weekend. This summer she went all out. She elected to try spending her two week summer vacation living in her own cottage community entirely as […]
One of my English teachers encouraged us by saying, “You’ve got to find your voice.†As a writer I’m still working on that, and as a part-time T-gurl, I will probably never find it. It’s hard to find your voice in lots of ways. How many times have you heard about someone who’s as pretty […]
In this edition of Kalina Isato’s Stochastic Musings Kalina talks about alien sci-fi, lasers firing into your eyes, why your worst critics can be your greatest allies, sharing is caring, temporary tattoos, and some self-preservation tips for all you club-goers out there.
As a crossdresser one of my favorite things is to be able to spend a period of time living as my feminine identity. A full day? A weekend? Those are great. A few times I’ve been able to get away for a weeks holiday living totally en femme. The operative phrase here is get away. […]
Recently a friend of mine had a thought that she wanted to share with others. She posted it to a number of groups where she belongs such as Erie Sisters, Gender Mosaic, Xpressions and a few others. She expresses a great example of the conflict within many of us. We, as crossdressers, can be happy, […]
Wow! It finally stopped raining here in Philly and we are having a spectacular run of excellent weather. It doesn’t get any better than this. So, on to the final column in the series on disclosure. In my monthly transgender therapy group, one of the most controversial topics we’ve discussed involves the issue of being […]
What are the hallmarks of a “successful TS”? To put it another way, how would you score a person who has undergone gender reassignment as being successful? Is it because that person has achieved a convincing appearance in his or her new gender? Is it because he or she has achieved success and, presumably financial […]
In my last column, I shared my thoughts on the pros and cons of self-disclosure for crossdressers. In this month’s column, I’m going to focus on the process of disclosing one’s status as a transsexual who plans to undergo a gender transition. Because transition occurs in public, it is not something that can be kept […]
It’s this time of year when I lecture you all about the importance of attending your local pride festival. This annual column talks about how much fun it is, how empowering it feels to be out in the daylight, and the positive effect trans-participation at pride festivals has on the gay community, and society at […]
Recently, I was engaged in a pleasant daydream on the beach at Cape Cod when I heard a friend from graduate school, now a sports psychologist, talking to my husband about the superstitious practice among baseball players, coaches, and sports announcers of refusing to mention that a pitcher has a no-hitter going in the mid […]
Kalina talks about dining at her favorite restaurant in Philly, trannies who go to lesbian bars, and she defends the use of the word “tranny.” Click “more” to start her musings.
Are you somehow part of the transgender community? Are you or have you been part of a support group? It could be a Tri-Ess, Renaissance, or Beaumont Society chapter or perhaps one of the independent support groups that exist in many cities around the world. My town is so small that if we had a […]
Stochastic Musings Kalina talks about getting “ma’am”‘ed, wigs and hats, inspirational messages, rays of sunshine, and using women’s fitting rooms. There are plenty of lessons to be learned here.
In last month’s column, I presented the first part of a workshop I gave at the Keystone Conference on the transgender spectum. This month’s column completes my talk with a few more therapy vignettes of people along the transgender spectrum. In closing, I return to Julia Serano’s book, Whipping Girl wherein she gives a compelling […]
In this and next month’s columns I’ll be covering material from a workshop I gave recently at the Keystone Conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My goal was to generate dialogue about the transgender spectrum through presenting a theory and a number of therapy case vignettes that illustrate aspects of the theory. We had a very lively […]
For many years TGF was graced with material writen by Bobbi Swan. Best known for her Maturity column and her articles on all things related to being a maid Ms. Swan disappeared from this publication and went out to enjoy her life. We’re happy to say she’s still enjoying it and she has sent us […]
In the final part of this series on psychotherapy, I will say a bit about what to expect from the process, and what is expected from you. Despite the popular joke that everyone has a therapist, my experience is that most people who consult me are first timers, and have very little idea of what […]
“I was asked if I feel like a woman now, but the truth is I have always I was asked if I feel like a woman now, but the truth is I have always felt like a woman — I just ended up in the wrong body. “I can enjoy swimming, and bikinis, go in […]
Linda Jensen shares the story of one of her online pals whose mother helped her to have feminine experiences during her teen years.
For those of you who keep track of such things, I did say a couple months ago that I would talk about the DSM-IV diagnosis controversy. I have decided to postpone that conversation for awhile, as there are some upcoming forums I will be attending that will help me speak about this topic in a […]
Okay, I know this sounds like a downer for starting off the New Year, and I apologize for that. The fact is that I got confused about when my next column was due and had no time to write a brand new one, so I’m recycling a paper I gave at IFGE a year or […]
This month we will look at developing both a glamorous and a natural look concurrently. The two are more alike than you may think, but there are caveats to consider.
You may have noticed a few glitches over the last week at TGForum. We moved the entire site, plus all the member websites, to a new server and there were some, shall we say, “issues” along the way. Some permissions were not copied over correctly and some members’ websites did not display their pages properly. […]
Hi friends! It’s been a mixed bag weekend for me so far — I got some of my Christmas decorations out, which is always enjoyable, especially with some nice seasonal music for inspiration. On the other hand, I had a plumbing disaster which involved a substance looking like espresso pouring out of all my sinks […]
In a recent post at my personal blog, I came up with a list of questions to illustrate the nagging doubts, worries, and fears that plagued me — and most transsexual women, as far as I can tell — prior to beginning my Real Life Experience. They are the sort of the thing my therapist […]
Speaking from the perspective of a therapy client as well as a practitioner with almost 30 years of experience, my knee jerk response is to say that everybody needs therapy – that an unexamined life is, well, hardly worth living. However, I have come to see over time that not everybody shares my biases (duh!). […]
