Sophie Lynne takes a trip to a cemetery to indulge her appreciation for headstones and funereal monuments. There, while walking among the worn away sandstone grave markers, she has some thoughts about the impermanence of the flesh and how even memories carved in stone will over time fade away.
Christy Lewis’s driver’s license had a photo of her before her transition and even though she had renewed online and changed the gender marker and name the pandemic kept the photo centers from opening. That meant she had to carry the old license with the old photo along with her proof she was who she was. in June the photo centers reopened and Christy headed out to get her photo taken. She wore her mask and was prepared to stand in line. Today she tells you how the whole experience went.
Claire Hall had a higher profile than most who begin transition. She was prominent in county government and before she came out to her colleagues she had concerns that there would be opposition to her gender change. Happily she didn’t face very much negativity when she announced her transition and the ridicule she had been anticipating didn’t occur. Things went well — until the arrival of the COVID019 pandemic. After her county made a decision on mandatory masks the anti-mask crowd descended on her like evil pigeons on someone in a birdseed covered suit. Today she writes about how tough the abuse has been.
Oru newest Contributor is Charles James and today is his debut blog. Charles will be writing from time to time about the awakening of his sexuality after the passing of his wife. Suddenly he realized that he found trans women sexually attractive. His first blog is about his tentative steps into a new world, one that he had no experience with before.
With so much self-isolation time on her hands Linda is putting her mind to some of the deeper questions facing society. Why do people kill? How can we keep our plastic out of the oceans? Why is there such a drive to get an Earth colony on Mars? Why do crossdressers crossdress?
Chrissy Gann devotes today’s Butterfly Chronicle to her own progress in transition and then goes on to acknowledge the contributions to transgender visibility and and rights by those who came before. For a short course on the progress of trans people in modern times be sure to take a look. You may find validation and inspiration in what Chrissy has written.
There is a tendency by some people to make assumptions about things they really no nothing about. Why some people are transgender is one of those things that many people supply motivations for but really have no clue about. Heck, even we don’t know why we are what we are. In opposition to proclamations of opinion condemning trans people as “freaks” or “prevs” we at TGForum believe answers will be found in science. That’s why we bring you Dana Bevan, she gives you the science.
Over the past century or so various learned individuals have arrived at theories of what makes a man and what makes a woman. To some of these (male) theorists it was apparent that women don’t really exist. Just and example of how over thinking is never a good thing. Today Kristina Leigh explores several of the theories of sexuality and gender that were arrived at years and years ago and influence people’s perceptions of why men are men and women are. . . And of course the existence of transfeminine people totally upsets the theorists. Are you ready? Here is A Psychoanalytic Model of Transgenderality.
Rabbah Rona Matlow, our spiritual correspondent, writes about faith in the current virus epidemic. Some people feel cut off from their spiritual anchors because they are unable to gather with others of their faith. Others deny faith as not being helpful and turn to science for instruction and information. As a former scientist, and current spiritual counselor who works with people of all religions — or none, Rabbah Rona shares more of her thoughts on the subject.
Linda Jensen has found an unexpected benefit to being isolated at home. She is getting in touch with people she met earlier in her life. They are reaching out to her to comment on her posts here on TGF. One lady she hadn’t heard from in years wrote to comment on one of Linda’s posts and also to wonder how some of the people they both know were able to put their femme side away while quarantining with family that had no knowledge of their femme side. And, Linda’s friend is benefitting from isolation as now her wife is not worried that anyone will be stopping by their house so Linda’s friend is able to dress everyday.
New Contributor Chrissy Gann joins us today with her “origin story.” Chrissy grew up in a video tape world where one had to go to a retail establishment and rent a VHS tape in order to view a movie in the privacy of ones home. In her local video store Chrissy ran across Let Me Die A Woman, and Glenn or Glenda? While her usual tastes ran to B movies about alien invaders and mutated monsters something in these two films spoke to her deep inside. That was the beginning of her journey to a feminine lifestyle. Read on for the details.
Our social correspondent Lynda Martini is back with us today. Since no one has a social life now, at least in the real world, she has submitted a blog that reports on her recent gender confirmation surgery. She has some “interesting facts” about what to expect when you have your GCS, and lays them out in nine points.
In this time of masking to protect ourselves and others from a deadly virus Sophie muses on how it was that she had been deploying masks for protection her whole life. The mask of shyness in grade school to avoid the attention of bullies. The mask of a cheerful worker wearing a mandated uniform. The mask of manliness she put on every day before the pressure to take it off became too great. All of Sophie masks shielded her from having to be open and visible to the world.
Katherine Diaz, our correspondent in Columbia, is, like all of us, adapting to a new world where meeting people face to face is no longer safe. To stay safe we’re all practicing social distancing and self isolation. Señorita Diaz is no different than all of us. Used to going out and showing off her beauty now she is in her home trying to learn how to use other options available through social media apps. Read how she is doing and view her latest video.
Rabbah Rona Matlow, our spiritual correspondent, writes about faith in the current virus epidemic. Some people feel cut off from their spiritual anchors because they are unable to gather with others of their faith. Others deny faith as not being helpful and turn to science for instruction and information. As a former scientist, and current spiritual counselor who works with people of all religionsn — or none, Rabbah Rona shares her thoughts on the subject.
During the current crisis things are tough all over but marginalized transgender people are being hit harder than most. Today Claire Hall discusses the threats to trans people that were present before the pandemic and are exacerbated by it. She does see some positives however. Give her blog a read and see if you agree.
Christine Burr has been living her life in two genders. Doing her job as a male, a successful male, and enjoying her a social life based on expressing her femininity. She has been able to transform from male to female presentation and finds that when she is being “her” all traces of “him” seem to evaporate. Everything male is gone. In today’s blog she wonders just where it is “he” goes while she is being herself.
Do you have a gender question and don’t know where to turn? If so Ask Amanita! Amanita is a gender counselor who offers counseling to trans people around the world online. We’re happy to have her available here on TGForum. Today Amanita answers a question how to cope as an isolated trans person in a quarantined world.
For the past eight months or so Dana Bevan has been intensely studying the literature on transgender personalities and pathological personality disorders because of experiences she described in a previous post on narcissism. Do pathological disorders of personality contribute to transgender causation and, if so, which ones?
It’s late and Sophie is trying to get to sleep. Through the thoughts buzzing around in her brain she hears a voice. The voice denies her reality and the conversation is not anywhere close to a delightful session of witty banter. The voice is downright nasty at times. Will Sophie silence that mean voice and get the rest she needs? Read “Insomnia” and find out.
It has been several weeks since our lives forcibly changed making us take the virtual path as the most relevant at the moment, and feel a slight reflection on what our lives were before. Before this, my artistic life ran from bar to bar or from cultural place to cultural place. Now, it goes from […]
Christine Burr is with us this week with a new post. She has been pondering questions about the nature of her transgender identity. Why write a book about the questions she is grappling with? For one thing getting it all down on paper helped her get some clarity. She defines what she sees as the three different varieties of male bodied people who crossdress. There’s the part time crossdresser who is content to wear some lingerie, or other femme attire, the ones who dress fully and form social relationships, spending more time every month as their femme self, and those who go full time. Christine wonders where she fits and, as the title of her book reads, “Am I Trans Enough?”
New Contributor Kristina Leigh is working on a series of essays about transgender issues. Today we present her first work, including copious footnotes, titled Transgenderality: A Critique of Patriarchal Institutions. Part of her thesis is “A reinterpretation of gender is not only necessary in the postmodern age; it is inevitable. Society and its institutions will catch up with transgenderality eventually. The fraudulence of sexism and phallocentricity has already been exposed; transgenderality has been one of the critiques.”
First let me introduce myself. I’m Rabbah Rona Matlow. I’m an AFAB NB trans woman, and I use ze/hir pronouns. Rabbah in the modern context means woman rabbi. I use ze/hir deliberately rather than they/them to engage people in discussions and learning because I believe that religion, science and sociology all clearly show that the […]
In this time of social distancing and self isolating our normal routines are suddenly gone. Dressing up and going out to dinner, happy hour or a club is no longe possible, or from a health standpoint practical. What do crossdressers who depend on a certain schedule and life circumstances to squeeze in those opportunities to dress up do when they have to stay in their homes with family members who are not aware of their “hobby”? Julie Slowinski had some fun planned during an upcoming work trip out of town. A trip that has been cancled. How is she coping?
Many part time ladies who are not “out” to everyone have found themselves in situations in which they run into someone who knows them from their male life. You’re en femme, walking on the street, and up ahead you see your neighbor, co-worker or your child’s teacher. OMG! Linda recalls attending a support group meeting for “closeted crossdressers” where members took turns revealing the close calls they had that could have left them outed to the world.
