People all over the United States have been “Crowing” joyously because of the selection, and now nomination, of Kamala Harris as the candidate for Vice President. As a transgender activist I could not join the celebration. Like many trans activists, I see her as a transphobic tool of the carceral prison-industrial complex. I know these […]
As long as males have been attracted to dressing up in women’s clothing there have been people in the crossdressing community who have opinions on what crossdressers should be wearing. Some say we shouldn’t be overly sexy in our attire when we are out mingling with the straight world. Others say if that’s the case why bother to be subdued? Pauline Estelle has rules she lives by and today she shares them with you. See if your idea of what crossdressing is agrees with Pauline’s.
This Retro Rerun was written by Hebe Dotson in 1998. In it she lists 28 reasons why men dress up as women. All sorts of excuses to don femme attire have been used in real life and on film and TV. Hebe listed them in categories ranging from “forced to dress” to “dressing is fun.” Although Hebe’s TGF account is still active we have not heard from her in a long while so attempts to communicate with her through the site may not meet with success.
Sophie Lynne, Penn State University graduate student got and email from the school with the subject line, “Are You Prepared? Real Talk About Race and Identity in the Classroom.” The talk will be by Dr. Seria Chatters and will take place over Zoom. Participants are to submit questions ahead of time. Sophie felt it incumbent on her to ask the doctor what about transgender students on the PSU campus? How “safe’ can a transgender or non-binary student be at PSU? Read the full text of her question today and in coming weeks she will, if she gets one, post the answer.
Today Katherine Diaz, our Columbian Correspondent, looks back briefly at the roots of drag as performance and part of street culture. As long as there have been different attire for the sexes there have been males who adopt feminine presentations to entertain, to express their own femininity, or to poke straight culture in the eye. And Katherine, as always, provides a video to go along with the blog.
Dina Amberle has cooked up another tasty column that is sure to satisfy. Today she mixes together a portion of trans kids knowing what they are, beats in the history of trans man husbands, sprinkles on a show from the Philippines that featured a beautiful trans character played by a cisgender man and let’s it all cool for awhile. Then she stirs it all together, seasons with some homely sexiness, and garnishes the plate with some hot glam punk from the ’80s.
Today Rabba Rona, a disabled queer trans rabbi who served in the U.S. Navy writes that she was appalled and outraged when federal agents beat a Navy veteran on the street in Portland, Oregon when he did nothing wrong except ask them a question about what they were there to do. Whether you are conservative or liberal you should read Rona’s post and view the video of the vet being beaten. It should be a warning to all of us.
Today Chrissy Gann devotes The Butterfly Chronicles to the differences she has found between the time in her life when she was pretending to be a man and what it’s like to now be seen by her friends and co-workers as a woman. For one thing she has to accept mansplaining about things she already understands. And now that they see her as a woman co-workers feel free to comment on her weight. Her therapist says that’s good as they are accepting her gender and treating her within societal norms. Find out what other differences transition has shown Chrissy in the edition of The Butterfly Chronicles.
Dina’s Diner is always a good place to stop. There’s never any restrictions on seating and no matter the size of the crowd you can always socially distance. And the proprietress, chef, and hostess, Dina Amberle, always has a fresh dish cooking in the back. No matter what your tastes run to Dina has something savory to satisfy. Today she offers up a few specials. There’s the controversy over former members of male teams who now identify as females competing with cisgender females. Then a compote of info on those who had show biz careers in one gender then transitioned to have more success as their true selves. She mixes in some protests of the peaceful kind, and offers up some thoughts on masking and thing swimsuits. Don’t miss Dina’s Diner!
Rabbag Rona expresses her opinion on police murdering black people. “People who claim to value human life do not. Genesis 1:27 states (doubled for absolute emphasis) that we were ALL created in God’s image. The Talmud states that when one destroys a life it is as if one destroys the world. Yet when it comes to Black people, and particularly Black trans people, there seems to be a pervasive attitude in this country that they are somehow less than. This could not be further from the truth.”
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?
Dear Ms Rowling, You say you only want to be heard. That is a reasonable request. I read your essay. You say that you are being attacked, and are even receiving threats of violence. I’ll start my response by promising no violence, and the sincere hope that you don’t feel attacked by me. Tempers can […]
What is “Community Pride”? I think in the context of the LGBTQ it is a combination of stereotypes, truths, contradictions and drag queens. Anyone who has any experience within the community can recognize it sight unseen: the effusive interactions, over-the top grandeur and effete snobbery; but also the loving camaraderie. Oh, but let’s not be […]
Dina Amberle has been on the kitchen at Dina’s Diner cooking up a passel of good brain food. Some of her ingredients in today’s fare includes a trans woman who went from wearing frilly clothes, heels and makeup to being comfortable with herself in no makeup and more androgynous clothes. Then she stirs in several paragraphs on the male geishas of Japan, blends in some dish on a man who gave up med school to make copies of all of Madonna’s video costumes so he could wear them, and spices it all up with the inspiration she found in What’s My Line? and an experiment that put men into women’s bathing suits. To savor the full taste and aroma of today’s dish you have to step into Dina’s Diner.
In our legal system the judge is the top dog. The big kahuna. The big boss with the hots sauce. In other words they are in charge, totally. Kristine Holt learned early in her legal career that arguing with a judge is not a good idea, if you want to win the case. She did however disagree with a fellow attorney (who ironically is now a judge) and it turned out Kristine was right. How she disagreed led to a positive outcome in a later case. Read on and learn how.
Kristy Leigh takes a scholarly look at three of the films in the 1990s that presented transgender characters as not just freakish beings who defied gender norms but began to move toward more diversity for transgender characters. The films she discusses are “Paris is Burning”, “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”, and “The Crying Game”. There are footnotes.
Today’s Diner special has an Asian flavor as chef Dina Amberle heats up her wok with pretty male baseball players competing in a beauty contest in Japan. Then she turns to another pot simmering on the stove that is filled with a female swimmer’s misunderstanding of drag queens. Meanwhile, baking in the oven is a bit on color matching for ballerinas’ footwear and a loaf of glamor gratification from a NYC lady who wears her party attire while working from home. Dina rounds it off with a tasty commentary about crossdressers and their attraction to swimwear. For a hearty lunch or dinner you can’t beat Dina’s Diner!
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.
Living in the 21st century we are now able to use the internet to learn things, communicate with others and even set up musical jam sessions with players located at many different places. This wonderful technology is even more useful and important during the current pandemic. That said, some of the social networking that goes on seems to be more “anti-social.” Rather than unite the transgender community platforms like Facebook seem to be doing more to divide us. Today Julie Slowinski has some thoughts on this phenomena.
What crossdresser hasn’t at one time or another become fascinated by women’s undergarments? Either the look of a nipped in waist contained by a tight, unyielding corset or a black lacy bra with bikini panties and thigh high hose — or just a pretty, silky slip — undergarments can provide that sexy feeling crossdressers love. Today Pauline Estelle takes a look back at the history of lingerie.
What is “normal”? We live in a world where people always want a label to use in defining themselves and others. Jaelle Tarrell finds that when it comes to the many labels that exist for those who don’t fit into generally seen categories of gender identity and sexuality, or asexuality, things can get confusing. She finds that “normal” is not necessarily normal.
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.”
Many of us are impacted by the virus induced lockdown. While some of us whine and moan about how we can’t get out to our favorite watering hole for a few happy hour cocktails en femme, or are bummed out that we can’t wear a flirty dress at a nightclub there are many under the transgender umbrella who are facing real tribulations as the lockdown continues. Claire Hall uses her blog today to remind us of the far reaching consequences of the effort to shutdown the virus.
Our new blogger Robben Wendy Wainer debuts today with a post on the plight of trans youth. While many in the transgender community have safe, comfortable places to live transgender youths who are rejected by their parents for expressing their preferred gender are often kicked out of the house. If they have no other options they may end up trying to support themselves selling their bodies on the street. Robben writes about what needs to be done to stop this problem.
Sometimes Dina’s Diner doesn’t have enough ingredients on hand to do any fancy entrees. On those days when things are just too busy to order more supplies Dina Amberle goes through the walk in freezer and pulls out a bit of this and some of that and pretty soon she’s got a hearty slumgullion stew simmering on the stove. Just the right thing to hit the spot. In today’s stew you will notice hints of going for realness in black trans women’s hair. You might catch the subtle flavor of Rosa from Tiktok, a dash of found drag photos from Kansas City in the early ’70s, plus more than enough curvy cosplay (Picachou with cleaveage?) and some old flavors from Dina’s youth in Philadelphia. Bon appétit!
