Over the weekend, I wrote a piece for a different website, before realizing I didn’t want to share my writing with them. The nominal topic was something other than trans, but truth is, I was using it as an excuse to talk community politics. So I offer it up here instead, where it might be […]
I know this is popular blog topic, but it is — I think — an important question to ask. When did you first realize that you wanted to dress in feminine clothing? Or when did you first realize that you’d really, really like to know what it would have been like to have been born […]
You read about the kerfluffle over the word “tranny” in TWIT Notes a couple of weeks ago. And it’s high time we had a raucous debate, complete with name-calling, charges, counter-charges, hair-pulling, lawsuits and online flaming. Because the question has largely gone unanswered: Is that word offensive?
Hi everyone! It’s nice to be back from hiatus. Life is strange and I have a few stories to share, but I think I’ll start with why my name probably seems unfamiliar. And it has nothing to do with whether you’ve read my earlier essays or not. You’ve probably grokked by now, this is going […]
Believe it or not, I don’t go out to parties every weekend. Sometimes, I stay home. And generally, when I stay home, I don’t dress up. It’s a lot of work to get pretty, and my thought is: if I’m going to go through all that effort, I want to show it off. If a […]
The Sunday before Cincinnati’s Pride festival sees a sort of warm-up to the main event. There’s a much smaller street fair dubbed the “Drag Races”. And it’s much like it sounds. Gay men must compete in a foot race en femme. There’s also an event for lesbians as well: Dykes on Trikes. In that competition, […]
June is the time of year for GLBT Pride Day rallies and as regularly as the heat and humidity return so do cries for better “T†representation at these—and other public—events. The logic is that we’ll never be accepted by the public if we just hide ourselves; we need to raise the visibility of the […]
Esquire magazine had an article last month about all the skills every man should master. I’m sure Cosmo has some equivelant, and since TGForum is the authority for the trans world, it seemed only fitting that we come up with a list.
Many CDs will work very hard on achieving “The Look” that they want to represent their femme selves. They will buy expensive dresses, invest in the necessary foundation garments to make their figures “just right” (some will even go so far as to exercise!) and they will do or spend what ever they have to […]
It seems that in everything there is a balance. For every point, there is a counterpoint: every thesis has an antithesis; for every yin there is a yang. This holds true with the human condition as well, including that of gender. There are gays and lesbians. There are M2F and F2M transsexuals. There are transgendered […]
My wife and I separated recently, with the divorce to be finalized early next month. And one might accuse me of moving too quickly, but I’m already thinking of dating. Okay, I’m not exactly thinking of finding someone to date, but I am thinking about some of the technical aspects of dating.
As many may remember from my Diva of Dish days here at TGF I am in showbiz. I work on films and television shows in the Philadelphia/New York area and I was just working as a background actor (that’s an extra) on a film in Philly. While I was on the set in downtown Philadelphia […]
You’ll probably remember the article from a couple of weeks ago about octopus gender-bending. Simply put, some members of the Abdopus aculeatus species will present themselves as female in order to lull genuine girl octopi into a false sense of security. And there’s a human version of it to. But it has nothing to do […]
We live in a wild and weird time. Men are wearing dresses, guys (well FtMs) are getting pregnant and shaking up the Oprah audience, and Madonna is going to be 50 this year. That’ll stop ya in your tracks. It seems like just yesterday we were dancing to Material Girl, how could Maddy be “a […]
Admit it, posting pictures is one of the most common pastimes in the T-world. Not that this isn’t without controversy, of course. There are the picture plagiarists who steal someone else’s image and pass them off as their own. There are those who Photoshop their face onto the bodies of others. There are those who […]
You know, I’ve been thinking about the whole branding of the “trans†condition lately. I’m not so much into this “new agey†best of both worlds BS that gets floated around from time to time. Probably because it seems terribly impractical, overly idealistic, and excessively convenient. You can’t just re-invent the world to make yourself […]
I promised Cheryl back on February 18th that I’d talk a little about the notion of the GG succorer — that is, a natal-born woman who takes a burgeoning trans-woman under her wing and teaches her the ways of womanhood. So Cheryl, this one’s for you… Primarily, I think the notion of the female mentor […]
Lexy Tranner’s last cartoon got me thinking: not about women or mates, but about dresses. How many great ones have we missed out on, because they weren’t quite right? They just didn’t fit perfectly, so we toss them.
There are times when I’m so stunned by the inhumanity of my fellow humans that I have to rouse myself and speak. We have enough of a negative, criminal nature happening on planet Earth every day (Africa and Kosovo are just two examples) that if we weren’t able to tune it out and distance it […]
In Detroit recently, police found the body of a man in female attire, in a vacant lot. He had been shot in the head. So far, police have not released the name of the victim, at the request of the family. Now, the head of the National Center for Transgender Equality has joined area media […]
We always speak of community. It’s a great word as it conveys a comforting idea of people living and working together in harmony with one another. I mean, after all we share the common bond of a desire to express a gender identity contrary to our biological sex. But just as in all communities, harmony […]
In the February 11th edition of TGF our blogger Corinne Scott reviewed a work of TG fiction. The review was the result of Corinne’s lamentation in a prior blog that no TG fiction was really good writing; the TG elements tend to get in the way of the story in many cases. The novel she […]
Last month, I challenged someone–anyone–to point me towards some decent TG fiction. Cheryl Sanders picked up the gauntlet, offering up her own novel, A Woman’s Passion for my criticism. Brave indeed, considering the low regard I have for TG fiction in general. So how did it fare?
I shaved this week. Not a big deal, normally, but I’d been growing a beard since mid-December. I know, I know: a hideous image. But there was method in my madness. A beard is scratchy, and incompatible with dressing up. (Unless one is doing skag drag.) But a beard can be a great motivator and […]
This month the Digital Diner gets serious. Is crossdressing addictive? Is it possible to give it up? Would you want to give it up? Is it a compulsion? And where can a crossdresser get a good tuna salad sandwich? OK, not the last one but Dina Amberle takes on the rest of these questions in […]
TGF member Regina Leigh was reading the January 21st TWIT Notes and found that the article by Richard Rosendall in Bay Windows of New England (which criticized Meredith Bacon’s criticism of HRC for their decision on ENDA) so provocative that she was moved to send Mister Rosendall an email. Since she copied us on it […]
