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!
Three more ladies shared their photos which means it’s time for another Isolated Beauties post.
Several months have passed since Mary Jo talked her husband Tom into attending the the Kentucky Lady’s Association Gala as Claire. It turned out that Tom didn’t need to worry that anyone would realize he was Claire. In fact Claire was the belle of the ball. Of course being five foot five in his stocking feet meant Claire was sized about the same as all the other ladies, and with her tightly laced corset she looked fabulous in both her modern cocktail dress and her vintage gown. Mary Jo had told the woman who put the ball together about Claire’s collection of vintage dresses and corsets. When another major gala is planned Mary Jo is asked if Claire could attend and model those vintage dresses. Tom has taken on more responsibility in his father’s business and is reluctant to be a model at such a public event. Of course, Mary Jo talks him into it.
What do you call it when transgender actors, musicians, singers and other performers create exciting characters and works in the arts? We call it TransTainment! Today we bring news of the winner in the Secret Celebrity Drag Race, it’s an actor from Riverdale, learn about Billy Porter’s Met Gala Instagram challenge, meet Brazilian drag queen singer Pabllo Vittar, and several others. Do not fail to get caught up on trans people in the arts with your monthly dose of TransTainment!
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.
Linda Jensen’s beat for TGForum is covering the social scene. That’s gotten plenty hard to do in the new world of Coronavirus isolation. However that’s not going to stop Linda from turning in her post on time for publication. The world may hit the off switch but TGForum and Linda Jensen keep on keeping on. For your amusement and edification we present Linda’s new blog, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.
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.
If you’re all alone at home, and are all dressed up wishing you could go out and share your look with the world be aware that we are still posting Isolated Beauties photos. Since the large number of submissions has fallen off we are posting new photos in new posts. If more ladies send us […]
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?”
We’re happy to inform you that while many eateries are shutdown during the Covid-19 outbreak there is one place that never closes. We call it Dina’s Diner and since it exists in the digital virtual world it’s always open, 24/7, 365! Today Dina cooks up another delicious menu of items including dating while trans, South Korea’s growing acceptance of transgender people, the first trans news anchor, the appeal of actress Valerie Perrine, and the greatness of big hair. Stop in at the Diner and eat your fill.
One day Mary Jo suggested she and Claire should attend the gala of the Kentucky lady’s association. Which would require a couple of different outfits. The cedar chests supplied one beautiful vintage gown but shopping for a cocktail dress and four inch heels would have to happen. After seeing that Claire would need to enhance her waistline to look really good in the vintage gown MJ insists that Claire begin corset training to achieve an hourglass figure. The cedar chests had an adequate stock of vintage whale bone garments. We join the couple as MJ is at work lacing Claire into her corset.
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.
Pauline Estelle and her wife traveled to Mexico to vacation at a membership resort. Their vacation was all wonderful but it provided a respite from the weather in the Great White North. After sorting out room availability problems with management they were able to get in some time relaxing around the pool and other such vacation activities. Pauline brought along two femme outfits to be worn on evening for dinner and another evening for the floor show. Join Pauline and her wife now as she takes you south of the border to Mexico.
Since the virus pandemic has us all staying in our homes ladies are growing frustrated since they are not able to show off their best fashion looks in public. TGForum to the rescue with our new feature Isolated Beauties. Our users are sending their photos to be included in a photo gallery showing what they would be wearing if they could go out of the house. If you would like to be included among the Isolated Beauties send us a photo. No naughty photos, please!
Lorraine Anderson, owner/operator of The Occasional Woman custom clothing service, took a look at a high fashion magazine’s runway looks for 2020 and had to sit down for a bit. When she recovered she filed this blog on how it might, with a little consideration of how things go together to create your personal style, you could possibly integrate some of the runway into a look suited for the real world.
Memories. Misty water colored memories. Not of the way we were but memories of the way Katherine Diaz, our Columbian correspondent, use to be. Also memories of her journey from a “trans de closeth” a closeted crossdresser, to where she is today, an accomplished drag artiste who has performed on stage, done presentations on crossdressing and drag in front of academic audiences, and is totally comfortable with her life.
Our correspondent from Thailand has been out of that country and doing some traveling. She has filed a blog with us about what she, and a longtime friend talked about when they got together recently after not seeing one another for a long while. Both of them crossdress when they are able and both find it easy to present as male when needed and as female when they want to. After their conservation about their life’s journey Christine came to a conclusion about one thing she has found to have always been part of her life.
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!
“Claire” and her wife Mary Jo spent a couple of days in the city. After some fun adventures and quality sexual activity the girls returned home. Claire heard the door open downstairs and thinking it was MJ came down to find her mother. Miracle of miracles, mom didn’t recognize her son and Claire was introduced as a college pal of Mary Jo’s. After Claire got over her scare they settled back into their regular routine for a few weeks. One day Mary Jane suggested they should attend the gala of the Kentucky lady’s association. Which would require a couple of different outfits. The cedar chests supplied one beautiful vintage gown but shopping for a cocktail dress and four inch heels would have to happen. Today the girls take the vintage gown for hemming and go shopping in the city.
We received the following blog on the art of shaving close from a business that makes and sells “classic” single blade razors. Many in the crossdressing community, or trans women who haven’t gone through electrolysis, find it hard to get a close shave without irritation. Here is a blog promoting the benefits of the single blade approach to a baby smooth face from the founder of Hendrix Classics & Co.
Julie Slowinski treated herself to a solo Julie day. She started with a nail appointment, then took in some art, tried on corsets and did a pub, or club crawl. She caught some jazz, a drag show and more. She tells the tale of her day in the style of the ’90s film Momento, going from the end of the evening until the start of her day. Don’t miss this tale of a part-time princess!
A common truth in all people’s lives is that eventually they get older. Today Linda Jensen blogs about aging and takes a moment to look at her memories of the good times she’s had while being Linda. She offers a sort of memory test that will let you situate yourself on the transgender timeline by bringing up places, publications and online addresses which either mean something to you or don’t spark a memory. For example, how many remember Paradise in the Poconos? Take a sashay down memory lane with Linda Jensen.
Our Retro Rerun today comes from the TGForum Archives from 1998. TGF reader Robin Jean Peters wrote a piece titled We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby. She told our readers that no matter how oppressed they felt about the social stigma of crossdressing in 1998 it was way, way worse forty years before that. In 1958 she made the mistake of getting out of her car to just walk around the block and hear her high heels clicking on the pavement. Robin tells you what happened and why she found things to be much better for crossdressers in 1998.
