We have news of transgender South American teachers. There’s another big flap brewing over Michelle Kosilek. It’s ladyboys on pachyderms in Thailand. A Peacock is a queen in Missouri. A drag queen says she was forced to serve time in the women’s jail. All that and much more is waiting in TWIT.
Pamela DeGroff interviews musician, songwriter, singer and actress Michelle Garcia is this edition of Perpetual Change. Garcia, whose musical influences range from Bonnie Raitt to Santana, Frank Zappa, Sheryl Crow and Chrissie Hynde, has been making music her whole life. Meet this musical TG in Perpetual Change.
This week The Artist D asks the question, “What are we giving up on?” Our society seems to be built upon the thesis that you should never give up. But do we know what it is we really want? If we don’t then what are we giving up or not giving up on? The Artist D takes some time from her vacation to expound.
To some people giving TG prisoners hormones and SRS is humane treatment which avoids “cruel and unusual punishment.” To others it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars and a failure of commonsense. The case of convicted killer Michelle Kosliek has got Dee Levy riled up. See what you think of today’s column.
A drag performer makes it on to The X Factor. A transwoman in Philadelphia is murdered. Anderson Cooper interviews the person who said an anti=baldness drug made her transgendered. Honey Boo Boo Child may be dueting with RuPaul. An influential critic of poetry is a crossdresser. And more!
Before the 1990s if you were out and transgendered you didn’t have much of a chance to publish anything like a novel, scientific literature, short stories or even poems. The two niche markets open to the out TG were writing for other TGs in newsletters and magazine. The other was autobiographies.
This is the sixth in our TGF Rerun series examining how we classy transgendered folks were portrayed in cheap tabloids and men’s magazines. Men were the target audience for these publications, and their yellowed yellow journalism tells us how we looked to some guys in the years between 1949 and 1977.
Linda recently had dinner with a man who told her of his early years when his mother needed him to help her by wearing women’s clothes. At first to Linda it all sounded too much like a story of forced feminization but in the end she decided it just could be true. What do you think?
This week we’ve got the first official in Vietnam. A former male comic is now a female comic. A convicted murderer wins the right to GRS in jail. There were 13 TG delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Buck Angel starts a FtM dating site. Lana Wachowski speaks about transition. And more!
There’s one accessory that no crossdresser can be with out. It goes with all different styles and almost always shows you to your best advantage. It’s compact, but not a compact. It fits in your purse and uses batteries. No dirty thoughts! Most of us can’t be without it. Find out what it is in Our Ultimate Accessory.
RuPaul is getting her own comic book. Janet Mock is speaking to a LGBTQ youth conference. The TG delegate to the Democratic National Convention delivers a sermon. One of us has been elected to the Democratic National Committee. Jennifer Leitham is in a movie. Toyota crosses more gender lines. More!
Earrings can be an important fashion accessory or they can lead to style doom. To make sure you’re using earrings only for good and not fashion evil do not miss Tasi Zuriack’s essay on the art of wearing earrings. Tasi reveals what the right earrings can do for you.
Andrej Pejic has competition on the catwalk. Right wing haters find a new target for their attack ads. Michael Musto reveals the 5 worst types of drag queens. A transman in Virginia is in jail for forgery. He put an “M” on his marriage certificate. Meet Japanese crossdressers. “Real Housewives” keeps it real with a queen.
Today The Artist D talks about femininity, androgyny and masuclinity. Why do we feel feminine when we put on a dress? Is the dress what makes us feminine or does that come from inside? There are women who wear pants and never wear dresses yet they remain feminine. Can you be feminine in pants?
Perpetual Change interviews Paul Iwancio, a singer and songwriter from Baltimore, who is an active supporter of transgendered people. Pamela DeGroff featured him in her column in 2005. Now she catches up with Paul and learns about his marriage and new project Ella’s Umbrella. Pam also has other music news.
Hip hop and rap are musical genres that have been dominated by macho men who express hatred of gays and transgendered people in their lyrics. Some rappers have advocated shooting gay people. Now Dee Levy sees hope that the rap world is beginning to change toward a more tolerant view of gays and TGs.
The TGF staffers spend the week scouring the World Wide Web for anything that remotely resembles TG related news. This week they’ve done it again! There’s news of pageant winning in Canada, TG students getting a break in Philly, and much much more.
Linda finds a transgender support group where more and more of the members are posting messages affirming success and acceptance when they take their femme persona out in public.
In 2005 a Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law the Real ID Act of 2005. It is a draconian law that forces everyone with a driver’s license to bring their proof of birth to the DMV to turn that license into a national ID card. It’s a nightmare for all but definitely for TGs.
TGF Rerun: This is the 5th in our series from the late ’90s examining how TG folks were portrayed in cheap tabloids, the progenitors of the supermarket sensational press, and risqué men’s magazines; an innocent genre of porn which was more naughty than raunchy.
Liza was onstage with drag queens. The Affordable Care Act will protect TGs needing healthcare. What’s so bad about a boy in a dress? Sean Bean looks sexy in his dress. Ron Pealman, not so good. Half and half photography from NYC. A host of TWIT Awards and a lot more. It’s what we call TWIT!
Many crossdressers spend a long time hiding in their closets. They work on their femme image alone with only their camera and Internet friends. While not demeaning that expression of femininity Sophie Lynne takes some time to explain the benefits of walking out the door for the first time.
Pamela DeGroff has covered the legendary performer David de Alba several times. This time it’s different. Pamela is reviewing samples of audio that was provided by friends of David’s. Some of it was recorded at Finnochio’s. And we’re presenting some of the clips here. Pam also reviews new music from Cyndy Lauper.
Body types and masculine characteristics can definitely handicap your chances at passing as a woman. We can’t all be Marilyn Monroe. Maybe, if we’re honest and assess our faults and pluses, we can learn to be the best woman we can be by working with what we’ve got.
From across the pond and down the road we gather all the transgender related news we can find and we call it The Week In Transgenderism. This week: a play about Lindsay Lohan, Wardrobe freedom at Oxford. The Drag Race All Stars. Chinese crossdressing. Dr. Sherman Leis, and a whole lot more!
You’ve heard people say it. “That is so chic.” Or “Tres chic.” What does it really mean? Is it being fashionable? Is it following the latest trends? Is it having style? Whatever “chic” is it’s not an easy quality to explain. That’s where Tasi Zuriack steps in. Today Tasi digs in to answer the question, “What is chic?”
