In a future which has gone wrong Zealots seek to purge the nation of trans people. Trans women who don’t “pass” turn to black market meds in order to fully transition and blend in with the population of cisgender women. Spying, paranoia and secrecy are the norms for trans women and being “outed” means more than just mockery and verbal abuse. Raquel Swann is back with a science fiction tale of a future world that could be all to real. Read Transmute, if you dare.
Our Retro Rerun today is from 1998. Regular TGForum contributor CD Stephanie K. wrote about a crossdressed outing. She and her friend Sharon were wig shopping and then Stephanie planned on taking a big step — getting her ears pierced! After she acquired new hair she found herself having. . . feelings. Feelings that while they emanated from her lower body were not the normal sort of sexual arousal she experienced. Were these feelings “feminine feelings” the way a woman feels when she knows she’s looking good? Or was it something else?
TWIT News is on the march! From all over the globe we bring you news with transgender related content. Today we learn that Brazil’s only trans woman volleyball star is running for congress. A poll finds the majority of women recognize trans women as women. A federal judge says Wisconsin’s state insurance plan must cover transgender related care. The government of Pakistan has hired a trans woman for a federal job. New Jersey’s governor has signed a bill into law directing public schools to accept trans students in their preferred gender. Who gets upset about gender fluidity? People who are heavily invested in the binary. 13-year-old Evie Macdonald is Australia’s Jazz Jennings. A gender fluid financial director who goes to work in the gender they feel that day is causing waves on a list of influential women in business. A U.S. trans activist who was denied a passport renewal is seeking asylum in Switzerland. Four trans candidates are running for state legislatures. There’s all that and a few TWIT Awards waiting for you in TWIT!
Dresses! Oh the joy of a lovely dress. Despite the efforts of some fashion designers to make dresses for men over the past few decades it never catches on and dresses remain the property of ladies. A dress is just what a crossdresser needs to feel womanly and like one of the girls. Today Lorraine Anderson, the woman in charge at The Occasional Woman custom clothing service, talks about the many variety of these simple but sexy garments. There are dress styles for every occasion and Lorraine introduces you to a few of them.
There is almost always a rush of adrenaline when a biological male goes out in public presenting their feminine side to the world. Our contributor Linda Jensen feels that the thrill of being out dressed comes as much from the possibility of getting caught as it does from wearing the clothes. Sophie Lynne writes about how when she first started to express her true self by going out to support group meeting and the local transgender party she felt that thrill. It contrasts with the adrenaline rush she gets now that she is living as her true self 24/7. It’s less of a thrill now and more like fear of lurking danger.
Years ago on TGForum Laurie Sheril did a series of articles on drag in the cinema. She started back in the days of silent film and worked her way forward in time to the ’90s. Today we dip into the TGForum Archives to bring you her review of a holy relic of crossdressing — the Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis classic film Some Like It Hot.
Today Amanda F. Steele catches you up on her back story. At the moment she is living in northern California and being beset by anxiety. She wants to leave and come back east but the thought of making the journey sets off her anxiety. How did Amanda first start to explore her femininity, back when the only anxiety she had to deal with was fear of being discovered wearing her mother’s things? Amanda takes you back to when she was 13 and her family was moving back to the mainland from Hawaii.
Katherine Diza is caught up in the whirl of her new adventure performing onstage with a group of drag performers in Bogota. Today she writes more about the excitement of performance and how good it feels to get praise from her new fans. And of course she has a video to go along with her blog.
It’s time once again for The Week In Trans! All the transgender related news we could find posted all in one place for your informational convenience. Today we learn that there’s a teenage drag queen living in a tough Australian coal mining town. The Trump administration is still fighting to impose their trans military ban. Their arguments are not persuasive. A school in California elected a trans girl homecoming queen. An intersex person has a court victory. NYC and Washington, DC passed changes allowing “X” for gender on birth certificates. The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends acceptance of trans children. Cher sings ABBA and features a trans woman in her video. A mural in Australia honors trans sistergirls. There’s all that and a boatload more trans news, along with a few TWIT Awards, waiting for you in TWIT!
Take a seat at the counter or slide into a booth. However you feel comfortable is the way to experience Dina’s Diner. Dina always has special on the menu and today they include an appetizer about anti-discrimination laws “allowing men in the lady’s room.” She also has an appetizer of girls playing high school football that is sure to be interesting, and pave the way for an entree consisting of spicy “rollergirls” skating into Dina’s dreams. Her best entree item is an appreciation of the stylish ladies of the ’60s who influenced her fashion sense, and may still be providing role models for the drag performers of today. The desert special at the Diner is a sweet look at the Playboy bunnies of yesterday, and the new ones on duty today. Order a cup of java and settle down for another great time at Dina’s Diner!
Today Sophie Lynne, our resident Page Pundit, reviews CN Lester’s book of essays, “Trans like me: Conversations for all of us.” The fifteen essays that comprise the book deal with many segments of the transgender experience. The author is a respected activist and writer from the United Kingdom who identifies as non-binary. We will add a bit of a spoiler but hope it entices you to read on by saying that Sophie highly approves of the book and recommends it for insights into the transgender community.
Males and females have been assigned different characteristics by our evolving culture. Men are “supposed” to be stoic, unemotional, problem solvers. Women are “supposed” to be more willing to share things and support their female friends. While guys bury their problems and talk about football and cars, women listen to their friend’s and don’t try to immediately solve their problem. Claire Hall’s post talks about how she has experienced a shift from the stereotypically male approach to friendship and embraced the feminine model of friendship.
M hadn’t been feeling so good and two things happened that gave them a much needed boost. We don’t want to give it away since it would undercut you need to read M’s post. Let it suffice to say that you will most likely rejoice with M when they share the news. Read on to learn what perked them up.
This week Cheryl Ann “Cassie” Sanders has assembled all the misleading and contradictory statements people have made over transgenderism and posts it all. Cassies feels that some of the quotes of “wisdom” are sure fire argument starters and even though she is only reporting the poppycock many people believe she’s ready to take some heat in the comments section for even mentioning some of this stuff. Read on if you dare!
The Week In Trans has all the news featuring transgender people! From problems for trans folks caused by hurricane Florence to news from elsewhere in the world you can find it all here in TWIT! What else is up? GLSEN has launched a campaign to bring attention to the problems faced by trans teens in school. The State Department has changed the gender marker on passports from “gender” to “sex.” Fashion designer Marco Marco used 34 transgender models in his show for New York Fashion Week — and no cis models. A ballot initiative in Massachusetts could repeal transgender protections. Activists are fighting to educate people so they vote it down. The studies have been published and they confirm that extending restroom rights to trans people does not cause more sexual assaults in restrooms. A trans woman prisoner in England has admitted sexually assaulting four other female prisoners. There’s all that plus much more a a few TWIT Award presentations waiting for you in TWIT!
Our Fashion Maven from south of the border, Tasi Zuriack, devotes her post to lists of things you must have for the fall season, and some things you should avoid. What’s to avoid? Dramatic sleeves that make you look like you have no hands. Tiny handbags are a no no and avoid quilted attire. Quilts are only good on your bed. Check out the fashion must haves as you devote some time to reading Tasi’s post. She includes videos, too!
Today The Artist D! muses on the nature of intentions, being an internet pioneer, the necessity of boring small towns, and how it’s not easy to be in the right place at the right time, even if you have the artistic chops to cut the gig. This will be the last regular contribution from The Artist D! so savor the nuance and quality of their thoughts. They are invited to return to TGF again and may do so at some point in the future when they decide they’ve been on sabbatical too long.
Amanda F. Steele is our arts and entertainment reporter. Trans Media Arts is her beat. Today she has more info on Nicole Maines upcoming role in Supergirl, buzz about former Disney star J.J. Totah coming out at the age of 17, the dish on the trans man who stunned the judges on The X Factor, Laura Jane Grace’s new band, and a photo exhibit of trans people that will also be an HBO show. It’s a jam packed post that has the news you need about trans people in the media and arts. Don’t miss your TMA!
Katherine Diaz, our correspondent from Columbia, has always liked the idea of appearing on stage as a drag performer. Recently she had that opportunity and today she has a video and a text post letting you know how much fun she had appearing onstage. She learned of a drag performance workshop through an online friend, registered and spent three months learning the art of drag on stage. Now she’s part of a drag trio who will be performing together. As always Katherine’s post is en Español.
Back in the 1950s and ‘60s a hitchhiking trip across the country could be a life changing experience. That was probably never truer than for Claire who told Linda how she started hitchhiking across Canada as Calvin and returned on the road to becoming Claire. The tale is long and yes, there is some sexual activity so it’s NSFW but you’ll be drawn along on Calvin’s journey, across the continent and across gender borders, and sexual boundries.
Sabrina takes another swipe with her drawing program at trans-exclusionary radical feminists, TERFs. While saying they’re trying to promote one thing they seem to actually promote things that are harmful for trans women. Sabrina finds the humor in the situation when a trans woman debates a TERF.
Time for The Week In Trans! What do we learn today? Danica Roem is honored by her constituents. Alexandra Chandler loses her primary. More violence agains trans women is perpetrated. California passes a law making legal gender change easier. A bill in California to stop conversion therapy is pulled for being too general. There’s a pattern of bias against trans people in DOJ cases. Trump’s tweet calling for a trans military ban came out of thin air and surprised his staff. A trans woman was stopped entering Egypt because her passport said she was male. The Department of Education want to make it harder to sue a school for sexual harassment. 85 House members support trans care for vets. A trans model and actress wins best actress in Israel. Australia’s Prime Minister gets himself in hot water with the trans kids in his country. There’s all that and plenty more, plus a few well deserved TWIT Awards waiting for you in TWIT!
Dr. Dana Bevan digs into the story behind Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria. If you’ve been paying attention to your TWIT news column you know that a woman named Lisa Littman of Brown University published an article warning of a rise is the number of children announcing they were transgender and attributing it to early trauma, rather than recognize that the children may actually have been born trans. She then went on to attempt to discredit affirmative treatment for trans children. Dr. Bevan digs into the claims made by Littman, which were of course picked up and amplified by conservative websites and news outlets, and gives you the facts.
Suzzie has been participating in the crossdressing scene since before it was a scene. She’s been dressing up and going out for fun for 75 years. At one point, while attending a get-together at The Tiffany Club in New England she saw someone in a wheelchair dressed in male attire except they wearing a lady’s shirt. She noticed the way the buttons worked. His name was Bill and he was an older man who Suzzie surmised was unable to fully crossdress but still attended the group’s meetings. That was the first time she noticed that time marches on, and one day she might be that person. But even though adjustments had to be made Suzzie is still living the crossdressing life and having fun.
To look your best when out and about en femme you mustn’t just put on any dress from your wardrobe and waltz out the door. A stylish woman takes into consideration where she is going, and who she will be mingling with. What you wear for an outdoor barbecue is different from what you’d wear to another outdoor event such as a garden party, or a sporting event. Each destination sets a tone for the look you want. Then you apply your personal style. Don’t miss Pauline Estelle’s tips on how to dress appropriately for any occasion.
