Tag: Identity

Gender Fluid or Lazy

| Feb 26, 2018 | Reply

Now that Cate O’Malley doesn’t have to go to the office every day and pretend to be a man she has the freedom to dress as she likes. You might think that she would spend her days in feminine frills and flouncy dresses. Skirts and high heels with lacy tops and the proper accessories. You would find, if you chanced to visit Cate in her Florida home, that while she is 100% woman, she is practical about her attire. A linen frock and high heel sandals would not be appropriate for cleaning out the gutters. Oh, sure. Cate and her wife could dress up for evening outing. With all the things to do around the house does she really have the energy to gussy up and go out?

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Unemployed

| Feb 19, 2018 | Reply

Sophie Lynne has been putting up with a job that exposes her daily to rude comments from customers and she has had to take it with a smile or risk being fired. A job that once fulfilled her has turned into a soul sucking burden that she can’t afford to quit. She needs the money. All that changed last week when she was suddenly, without prior warning, relieved of her soul sucking job when they showed her the door. Now the question becomes, will not having to suffer in a bad job allow her to blossom into another area, or will she succumb to the soul sucking despair of depression?

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Thoughts on the Boy in Girl’s Clothes on the Rosanne Reboot

| Feb 19, 2018 | Reply

Our Man in a Dress, Graham Holmes, writes about the “boy in a dress” character on the reboot of the Roseanne television show that premiers March 27 on ABC. The boy who wears girl’s clothes is played by Ames McNamara and the character’s name is Mark Conner-Healy. He is the son of one of the Connor family women. Graham has a lot to say about assumptions made about the character by the show’s producers. See if you agree, or disagree with his assessment.

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Message From Walnut Creek, Ca.

| Feb 19, 2018 | Reply

Amanda has made some changes recently as her California odyssey continues. She has reason to be optimistic since her new living situation is saving her money and the stress factor of current home is vastly diminished from the level it hit in her old place. So that’s all good, but, she is having trouble weaning herself from an anti-anxiety medication and that along with longing for the east coast is making her anxious. Get the latest from her personal blog.

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Another Step on the Trans Path

| Feb 12, 2018 | Reply

It’s only been a few months since Claire H. took her first steps toward living as her true self. She finds that as she moves into the future every barrier she saw ahead would dissolve away as she approached. Today she writes that while she had not been expecting to start hormone therapy till April the advocacy of her therapist got her an early appointment with a nurse practitioner and she can begin hormones this week. Will all of the obstacles be as easily overcome?

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I’m Okay

| Feb 12, 2018 | Reply

When things are going badly there is so much to say about how you’re being affected and how you feel. When things are all moving along smoothly there doesn’t seem to be that much to talk about. Just, “Hey, I’m okay. All is well.” That was the dilemma of our agender youth correspondent M when they were trying to come up with a topic for today’s post. So they decided to go ahead and write about how everything is okay.

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Do Crossdressers Really Exist

| Feb 5, 2018 | Reply

Our Fashion Maven Tasi Zuriack takes a fashion break and writes today about crossdressing in general. She asks if crossdressers even exist. Since many of our readers identify as crossdressers we suspect that they do exist. TGForum’s official policy on crossdressers is that they exist under the transgender umbrella. They’re part of the transgender community and the Tasi points out that the word “transgender” may be causing problems for people who just like to dress up like ladies and feel pretty. Read on and see what you think.

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I Am Jazz: Susan Bradley Rides Again!

| Jan 29, 2018 | Reply

Constant vigilance is necessary as the media are often not through in researching who they use as an “expert” in shows dealing with trans issues. Dana Bevan is always on the look out for the inclusion of discredited “experts” and she recently caught one on the TLC show I Am Jazz. The offender in question was Susan Bradley, formerly of the Clarke Institute which morphed into the now closed Canadian Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) center. Bradley is against allowing trans kids to be the gender they feel. Read on and find out what other misinformation the show allowed to air.

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Am I Acting?

| Jan 29, 2018 | Reply

If you weren’t socialized from an early age as a female you may have to work at presenting yourself to others as a woman. Women are raised soaking in culturally imposed gender related behaviors that trans women don’t get exposed to. Trans women often spend too many years learning to hide their femininity so as to fit in with societal expectations of how they should behave as men. Christine Burr came to understand that she was female after she reached middle age. She had to work to acquire the traits of a mature woman and new when she is expressing her true gender she is left wondering if she is acting.

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iLaria Bordignon — Trans Business Woman and Lingerie Designer

| Jan 29, 2018 | Reply

Beverly Anne Thomas interviews lingerie designer and guiding force behind the lingerie company Carezza-Intima, iLaria Bodignon. Ms. Bodignon is a trans woman originally from Italy who is now based in Los Angeles where she designs and produces sensual lingerie for all women. One of her lines is expressly for trans women. Beverly asks her about such topics as her early life, her spirituality, her sensuality and he business. Don’t miss out on meeting iLaria and learning more about her line of sensual lingerie.

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Sissies Down Under

| Jan 22, 2018 | Reply

Our new Australian correspondent offers some info on the difference between nomenclature in the LGBTQ communities of the USA and his native land. We’re all aware of some Australian terms like G’day; Sheilas; and “outback” but those are general terms used in everyday speech. How do the Shielas and Bruces in the LGBT community there chat with each other? Here’s some insight from John Storey.

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The Dam Is Breaking!

| Jan 15, 2018 | Reply

Claire H. though that she could move forward in life dabbling in crossdressing in private and taking out-of-town trips for en femme getaways now and then. During her first session with a therapist she realized that wasn’t going to be enough. Now the dam that has held back her feminine nature for many, many years is cracking. The water inside is starting to pour out and Claire is both excited and scared.

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Fitting in as Agender

| Jan 15, 2018 | Reply

M inhabits a zone somewhere between genders. They identify as “agender” which means they don’t get along well with the binary gender world we live in. While for male crossdressers having a big gender divide is fun since they can dress like the that opposite gender, for M there is no opposite. So people M meets will assign a gender to M and use whichever pronoun they believe is appropriate. M writes about the difficulty of fitting in.

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My Transgender Story

| Jan 15, 2018 | Reply

Beverly Anne Thomas takes a look back at her life and takes note of all the clues that she was really not a boy but a girl. Other people seemed to know that she wasn’t a boy. They taunted her that she looked like a girl. Relatives said she was too pretty to be a boy, and at school she was bullied and beaten up. It’s a familiar story to many of us in the trans community. This post is Beverly’s transgender story.

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The Road Not Taken: Part lll The Way It Was

| Jan 8, 2018 | Reply

Linda Jensen is writing a series about her first foray into the TG world. With acknowledgement to the poet, Robert Frost, she has called it The Road Not Taken. Why? After a short time immersed in that world LindaI veered off the path that leads many to gender re-assignment and a life different than they could have expected if they had remained living a male life. While Linda was on that road it became a trip she will never forget. Today’s post sets the scene talking about what it was like for trans women in Toronto in the ’60s.

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A Sabrina Symington Toon! What Makes a Woman?

| Jan 8, 2018 | Reply

Today Sabrina Symington takes on the TERFs, that’s the Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists, who will not accept trans women as women. Which leads them to go out of their way to find reasons why transgender females are not women. Sabrina enters the fray with several verbal weapons. See how she defeats the TERF in today’s Sabrina Toon.

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Am I Gay?

| Jan 1, 2018 | Reply

Last month Cate O’Malley wrote about the worry she had when she was young that her need to present as a female might mean she was gay. She withstood taunts from bullies who called her derogatory terms for homosexual. In her confusion she thought that maybe the bullies were right. Finally she came to understand that she is not a gay man. She is a woman. This month she wonders if, since she is in a romantic relationship with another woman, her wife, does that make her a lesbian?

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Metamorphosis Chapter 16

| Jan 1, 2018 | Reply

Raquel and Mark, two parts of one person that became separated after drinking a strange potion, have been transported to another land. They trek to the north to do battle with “the Magistrate” but have been told by a woman named Lydia that one of them will not survive the confrontation. In a house that is a duplicate of their childhood home Raquel meets her “mother” and then her “father.” In our last chapter she was handcuffed to a bed and argues with Mark about their life. Will Raquel be the one to die? Learn more in Chapter 16 of Metamorphosis.

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Princesas de la Noche – Damas de la Calle Rosa

| Dec 25, 2017 | Reply

Katherine Diaz writes about her evening activities in Bogota, Columbia. There is a full menu of activities for Princesses of the Night to partake of and Katherine samples the goings on at several place before walking through the rain to her usual spot. Read our Columbian correspondent’s latest report and view the accompanying video. En Espa?ol of course.

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The Smell of Nail Polish and Polish Remover

| Dec 18, 2017 | Reply

Sometimes in our lives certain memories that we haven’t visited in a long while can come to the fore of our mind when we are poked by a smell or taste associated with those memories. That’s what our newest blogger Claire H. writes about today. As you can guess from the title of her blog she has memories associated with the scent of nail polish and polish remover. Read on to learn what she revisits when she smells those things.

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Review: “Tranny” by Laura Jane Grace

| Dec 18, 2017 | Reply

Our Page Pundit Sophie Lynne takes a look back at a book that was published a little over a year ago but has made a lasting impression on her. It’s Laura Jane Grace’s book “Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout.” Sophie discusses the many levels the book hit her on and why anyone who was put off by the title’s first word should put aside their feelings about that and read Grace’s story which combines pain and joy from which she emerges triumphant.

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Meet Emily Kaufman

| Dec 18, 2017 | Reply

By Kristina Mayhem A young woman is creating positive change in Michigan. She is the first transwoman to rush sororities at The University of Michigan. It’s a journey to womanhood painted from a palette of rich colors and beautiful hues. Emily Kaufman spent extra time preparing for her big day. She was representing transpeople and […]

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I am NOT gay!

| Dec 11, 2017 | Reply

When Cate O’Malley insist she’s not gay she does admit that since she’s married to a woman there may be some lesbian tendencies. What she means is, when she started to examine her gender one of her first thoughts was if she was a gay man. It’s easy to imagine that with all the publicity the gay community has gotten that one could equate their need to be feminine with being gay. But gender identity and sexual orientation are two different things. See why Cate knows she’s not gay in her blog today.

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Are You Playing Dress-Up

| Dec 11, 2017 | Reply

They say that clothes make the man. Since crossdressing is mostly centered around clothes it’s reasonable to say that clothes also make the woman. How much do different styles of attire affect us? Tasi Zuriack investigates just how clothes affect the way we feel and present ourselves to the world. She has conducted some research on which of the varied styles women have available to them that are most popular among the crossdressing community. Are you classical, everyday chic, or little girl?

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Exploring the Lesbian Tech Subculture

| Dec 4, 2017 | Reply

Our resident scientist Dana Jennett Bevan has spent time studying the behavior of many different segments of our culture. Everything from BDSM players to combat pilots have been subjected to her scrutiny. Today she plunges headlong into the realm of tech lesbians. That is, she explores the subculture of lesbians who work in the Atlanta tech industry. Not to give it away but she concludes that hanging out with tech lesbians can be fun.

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Goodbye, Maura Pfefferman

| Nov 27, 2017 | Reply

As a lady coming out late in life our newest blogger Claire H. found inspiration and courage in the story of Maura Pfefferman on “Transparent.” The character resonated with her even though she was older than Claire. Thanks to Maura Claire began to move toward expressing her innate femininity. Then, in the swirl of sexual harassment charges leveled against many prominent men, she learned that the actor who so wonderfully portrayed Maura would be leaving the show. Today she expresses her reaction to that.

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