Today Dee Levy of Crossdresserswives.com comments on and decries the fact that many times transgendered women are refused breast health care simply because they are transgendered. A recent story we featured in The Week In Transgenderism told of a TG woman who has been living a female life for many years but she was turned away when she sought a mammogram at Planned Parenthood.
The katoey, or ladyboys, of Thailand, like most TGs, have a hard life. While there is a place in the Thai culture for the katoey it’s not necessarily something that is welcomed or treated with respect. As too often happens around the world the ladyboys get involved in criminal activities since they are denied a way to legitimately support themselves. Our correspondent in Thailand has filed another report on misbehavior by katoey.
Today The Artist D makes a discovery. She realizes, suddenly and deeply, that she has neglected the male side of her personality. He should be just as fabulous and witty as she but for too long he has accepted the imposed gender norms of society and let her do the over the top, the extravagant and amazing. The Artist D knows in one moment that he/she is a complex and fluid creature who won’t be bound by the rules of gender, whether from inside or outside the TG community. Join The Artist and investigate the tyranny of The Binary.
It’s a Catie Doodle! Catie Maye is a heterosexual crossdresser of over forty years, who has written a book that destroys the myths surrounding crossdressing. It’s titled Men Can Wear Dresses and the book and her company Transgender Doodle Limited, she hopes to raise awareness and dispel the negative mythology surrounding crossdressing.
Today Dr. Dana Bevan doesn’t blind you with science. She takes you on a scientific trip through the brain and points out the differences that can be found using sophisticated instruments between the brains of non-TG/TS people and those of TG/TS people. Research on deceased TG/TS brains pointed toward differences in brain structure and today’s modern magnetic resonance imaging is finding even more. Read Beyond the BNST to first of all find out what the BNST is and then learn why it’s looking more and more as if we’re born this way.
Sophie Lynne just went through an hellacious month. She was banned from her home, lost a good friend to suicide and felt herself sinking into an abyss of darkness and despair. Caught between two identities and losing important anchors in her life she found herself slipping toward the same darkness that claimed her friend. It’s a darkness that calls far too many trangendered people. But Sophie has posted her column for today. What brought her away from the darkness?
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is from 2013. The agency was casting for Barney’s spring 2014 ad campaign. There is no indication that the agency is still interested in seeing TG models. TGForum was contacted last week by a casting agency in New York that is looking for transgendered models for an ad campaign for a […]
It’s strange how certain words or phrases come into vogue, slip into “fashion,” reoccur in regular usage–perhaps initially being used by a small group of people, and then becoming adopted by the wider community at large. Language is always evolving and we’re forever seeing new “tech” words or words or phrases, which often begin as […]
An active member of the TG community in the Mid-Atlantic region, a person who seemed to be happy and adjusting well to her transition, committed suicide this month. Sophie Lynne, her friend, had attended Southern Comfort with Lisa Empanada at the beginning of the month and then had to face losing her on September 16th. Why did it happen? What could have been done to prevent her act? Sophie touches on all that but mainly she grieves for a departed sister.
Our contributor RachelX is a woman of many parts. She is a member of the fetish/S&M scene, she has firm opinions on many things and is not afraid to express them and she is a rock and roller who is just adjusting to being a “rock chick.” Rachel and her band Touch The Sky played last weekend at a beer festival in Newtown, Pennsylvania. How would the festival crowd, who had seen her before with the band as a rock dude, accept her in her new persona? Read about Rachel’s day “Out & About” and view some photos.
Dee A. Levy was deceived by her crossdresser husband who hid his dressing and chose to reveal it at possibly one of the most inopportune moments — ever. So Dee has become an advocate for crossdresser’s wives everywhere by demanding honesty and consideration of the wive’s needs. Today she comments on an article she read that celebrated the rising acceptance of “varied genders.” Dee asks, “What about wive’s?”
Sophie Lynne made it to the Southern Comfort Conference this month and for her it was “living the dream.” SCC was on her agenda for a few years but something always stood in the way. This year it was SCC or bust. Today Sophie covers her experience at the conference. She attended seminars and talks. Ate hotel food. There was karaoke and too many cocktails. Amid all that Sophie connected with people, people she’d heard about and admired to people who were fans of hers. Take a trip back to early this month and visit Southern Comfort with Sophie.
Dr. Dana Bevan believes that being transgendered is not a choice. She also believes that most of the choices we make are not made by our conscious minds but by the bits of programming and wiring that integrates our nervous systems with our brains. As she puts it, most people believe there is a “little person” inside their head that makes decisions for us. They call it a soul or spirit. Evidence though points to our “decisions” including acting out TG behavior, are all made by parts of our brains that are not under our control. Food for thought indeed.
The lady in charge at the Southern Comfort Conference, Alexis Dee, has sent TGF a report on how it all went this year. According to Alexis over 800 people attended this year and a good time was had by all — from the “Princess Day” on Wednesday through the luncheons, dinners, karaoke and many programs to the Casino Night, trip to a local club and the special guests, it was all good. Get all the details direct from Alexis Dee’s perspective — and find out a bit about the next SCC.
Victoria Williams has been working on her feminine presentation for several years. She has gone from dreaming about mingling with others in public en femme to actually doing it. Along the way she has picked up knowledge and today she shares some of the things she has learned on her journey. She wishes she had known them at the start and hopes she can pass them on to her sisters so they don’t have to learn the hard way.
Babs Casbar Siperstein has been reappointed to the Democratic National Committee and was re-elected to the DNC Executive Committee. She reports today on other transgendered people who are involved in politics and touches on the history of TGs working for change through the political process. She also discusses how things have changed since the time when Democratic Party felt that adding TG rights to the Party platform would scare people away. Trans-inclusive language was added to the Democratic Party platform for the 2008 convention.
Dr. Danielle Kaufman has some thoughts on the new law in California which allows students to use the restroom and locker room facilities appropriate for their gender identity. Dr. Kaufman, author of Untying the Knot, has just recently come out as a transgendered woman and from that perspective she comments on the reason the law was needed and deflates the ludicrous fears of those who oppose the law. This is Dr. Kaufman’s first contribution to TGForum and we welcome her thoughts and insights.
One of the leading advocates for recognition and respect for transgendered people in the United Kingdom has died. Yvonne Sinclair passed away in Queen Elizabeth Hospital on August 6. Yvonne had suffered from emphysema for the past three years caused by smoking and had been ill for the past two months. Sinclair worked tirelessly for […]
Fresh from my Hong Kong trip, I spent a few days in Bangkok, where I tracked down a contact I’d been given by a friend living in Hong Kong — the Bangkok based person being someone who works for a quasi government body, and is working to help minorities and other disadvantaged people. The reason? […]
Linda Jensen has sent us this: Ottawa, Canada had its annual Gay Pride Week and parade last week. The local TG support group, Gender Mosaic, is very closely allied with the local gay community. As you can see by the report below one of the GM’s most active members, Amanda Ryan, was chosen as one of the parade marshals, the Lifetime Achievement Parade Marshal. Here is her report to the Gender Mosaic members.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell may be a thing of the past for gays and lesbians in the military but for transgendered people who want to serve or are currently in the armed forces there is no shield from a sudden discharge if they come out as TG. And recent studies have indicated that transgendered soldiers and veterans are prone to depression and suicide, and they aren’t being treated well by the VA when they leave the service. Dee Levy writes about the Pentagon’s transgender problem.
The phone rang and it was The Baroness requiring RachelX’s presence in New York City. When The Baroness calls RachelX gets her tush to the Big Apple posthaste. When she arrived there was some fit modeling to do and then some flogging to participate in. After that it was fun and service to The Baroness until later in the evening when RachelX takes in a comedy show, has coffee and pastries and then hits the Garment District the next day. There’s even an encounter with the Statue of Liberty. Read about all the adventures of RachelX’s Out & About in New York City.
Our new contributor Catie Maye has provided her Doodles to TGF. Today she posts her statement about transvestite/crossdresser pride. Catie wonders why crossdressers should accept being lumped in with the other spots on the gender spectrum under the label “transgender.” She’s proud to be a crossdresser and has no problem with the word “transvestite.” Read her point of view and registered users can add their two cents in the comment box.
Dr. Sherman Leis is one of the world’s pre-eminent transgender surgeons and founder of The Philadelphia Center For Transgender Surgery, in Bala Cynwyd, PA. It is recognized as one of the leading facilities in the world specializing in gender reassignment surgery. In the course of his work Dr. Leis has found himself counseling family and friends of his patients. He has compiled a list of ten tips on how to interact with a transgendered person.
Alexis Dee joins us today with an update on the Southern Comfort Conference. The Conference takes place September 4-8 in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup of speakers include Kristen Beck, Masen Davis, and Meghan Stabler. Events planned for the weekend range from excursions to area restaurants, a tour of the sets of films shot in Atlanta, a golf outing and of course, karaoke. Get the whole scoop on the event that’s less than two weeks away straight from the Chair, Alexis Dee.
