Our Sophie Lynne has taken the big step and begun living full time as a woman. Today she tells us what it is that helped her make it through the tough, dark moments and got her to where she’s at today — living as who she is, not who others want her to be. What is it that sustains her and keep her moving forward on her gender journey? There’s a clue in the title of her post.
Full time work is increasingly hard to find as corporations send American jobs overseas tax free without caring about the fallout this does to their country, just so their stockholders can make an extra dollar or two. This outrage was supported by… What? Oh. Sorry Angela. You meant Full Time as a WOMAN. *puts away […]
Dr. Dana Bevan has a confession to make. For fifty years she identified as a non-transsexual transgendered person. And as such she kept her TG feelings and desires hidden. She concentrated on service to her country and things stayed that way until the end of the cold war. That’s when her identity had to change and she realized she was a transsexual person. That’s when she also came to feel that no TS should put down non-TS TGs.
Today we say farewell to someone we first got to know several years ago. But we are not sad because his departure has opened the door for the full time existence of Sophie Lynne. Today is the last day the departing male will be around. On Tuesday Sophie begins her new life, full time, with no net. How did she get to this point? She tells all in her post today.
(Bala Cynwyd, PA USA) – Acclaimed transgender surgeon and founder of The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, Dr. Sherman Leis, has recently returned from the WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Surgery) Symposium in Bangkok, Thailand. While in attendance at the Symposium, themed Transgender Health from Global Perspectives, Dr. Leis was able to share thoughts […]
Dee Levy feels that there are transgendered women who don’t tell their wives the “whole truth” when they start to open up about their true nature but opt to ease into it by identifying as a crossdresser. Then the wives are confused when their husband starts to look more and more feminine. Then Dee has to break the news when they visit The Cross Dressers’ Wives Forum.
Many people in the transgender community view their lives as journeys on a road that leads to another life in a different gender. Others reach a mile marker that feels like home and there they stay. Some go so far but then head back to just a little farther along than where they started. Sophie Lynne is a long way down the road. In Metaphor Fair she tells you how she feels, in blank verse.
Just when the mainstream media is getting used to the term “transgender” and we’re able to start issuing fewer TWIT Awards to newspapers and websites for their misuse or non-use of the word The Artist D let’s us know that there’s a new word they’ll need to become familiar with. It’s lurking in the shadows now. It can be heard on college campuses and other places where nuanced reasoning crops up. What’s the word? Genderqueer.
Many moons ago, I wrote a column about Labels in the TG Community. Crossdresser, Full time, post op, all the different divisions that comprise the wide TG tapestry. Back then, I railed against these artificial divisions. Back then, I said we should all be one community and not undermine each other. Back then, I didn’t […]
Many of us live in fear. Everything from fear of missing a bus to fear of being mugged; fear of paying too much for something or fear of being outed as a crossdresser or TG. All of these fears exist and sometimes, like the one about being outed, the fears can repress us and dominate us. They can keep us from being who we really are. Sophie Lynne has been facing her fears. Today she tells us about them and tells us a secret about fighting fear.
Today Sophie Lynne is making a confession. It was only when she admitted to herself that she was a “she” that she could put in to perspective all the grudges and the need for revenge that she was carrying around. Rather than seeking retribution and demanding justice Sophie is learning that forgiveness is the more feminine path — and the first person she needed to forgive was herself.
Dr. Sherman Leis talks about treating TG teens. Because transgender teens are in the middle of experiencing puberty, transitioning strategy for them is not the same as for adult TGs. Special protocols are necessary for teens to delay normal early pubertal changes, and then to add hormones appropriate to their true mental and emotional gender in order for them to experience a puberty congruent with their desired gender.
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?
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.
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. 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.
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.
Linda Jensen takes a chance path along the Internet and finds herself reconnected with a little-known autobiography from a little-known figure in TG history. Linda recalls how the book and its photos influenced her interest in developing a femme persona. When she was young she came across the autobiography and thought that it might turn out to be her story too. Puberty brought a different path but Linda remembers the excitement that came from reading that book.
Our Video Fashion Tip blogger Victoria Williams had camera trouble this week and instead of a video fashion tip she has filed a piece on how she became the woman she is today. Her story takes us from the days when she dressed up alone at home to meeting people on the Internet, taking those late night trips outside, contacting a support group and then setting goals and working on all the things she needed to become herself.
“Dream a little dream with me.” That’s the thrust of Sophie Lynne’s post today. Whether the dream is one you have at night while you’re tucked into your bed or if it’s one that you think about throughout your day, a longing for something more in your life, all your dreams are important. The one’s you have when you sleep are out of your conscious control but Sophie thinks the waking ones you hold dear and strive to achieve are more than dreams. They’re goals that you can work toward and someday achieve.
There are some areas of life on this world that really need a handbook or “field guide” to help people maneuver through rocky and confusing terrain. One of those areas is how to deal with a transgendered, or gender variant child. Raising a child is hard enough but what do you do when you little boy insists he’s a girl or your little girl says she wants to be called Jack and won’t wear a dress or skirt? Fortunately for the parents of transgendered children Dr. Michele Angello has distilled the essence of 15 years doing therapy with transgendered adults and children into a book. It’s called On The Couch With Dr. Angello and we review it for you today.
Camille Brandon made a rare daytime appearance at the Flamingo Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida Sunday a week ago. What lured our Florida Out & About reporter into the bright sunshine? A book signing with author and former Navy SEAL Kristin Beck. Beck is promoting her book Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy SEAL’s Journey to Coming Out Transgender. Camille hung out by the pool all day and has sent us a report on the event.
Sophie Lynne was at one time, back in the ’80s, an avid gamer on Playstation and her favorite was Twisted Metal 2. The thing that appealed to her about video gaming was the levels of play. You could start out at Easy, then move on to Medium and after you mastered that change the setting to Hard and really test your skills. Today Sophie finds a parallel to the levels of gaming in the transgender world. Find out what Sophie feels defines each “level” in the Transgender Game and see if you agree.
What’s in a name? Is not a rose still a rose if we call it a daisy? Today RachelX talks about what it’s like to transition and have friends and family deal with remembering your new gender label and name. Learn how Rachel handles being called by her old name or with the wrong pronoun.
