Joanne Meyerowitz is professor of History and American Studies at Yale. She is the author of How Sex Changed: A History of TransSexuality in the United States. She wrote a series of articles that were published on TGF in 1998 that presented the history of “sex change” before Christine Jorgensen made headlines as the “first” person to have a “sex change.” Since this is all three parts of her series be prepared to spend some time reading this fascinating history.
The article entitled “Are Gender Feminists and Transgender Activists Undermining Science?” (LA Times, February 10, 2017) omits much of the pertinent scientific evidence on gender and obviates a core scientific principle. With respect to gender feminists, the article confuses sex with gender, ignores social anthropology research on culture and omits salient research on transgender causation. […]
It’s quite obvious that transgender people exist. We have been a part of many cultures all over the world since ancient times, and probably before. Conservatives who believe that we are “unnatural” are basing their belief, whether they know it or not, on Traditional Sex-based Theory. Want to know what that is? Read this post by Dr. Dana Bevan. She will explain our entirely natural niche in nature.
It’s The Week In Transgenderism! Today we learn about the beauty pageant queen who became a man. A Girl Scout whose neighbor wouldn’t buy her cookies from “a boy in a dress” sold 3000 boxes after she took her story online. The Nicole Maines case decision is being ignored by Maine’s governor. A trans girl in Australia is lobbying for change. A woman in Russia is suing over lost value of her GRS savings since the ruble sank. A new report says trans kids in the restroom are no trouble. The military adds medical care for trans soldiers. Students in a California high school dress as the opposite gender to protest the dress code. There’s all that and a load of TWIT Awards waiting for you in TWIT!
Dr. Sherman Leis, founder of The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, one of the leading resources for transgender surgery and medical support in the United States, has identified 10 important trends that will affect America and its transgender community in 2016.
When Southern Comfort pulled up stakes and moved to Florida many of the people in the Atlanta area who had volunteered and done work for that conference were left with skills in conference producing that were no longer needed. The Transgender Health Education Alliance stepped in the produce a new conference with a focus on trans health and improving the lives of LGBTQ people. Dana Bevan reports on how the conference turned out.
Dana Bevan has been asked to speak to a youth group at her church on what her life has been like as a trans person. Today Dr. Bevan presents us with the outline she intends to follow for her talk. As you might expect from a person of scientific orientation she will tell the group of the scientific evidence she has gathered showing that being trans is not a choice but something you are born with.
Our contributor and gal pal Christine Zee went to the Southern Comfort Conference in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area. This is the 25th year of this venerable event and there was concern that moving it from Atlanta to Florida would change the tone of the conference. Some were concerned that it wouldn’t attract attendees. Find out how it went with Christine’s report and some photos from the event.
Dana Bevan has filed this report from the Transgender Word War. She feels that transgender people have been engaged in a war to find words to adequately express the phenomenon that we share. The war of words has proceeded along three fronts. In this post she outlines what those three fronts are and engages in a bit of hand to hand combat with the psychiatric establishment.
Dana Bevan was contacted by a producer from ABC News and asked to critique the Diane Sawyer interview with Bruce Jenner. She did so and sent her evaluation of the show to them. She has condensed that critique down to 11 points and today she shares them with us on TGF. What did she find to be the worst error in Jenner’s interview? Read on!
A 12 year old boy, small for his age, learned he gets more respect by posing and looking like a 16-17 year old girl. He did so well at it that he was able to pass as a girl to enter a co-ed boarding school. (See parts I and II of Patty’s Story) That is, he was able to pass until nature caught up with him. Forced to leave the school he didn’t know what would be coming next.
By Kristina Mayhem Over one hundred people gathered for a special presentation called Leading Inclusion: Gender in Engineering on November 18th 2014 in Chesebrough Auditorium on the beautiful University of Michigan North Campus. It was sponsored by Own It, a UofM organization of student engineers. Own It wants more inclusiveness in engineering and cited statistics […]
Dana Bevan chose to “come out” to her adult daughters by sending them a letter in which she revealed that she is a trans woman. Since Dana is an expert on trans issues her letter not only tells her daughters about her gender status but gives them important information about how gender is assigned. We bring you her letter today so you can see how Dana handled telling her daughters and in hopes that you will find her technique useful if you have to come out to someone.
(Bala Cynwyd, PA) Dr. Sherman Leis, founder of The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, one of the leading resources for transgender surgery and medical support in the United States, has identified 10 important trends that will affect America and its transgender community in 2015. “Although society has made a great deal of progress for the […]
A recent interaction with a group of ladyboys got Christine Burr thinking about transgenderism. The women were modeling wedding dresses at an event promoting various wedding salons to prospective brides. Christine started talking to them about what it means to be a ladyboy in Thailand. After listening to them and ruminating on transgenderism in general she has come to some conclusions.
Transgender children now have new opportunities to express their biological gender predisposition. Both social transition and puberty delay are now recognized as appropriate options for some transgender children. This represents a change in the guidelines set by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which sets standards for medical and mental health treatment of […]
Last month we brought you Part 1 of Kristina Mayhem’s research article on Christine Jorgensen. Today we bring you Part 2 of this look into the life of a woman who is arguably the world’s most famous transsexual. Kristina picks up Jorgensen’s story on the day in 1953 when she stepped off the plane at New York’s airport. As a bonus we also have video of Jorgensen’s appearance on a local TV show in the early ’80s.
Paul McHugh is a former Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins who denies the existence of trans as a real condition. He claims it is a disorder that is all in the mind and that transgendered people don’t deserve to have their civil rights guaranteed. He believes SRS is a waste of money and doesn’t resolve gender dysphoria. McHugh can believe what he wants but when he publishes his beliefs in a major newspaper as fact he does major harm to trans people. Dana Bevan tells us why.
If you’ve done any research into transgender history you know that there were other people who changed their gender prior to the sensation caused when Christine Jorgensen did it in 1952. Today we present part one of a two part article on Christine Jorgensen’s impact on the world written by Kristina Mayhem. Ms. Mayhem feels that Jorgensen was the most important TG ever. Give her article a read and see if you agree.
Dallas Denny has allowed us to republish a piece she posted on her Chrysalis website. While she has not read the book she has skimmed it and found evidence that “Gender Hurts” is not an actual scholarly work on transgender issues but instead a book with an anti-trans agenda. It is very similar, but better written, to another work published over 30 years ago that claimed transsexuals were a plot to replace biological women.
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.
Did you know keeping secrets can have negative physical consequences? Sure, you’ve been keeping your crossdressing a secret because you fear negative physical consequences from your loved ones or associates. Fear of the negative reaction of friends, family and society in general is what makes a transgendered person keep their inclinations a secret. Dr. Dana Bevan tells us about the effects of keeping the real you a secret.
Those new to the transgender community may not have a grasp of what it was like for transgendered people before the advent of the Internet. Information about crossdressing, transsexualism, gender identity and all of the many issues and conditions under the transgender umbrella was hard to find. It was out there in pamphlets, books printed on mimeograph machines and office copiers. Some tomes were published by actual publishers with hard covers but copies could not be found at your local library. Much of what was printed by and about TGs from those days would be lost without the establishment of transgender archives. Dallas Denny tells of one such effort.
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.
A letter to the editor of The New York Times from a “Big Shrink” concerning the case of Coy Mathis, the young TG who can now use the girls’ room at her school, raised the hackles of our contributor Dr. Dana Bevan. Dr. Bevan takes the shrink to task for not understanding transgender issues and for pushing an agenda of “reparative therapy” for TG children. And the shrink makes statements that aren’t backed up by scientific evidence. Decide for yourself who’s the winner in Coy vs. the Big Shrink.
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.
