Dina’s Diner March 29, 2009

I didn’t think of it at the time, but January 2009 marked my 20th year of active crossdressing. By active I mean going out to meetings, clubs, events, etc. The first time I ever went out was to attend the January 1989 meeting of the Renaissance TG Association.

My association with Renaissance and some of the friends I made there gave me a lot of years of terrific fun that exceeded anything I could have imagined when I was still playing around at home with pantyhose and high heels trying to figure things out for myself.

I also started my TG writing career through Angela Gardner and Renaissance. I found a copy of the March 1999 edition of Renaissance’s monthly TG Community News magazine. I reprinted at the end of this Diner edition one of my pieces from that 10 year old issue as homage to my length of participation in the TG community, and my impending dotage.

THESE SCIENTISTS HAVE AN ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING

I came across an article that appeared on the redbook.com website, the electronic version of the long-lived women’s magazine. It excerpted some scientific answers to common sex questions compiled by Jena Pincott in her book Do Gentleman Really Prefer Blondes.

One of the questions in the Redbook excerpt was about a topic at the very top of my list for scientific inquiry: “Why are high heels sexy?” Here is the answer: The stuff you strut is more sensual when you’re up on your toes, says Pincott: “Heels force your pelvis to tilt so that both your rear end and chest stick out.” One study showed that leg lengths 5 percent longer than average are the most attractive, so for most women, a 1.5- to 3-inch heel would create the ideal leg length. “This attraction might be evolutionary, because long legs are associated with better long-term health, which would appeal to a mate,” says Pincott.

A lot of human sexual attraction is embedded deep within us and I wouldn’t discount the “good legs = good health = good spawning partner” theory. But I think I’ll go with the theory that heels promote a posture that makes a woman’s chest and ass more prominent. Those are two points of sexual attraction that are also deeply embedded in male psyches.

Another question was “Why does intercourse feel better than masturbation?” Surprisingly the answer wasn’t a sarcastic “Duh?” but a learned discourse about dopamine and prolactin. Dopamine raises during foreplay and the sex act, diminishes upon orgasm, and the body quickly produces prolactin to replace it. Prolactin is the thing that makes you feel sated. Science has shown that intercourse makes the body produce up to 400 times more prolactin than it produces after masturbation. And not only that: you aren’t at risk for carpal tunnel syndrome.

And finally a question that only a women’s magazine readership would care about: “Why do I like and trust him more after sex?” Again the body is at work producing chemicals that make women more trusting and relaxed after cuddling, kissing or the sex act. Women’s bodies produce oxytocin (not oxycontin, all you Rush Limbaugh fans out there) and that chemical suppresses the activity in the part of the brain where fear and stress originates. And estrogen enhances the effect of oxytocin, so women’s dreamy after-sex feelings are stronger than men’s — who have already started thinking about the hot new temp in the accounting department.

GO AHEAD, CHEW THE SCENERY, YOU WERE BORN FOR THIS PART

The Arts section of The New York Times on March 23, 2009 carried a review of the new Broadway play, God of Carnage. The play stars James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, and Hope Davis in a production where reviewer Ben Brantley says “highly skilled stage performers take on roles that allow them to rip the stuffing out of one another, tear up the scenery, stomp on their own vanity and have the time of their lives.”

The review covers a lot of territory in the process of giving background on the drama, the actors, and the playwright. But the gist of the review is that some very good and very experienced actors get a chance to “behave badly” and get their hooks into their characters. It made me think about crossdressing and how a certain experience level enhances the “performance” so to speak.

I don’t mean to say that the crossdressing friends I made through the years were doing a performance. Fortunately, no one I ever considered a friend was doing some camped-up, fake voice feminina. But those who had been around for a while, some for just a couple years, some much longer, exuded something that was more natural, confident, and less threatening in those public instances where we might have been received poorly. Interactions with other crossdressers and non-crossdressed civilians were more genuine, the depth of the process was more obvious.

I may not be making a great deal of sense here (stick with paeans to high heels?) and I don’t mean to say that experienced crossdressers are “better” than the less experienced. But a certain experience level (if it’s combined with some intelligence) can allow crossdressers — like the heavyweight cast of God of Carnage — to have the time of their lives on the world’s stage.

LIFE DURING WARTIME

Apparently, the world-wide recession has been felt in the high fashion industry. The New York Times Thursday Styles section on March 19, 2009 noted the toned down runway shows and more utilitarian collections shown by the top designers.

I’ll have to take The Times’ word for it. I don’t know who was buying some of the stuff that was shown in years past and I’m not so sure about the stuff in the article’s photos from this year’s shows. I’d be the first to admit I don’t understand the economics of the high fashion industry.

But there was a photo section on an exciting new trend in high fashion. In fact, the big photo next to the article’s headline “Two Words for Fall: Toughen Up” was a model wearing leather boots (designed by Paul’s daughter, designer Stella McCartney) that went up, up, up to below the hemline of a very short skirt. The “boots” looked more like thin black leather leggings with intricate pinhole patterns to provide texture. The boots had a four inch heel. On the inside pages, there were several photos of above-the-knee boots, some in sleek leather, some with intricate lacing, one pair that seemed a cross between English Wellingtons and fetish rubber boots. There was also a model wearing something that looked like rubber stirrup stockings that were looped under her high heel arches.

Times are tough, young women of the world. If you’re smart, you’ll get yourself some short skirts and a collection of above-the-knee boots to show you mean business while you re-think your investment portfolio. It’s time to re-trench until the good times roll again. Don’t worry what a pair of yard-long leather boots might cost in a Manhattan boutique.

OUT, OUT DAMN RIB

(Originally published March 1999)

Sheila Kirk is a medical doctor and a respected member of the TG community. She wrote an article that appeared in the Transgender Tapestry magazine titled “Minimally Invasive Rib Removal” which I happened to see reprinted in The Flip Side newsletter of the Gulf Gender Alliance in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Dr. Kirk’s article went in depth to explain a surgical procedure to remove the 11th and 12th ribs from a patient’s body to enhance or create a slender waistline. An associate of Dr. Kirk has perfected a surgical technique than can remove the two ribs with small, one inch incisions on either side of the spinal column. Dr. Kirk goes into some detail about the anatomical design of the entire ribcage and the reasons why the lowermost ribs, 11 and 12, are able to be removed without loss of structural integrity (my terminology). Surgical rib removal for aesthetic purposes has been available for some time, but the old technique left long unsightly scarring.

An interesting point was brought up in the article. Ribs grow back after removal, but with the new procedure, “If re-growth occurs at all, only small nipples of bone over many years will be evident.” I bet you didn’t think of the possibility of rib re-growth when you were cursing your natural bone structure and trying to get some leverage on those corset laces as you dreamed of the day — at last — when you could be the girl with the wasp waist and a mere ten ribs to contend with. Well, even if they come back, it’s only going to be a “small nipple” of ribs 11 and 12 to get in the way. You can live with that can’t you? Thank God for small favors. You could be an orangutan…and they have 13 ribs, for Chrissakes. Then what kind of a waistline would you have?

Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment